Martin’s Blog…

Having just told the team at MSE Towers this story, they tell me I should blog it, so here goes. When I was writing the first edition of the Money Diet, the writing was fun, but the editing process was hellish. I finally got to a point where I simply couldn’t face going through it again to do a final tweak having been through with a fine tooth comb again and again (and again). Yet I knew I had to do one final read through before submitting it to the publisher.

Now at this point I realised that one of the times I truly do concentrate on editing a document is when sitting on the Tube; as there are no distractions (and it’s never wise to look at people). So during the middle of the day I headed to Notting Hill with just the fare in my pocket and no mobile (so I couldn’t change my mind) and got on the Circle line (for those who never venture to London, it is a track that just goes in one long Circle) and sat down to start work. A couple of hours later I arrived back at Notting Hill with a finished manuscript.

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Yesterday was a rather strange day at MSE Towers, for our Richard was suddenly much taller than expected. The first thing you need to understand is he’s a bit of an extreme sports nut, so we spend time listening to regaled stories of paragliding and helicopter skiing and other things that make the rest of us mere mortals blanche. Yet nothing to compete with yesterday…

Having roller-bladed miles through busy London streets to get to the Towers, he realised he hadn’t actually brought any other footwear to change into. So, rather than unleash his smelly socks, he spent the whole day traversing from desk to desk on wheels, resembling something out of Boogie Nights. Luckily while he wasn’t looking I managed to capture the following two pics of the absurdity on my phone!

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I just received this press release from the Nationwide….

“WHO LAUNCHED THE UK’S FIRST INTERNET BANK?

Nationwide Building Society has received some enquiries from journalists who have been confused by Royal Bank of Scotland’s news release claiming to have been the first bank to provide an internet banking service. In order to avoid any confusion, Nationwide Building Society was the first UK provider to launch an internet banking service on 27 May 1997. Royal Bank of Scotland launched its online banking service in June 1997.”

‘Nuff said

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Old memories were stirred this week… whilst rewriting the maximise your old Tessa cash article this week I couldn’t resist using my old ‘Mature Tessa’ character that I used to do on Simply Money TV as the picture to illustrate it.

Back then (2000-2001) I’d start and end each ‘Deal of the Day’ with what I think can be loosely termed a comedy money sketch, generally involving one of about 30 different characters I used to poorly act (Tessa was the only female one… don’t worry it wasn’t all me in drag!). I loved doing them, and it was a challenge to write, produce and perform a new one each day on top of the MoneySaving research.

Some worked really well, others died on their bum, but overall it was fun to do. Sadly I’ve now realised I think those days are long gone, as I’ve moved up the eschelons of TV, my reputation has become more serious and I don’t think it’s appropriate anymore for me to do the ‘dressing up’ . Luckily though I still have some tapes to remember them by.

And the following video, which is edited highlight of my ‘Comedy Capers’ is permanently placed in the site’s gallery. Ah well, they were the days.

I saw an ad on the TV for Rosetta Stone, which is a foreign language course. Now this caught my eye immediately as I’ve always been fascinated by the real Rosetta Stone which is housed in the British Museum and is a wonderful mix of history and linguistic science (read the link to find out more).

This Rosetta Stone Company is one of those computerised language courses; what was interesting about it though was the “Money-back Guarantee. Every Rosetta Stone CD-ROM is backed by an unconditional six-month guarantee. If you’re not satisfied with the progress you’re making, we’ll return your money, no questions asked.” This is a great offer, and while sadly the terms and conditions don’t seem to be actually written on its website, we have to take the ‘no-quibble’ bit at face value.

When I look at these things I think it’s always important to try and “think through the logic” of how it can make such an offer. In this case the main factor seems to me that the business is based on the fixed-costs of making the course. This is an international company with a US service too, so it’s likely it has huge volumes, and once its done a course that’s it. It then charges £139 for the courses, a serious wedge.

Yet once the course is made all the other costs - ie making and distributing the CD-Rom are small- a couple of quid at most- so it’s all about paying off the fixed costs and due to that it can take the risk that most people who buy the course, even if they don’t use it, will be too lazy, forgetful or apathetic to return it. I’m sure some actuary somewhere has calculated the risk return pricing model. Of course it does leave itself open to people getting the CD-Rom, learning the language and then saying it didn’t work for them; though most people are fundamentally honest so I doubt that’d happen too often.

