Earn 3% on easy access savings
Earn 3% on easy access savings, Valentine’s Day deals round up including £3 roses and discounted Merlin pass.These are our Money Saving Expert Martin Lewis’ Deals of the Week.
Remember, deals can change quickly, even while I’m on the programme. So always double-check the terms and conditions before spending. Plus, while I hope these deals will save you cash, don’t spend if you can’t afford it, don’t need it, or won’t use it.
Finally, Earn 3% on up to £6,000 (or £12,000 if a couple) until 2019
Tesco Bank has offered a lifeline to savers. It’s offering 3% savings interest on up to £3,000 with easy access, to its new and existing current account customers (though it's not available in NI). That's treble the rate you can get in a normal savings account. And what’s more is that it's promising the rate won't fall below 3% (though could rise) for two years from April.
While it’s technically a current account (so you’ll be credit scored) not a savings account, to get it you don’t need to switch bank accounts, because unusually it doesn't require a minimum monthly pay-in or require you to set up direct debits - just open it, say no to its switching service, put your money in and use it to store your savings. Plus you can actually have two accounts per person, so if you're in a couple open two each and earn 3% on the full £12k. Note, if you've an old Tesco Clubcard Plus account you can only have one each.
For more options and alternatives on how to boost your savings, including for bigger amounts see Martin’s ‘Full top savings guide’.
P.s You may be worried as last year Tesco Bank was hacked pretty horribly - people had money taken from their accounts and Tesco had to pay out around £2.5m to those customers so they didn't lose cash - but it says it's now taken every step to ensure accounts are secure.
Valentine’s Day deals:
Romance is great. Over-commercialised peer pressure ain’t. Don’t be forced into spending to show your love, so here’s a few quick deals in case you feel the need.
- 2for1 at Starbucks: On Valentine’s Day only you can get 2for1 at Starbucks (most stores excluding in airports, cinemas or hotels) on small, medium or large Valentine's Day drinks, which are Molten Hot Chocolate or Molten Chocolate Frappuccino (normally from £3.15 for a small). There's no voucher needed and the cheapest one will be free.
- Free KFC cappuccino, latte, tea or hot chocolate.This isn’t just for valentines, it’s every day until Sunday 26 February at most KFC stores, if you have the free 'Colonel's Club' app. You can choose any sized coffee, tea or hot chocolate (norm £1.49-£1.75, except Espresso, Caramel or Vanilla Latte). You don’t need to order any food to get the free drink, just open the app in store and the cashier will scan the barcode.
- Supermarket roses £3: If you want to grab a bunch of flowers, as always the supermarkets have them (check local florists too). From this Saturday (11 February) go in-store to Lidl and you can get 12 red sweetheart roses for £3, or Aldi’s bunch is £5, Morrison's £5, Tesco £5 and from Sunday Waitrose is also £5. These are all short-stemmed, standard red roses. Or if you prefer Fairtrade Sainsbury’s have a Fairtrade bunch of red roses for £6.50 and Co-op’s is £10.
- ‘Free’ six-inch Subway:Go into a Subway store between 11am and 7pm on Valentine’s Day only and buy a 500ml bottle of water or large 597ml dispensed drink and you'll get a free six-inch sandwich, you don’t need a voucher. Drinks cost up to £1.50, and with six-inch sandwiches costing up to £4.70 this is a pretty decent saving. But Subway hasn’t confirmed if it’s on all its sandwiches or a selected few. So when you go in just ask what subs you can choose from.
- 20% off Zizzi and Pizza Express on Valentine’s Day.Restaurant vouchers are few and far between for the big night itself, most restaurants have special menus that tend to cost more. There are of course ‘dine in deals’ in most supermarkets ranging from £10 to £20. Yet here’s a trick; you can currently get 20% off Pizza Express and Zizzi gift cards at Tesco (so a £20 one costs £16), which you can then use as cash on Pizza Express’s £17 Valentine’s set dinner and Zizzi’s £20 set dinner.
- Don’t spend cash, spend time.For a really romantic gift why not give your other half a homemade or printed (you can find them online) love voucher so when they redeem it you’ll do whatever it says. For example, it could be to give a 20-minute foot massage, do the washing up, make breakfast in bed or it could be saucier – but I’ll leave that to your imagination.
Last chance for £129 annual Merlin pass:
Right now you can get an annual Merlin pass for £129, rather than the normal £179, which it’ll rise to on Tuesday 14 February. The pass gets unlimited visits to all its 32 attractions, including Legoland, Thorpe Park, Madame Tussauds and Blackpool Tower. If you're buying passes for between three and five people you may qualify for its family rate of £109 per pass (normally £139). As a rough rule of thumb you need to be visiting more than six times in the year for it to beat using 2for1 vouchers that are available. Though, those with Tesco Clubcard vouchers could pay for it with just £50 of those.