Is it wrong to work at a cinema or be a binman?
Picture the scene. It’s a TV talent show on one of the big channels. A talented young person’s fought through to the finals and is desperate to sing or perform. The producer doing the talking in the head interview finds out the person used to work at a cinema / McDonald’s / a bar… We all know...
Q. If a 4% mortgage goes up by 0.25%, what’s the new rate?
Did you answer 4.25%? If so you’ve have fallen into a trap many newspapers, TV and radio programmes do (and occasionally us here on MSE, too). It’s all about the difference between a percentage increase and a percentage point increase. Recently I was explaining this to some of the more recent MSE team recruits, and thought it...
If you were NCP, how’d you explain its Olympic price doubling?
NCP has increased the price of parking in 38 of its 104 London car parks, and in some case prices are as much as doubling (see the NCP car park Olympics hike MSE News story). While this is aggravating and expensive, it’s a business decision that it has decided to undertake, obviously believing it can get away...
Top 10 UK brands: MoneySavingExpert.com overtakes Apple
It seems the site’s ‘brand buzz’ has jumped in the mid-year rankings. In January I wrote that we’d joined the big boys in the Brand Index buzz rankings (see MSE cracks top 10 brands) – quite an achievement for our team of around 40, compared to the 10,000s of the rest. Well a friend’s just emailed me...
Just called 101 for the first time – great idea
I’ve just made my first call on the relatively new police local 101 number. It’s a great concept. I’ve often grappled in the past over whether things are worth calling 999 about, yet this time I had no qualms. I blogged last year about whether it is right to call 999 over a matress in the road....
It’s time to admit my first BBC appraisal contained the blueprint for MSE
"What does it take to build a website as big as MSE?" It’s a question I’ve been asked a lot recently. So it’s time to reveal that the blueprint was in my very first BBC appraisal. Let me tell you the story… Having left financial PR in the 1990s to take a postgraduate in broadcast journalism at...
Latest MoneySaving Tips
-
MSE Autoswitch launchesLet us do it all for you
-
'Secret' shoe outletsEg, £21 Puma trainers
-
NS&I slashes savingsWhat to do?
-
New 29mth 0% debt-shift cardPlus NOW check your chances for top cards
-
'Can I get a refund on £9k tuition fees...''...if my course is now online?'
-
£150 make-up bundle for £3424-piece
-
BT Sport & BT TV hikeYour rights
-
Biggest upfront bank switch bribesUp to £125 FREE
-
Hoover cordless vacuum cleaners 30% offEg, £200 version now £140 del
-
£5 off when you recycle clothesAt M&S, H&M etc
-
New. Hot 64GB iPhone SE deal with 4GB dataNO upfront cost
-
9 new coronavirus need-to-knowsAs UK returns to 'level 4' alert
Recent Blogs
-
Is it time to ban Christmas presents?
14 September 2020
Update September 2017: It’s eight years since I first braved this subject, expecting a snowstorm of protest. Instead, year after year more join in, like Julia who recently tweeted me, “@MartinSLewis, finally took your advice and told my family I can’t afford Christmas presents. What a weight off my mind. Thank you.” One year even the Archbishop of... -
Martin Lewis: I confess, I did a 'decoy effect' experiment on my Twitter and Facebook followers… and it may be why they're buying more Jaffa Cakes
7 September 2020
Behavioural economics is a powerful science. Some retailers are undoubtedly using it to make us pay more to get less. One element is the 'decoy effect' – where a higher-priced item is sold, to make items next to it look like bargains. So I wanted to do a little experiment to test it -
Martin Lewis: Payment holidays extended – but should you take one? Mortgages, credit cards, loans, payday loans, car finance and more
11 August 2020
Within the last week, we've seen the extension of coronavirus credit card, personal loan and overdraft help to 31 October 2020, with mortgage payment holidays already extended. The regulator's other help schemes are also likely to be extended too, including car finance and payday loans, yet should you do it?