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PS this isn’t a recommendation. Please don’t think this post implies any recommendation for Rosetta Stone - I was just interested in its marketing; I have no idea about the product, but over £100 certainly sounds pricey. If you are looking for this type of thing, it’s worth being aware there are free language course downloads available.

I’ve just been sent a link to the GM-TV website, where my appearance along side Angela Knight (boss of the British Bankers Association) on Bank Charges reclaiming seems to have made their clip of the week section called ‘Bank Charges Row: Martin Lewis goes head to head with the banks’. Angela Knight, who is an ex-Conservative cabinet minister, and I have appeared together on this a good few times before and it’s always rather polemic and adversarial.

While I’m a TV pro, I do get very involved in my subject, especially when I hear what I believe is corporate spin trying to override an issue; and having been through this now so many times with Angela, I find it very frustrating. There’s a political technique called “talking the issue out” which means if you know it’s a five minute interview, you talk for five minutes and don’t allow any questions.

I’ve seen this discussed as a bust up - I wouldn’t quite go that far, though I do wear my heart on my sleeves sometimes. I never particularly watch myself back like that, but if I didn’t get as involved in the subject I suppose I wouldn’t be doing what I do now.

As I’ve had so many comment on it, I suppose I should put a link in the blog. If you want to watch it, go to “Watch GM-TV” and then click “Bank Charges Row” at the moment the first thing you’ll see before the video is an advert for ’stool softening’; I don’t know if someone’s trying to tell me something.

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PS. If the above link doesn’t work anymore, you may be able to get the video via this one

According to a report on BBC News a district judge has ruled against allowing someone to reclaim bank charges.

What we do know is, there’s no need to panic

The first thing to say is there’s no cause for panic. This is not a precedent setting case (in other words no other court has to look at this decision and follow it). Across the country the banks are still paying out many tens of thousands a day (see bank charges success reports).

My strong suspicion is this is an anomalous result in an empty court room; the senior lawyers, including judges, I’ve spoken to tend to hold with the case that Bank Charges are unlawful. While admittedly the banks have now re branded penalty charges as ‘account fees’ this doesn’t change the fact that they’re a disproportionate penalty and should be struck out.

This specific case is the one rare occasion where the bank’s seem to have got lucky with a sympathetic judge. Thankfully they’ve not been lucky in all the other cases with many judges slamming the banks for their tactics. It’s a shame for Mr. Berwick but it doesn’t have any real impact on the other cases… the call is the same: keep on reclaiming like the many 100,000s elsewhere who’ve done it successfully. Remember even in this one exceptional case, as it’s the small claims system, he doesn’t have to pay the banks costs; he just doesn’t get a payout.

What went wrong?

By all accounts not too much. What happened here wasn’t that different to many other cases - the bank put in a defence, was allocated a date, put in a pro-forma response and didn’t turn up in court. Whereas most judges have thrown out the cases at this point; this Judge, for some reason, decided to question the claimant himself and then interpreted the terms and conditions himself. Frankly it’s just one of those exceptional things that can happen; for more on this read this interesting post over on the Consumer Action Group website from its co-founder Marc Gander.

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Does anyone know Mr. Berwick?

At this point though, does anyone know Mr. Berwick? I think he should appeal, and if that is a problem financially for him, I would happily consider helping him do so. Please ask him to get in touch.

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Read a full PDF file of the judgement

I’ve just been talking to some TV colleagues about my holiday; they were surprised that I’d “stayed in a decent hotel” – after all “you’re the Money Saving Expert… I thought you’d have been in a tent?” Personally I don’t see the conflict: I’ve always maintained MoneySaving is about maximising the way you live. It’s for this reason I have different spending mantras for those who are skint and those who aren’t (the latter being “will I use it, is it worth it, can I find it cheaper anywhere else?”).

By being efficient and canny with your money, MoneySaving should enable you to have a better not worse lifestyle. So it makes sense I stayed in a decent hotel, I’m not in debt and can afford it, and I ensured I got it as cheaply as possible (a great deal in fact, but that’s another story). There is no conflict here. MoneySaving isn’t about being tight; it’s about putting controls in place to ensure a) you spend within your means and b) you get more but pay less.

