“So glad you told me to try to reclaim PPI again, I got £10,400”
Mrs MSE and I went out for dinner (it was date night) in a local restaurant the other day. As one of the waiters bounded up to say hello, I remembered we’d been there a year before and he’d told me how he’d tried to reclaim PPI. The bank had said no, so he’d given up. At...
“Once I’ve got a student loan, can the government change the terms?”
Invariably after giving a talk on how student finance 2012 will work, a hand pops up and asks: "can a government change the terms on my loan after I’ve taken it out?". Well, the New Zealand government has done just that, and that may increase those worries. As head of the snappily titled Independent Taskforce on Student...
Parking ticket appeal upheld WITHOUT a fight
I’m slightly stunned. I’ve had unfair parking tickets before, I’ve fought them, I’ve won. But this time – well, it was all thankfully a bit easy really. So if you get an unfair ticket, let it be inspiration to not just pay up, but explain.. Note, this is a personal blog. For step-by-step help on unfair council...
Smoking peace pipes with the Money Advice Service
The Money Advice Service (MAS) is the official agency tasked with closing the advice and knowledge gaps people have about financial services. It also has a new role distributing public funds for debt advice to the various non-profit debt counselling agencies. In June I was asked to give evidence to a Treasury Select Committee investigation on it....
Nerdvana: The important maths of supermarket self-service checkout queue speed.
My heart sank a touch on Tuesday at the potentially dire state of public maths. While queuing at the supermarket, there were two neighbouring banks of self-service tills each with six people queuing. The issue? One had four tills, the other two. This blog is dedicated to the inspiration that is Dr Sheldon Cooper It seems many...
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....
26 September 2023
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Martin: It's Meter Reading Week
His 9 energy need-to-knows
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Martin's savers alert
After base rate freeze
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Grab 1.5yrs' FREE family insurance
Travel, mobile & breakdown
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FREE Greggs pizza slice & hot drink
Normally up to £4
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14,000 Vax codes
Incl £400 cordless for £100
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Mortgage rates are falling
Is now the time to fix?
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Now FOUR banks pay you to switch
Up to a FREE £210
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Recent Blogs
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Martin Lewis: Is it time to ban unnecessary Christmas presents?
11 September 2023![]()
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: Five things all new English university starters should know
4 September 2023![]()
The 2023 academic year is about to start, and it'll see the biggest shake-up to student finance in England for a decade. The changes are both subtle and massive. On the surface they look like a tweak, in practice they will increase the eventual cost of going to university by over 50% for many typical graduates.
