We’ve taken the first steps towards getting the MoneySavingExpert charity up and running. We had a rather long meeting about it (Tax Tony is a stickler for getting everything technically right) and we’re now at the stage where everything is ready, charitable status is being sought and we’re looking at how it will work. The basic idea...

Thought it would be worth jotting down a typical day at the moment. Partly for me so I can remember, for posterity, what it was like. Got up at 8.15. Read the papers (the site/me were on front page of Telegraph and in the Indie, so wanted to see what was said) By 9am was on the...

On Saturday morning at 9.33am, the millionth person joined the site’s email list. It’s an incredible achievement and I’m slightly gobsmacked by it – it happened to also coincide with the site’s fourth birthday (read about how the site started). I can’t thank enough everyone who’s told people about the site. I remember when we hit 100,000...

Yesterday was one of those ‘need to be in seven places at the same time’ days. For one trip I had a mini-cab booked to take me from one place to another. When I checked the fare at the end of the journey, he told me it would cost £10; all I had on me was a...

I’ve just been filming a segment of the programme on Bank Charges on reclaiming unlawful penalty charges for ITV1 Tonight next friday night. I was at the Oxo tower in london, which was being used as a back-drop for interviewing a Professor of Banking. When I walked out with the film crew, we got back to the...

It very rarely happens that one bank is top of the table for more than one product. Even more rarely that it’s one of the big high street banks. Yet bravo to HSBC – its got the top paying savings account (for those saving less than £5,000 who’ll rarely withdraw it see Top Savings Accounts) and its...

This week I wrote the Bank Charges reclaiming when you’re overdrawn article to run alongside the main bank charges article. The article is a text book solution of how to manipulate the financial system to enable you to reclaim charges even with an overdraft. The problem is the solution, followed without discipline, runs the risk of showing...

The new inflation rate came out this morning, and it’s dropped slightly compared to last month. This reminded me of a common mistake that many people make when they hear interest rates are rising; it’s actually an indication that the economy is too strong. So I thought I’d see if I can manage to do what my...

I’ve just discovered one of the hidden (to me anyway) delights near where I live. Walking down Portobello road is the Humming Bird Bakery, a cupcake shop. The MSG took me there, and I was shocked to see a long queue trailing outside. Now I’m normally more of a chocolate than a cake man, so the appeal...

I’ve just been outside MSE Towers filming a quick news clip for an ITV regional programme. As we’re doing it, a man comes sauntering up the street, with a beeny cap on, and starts shouting “narrh, you ain’t filming me for Crimewatch again are ya?…” then he spots me and goes, “ah, I recognise ‘im, he’s the...