This publicly perceived conflict, while incorrect, is something I often ponder. Occasionally when putting the weekly e-mail together there will be things that are juxtaposed. For example the debt help: what to do if you’ve problem debts article next to a ‘32″ LCD TV for £320′ note. On the surface this looks incongruous, yet this site has 3 million users; a very broad church. Nearly half are debt free (according to past polls). Thus these things cater for different audiences - of course a £320 LCD TV is a saving if you were going to buy one anyway and pay double - yet it isn’t a saving if you can’t afford it and don’t need it.

When I do these high value bargains, I always include a reminder of the Money Mantras to make people question whether they can afford to spend the cash. It’s a difficult balance, but ultimately it has to be about showing people about responsible spending. I’ve never been a ‘frugal’ expert.

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A bit off my usual topic, but I thought I’d quickly blog on Stuart Pearce. As a Manchester City supporter (born within a couple of miles from Maine Road) I’ve mixed feelings. I hope we’re not throwing the baby out with the bath water (as football, cliché’s are allowed.). It does remind me somewhat of when Peter Reid was sacked when City were riding high in the top half of the Premiership - soon after we were in Division 2. I hope history won’t repeat itself.

Yet an injection of cash is needed, and Pearce’s departure seems to have hastened that. City’s huge debts have crippled its ability in the transfer market for years, and the hope is that’ll now change (I’m resisting the temptation to start talking about personal debt in relation). So having paused for Pearce, hopefully it’s onwards and upwards.

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This is my last blog before disappearing for a break. And wow, am I tired enough to go. It’s been a rollercoaster since the start of the year, what with Council Tax Reclaiming and then Bank Charges Reclaiming coverage on top of all my broadcasting and newspaper commitments. I think I’ve rarely done less than a 70 hour week and I’m knackered! So I can’t wait to disappear away with the MSG and get some sun and some rest.

It’s quite interesting going away these days, as of course there’s still a whole team left in MSE Towers. Whereas in the past I used to have to pre-write the weekly email and keep it quite limited, now there’s no need to do that. I’ve finished all the main articles for the weekly email and I’ve been through the major stuff that’s going to come through (about nine main items). Yet all the other things, spotting the last minute deals and any top links from the forum, I’m going to leave in the trusty hands of my senior researchers - Jenny, Dan and Archna ably backed up by Lawrence and Wendy.

This isn’t easy for me, as capable as they are, I’m a control freak and love to make every decision, especially of anything to do with the website, which is my baby. Yet at some stage you have to let go. So while I will want to do a final read through of the email before it’s sent, for the first time I’m going to take a backseat. I must admit I’m very proud that I’ve managed to build such a talented team. When I set up the on my own in 2003; I would never have imagined that.

See you in a week (well I may pop in on occasion - the beauty of wireless broadband and a laptop!)

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I’m off on holiday for a week. As part of my new, slightly greener lifestyle, I now carbon off-set when I fly; after-all as I’m using the right methods to get the flight as cheaply as possible I am prepared to do a little towards the environment. Of course, I’m aware carbon offsetting doesn’t really wipe-out the damage done, but it is a step in the right direction; and as I’ve also now eschewed UK flights for filming over the last year instead of the train, I’m at least trying.

This time round though, I felt a little chagrin. I went through the list of companies offering the service, which I list in my Cheap Flight Finding article to find the cheapest (if they’re off-setting the same amount you may as well pay the least) and then paid out. To my surprise three days later I received a large envelope containing a certificate, a letter, and two manufactured luggage tags so I could ‘proudly’ display that I was carbon neutral.

What nonsense! I didn’t do it to wear a badge, I did it to try and help the environment. How much unnecessary paper and manufacturing went into making that stuff, that I’ll never use and never asked for?

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One of my best friends, Barbara, was interviewed for the back page of the Sunday Times last week; the section that does a money profile of celebrities. Could she have been any more obvious as a MoneySaver? She starts off by mentioning the old ‘Barclaycard 0% for life’ loophole from a few years ago and continues along similar routes. She proudly admits later on too that she uses the site for looking after her cash - Go Babs!

And on that line I should also note the, “She lives in west London with her fiancé, Mark” this was quick moving as he only became the fiancé four days before the article was published. So I’ll take the opportunity to say congratulations to you both and wishing you a wonderful life together.

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