The Lords mustn’t miss the chance to treat payday ads like gambling or alcohol
Payday lenders want to financially groom the next generation of borrowers. They’ve plastered their adverts on children’s TV channels and family TV shows, used puppets and kid-friendly slogans, and even had people in Disney-esque costumes handing out lollipops in the streets. These ads pressurise parents with pester power This is a danger for our entire society. It pressurises parents...
A staggering 10,000,000 now on the Martin’s Money Tips weekly email list – thank you
In 2002 I began to send tips to my friends, as and when I spotted a good deal, and jokingly used the subject line ‘Martin’s Money Tips’. It went to about 40 people and it was only done when I discovered some info I couldn’t use in my then Sunday Express column, or on Open House with...
Why David Cameron writing for MoneySavingExpert is not ‘bonkers’, ‘biased’ or ‘showing your true colours’
According to some on Twitter today I’ve been "duped". That’s because David Cameron has written a guest piece for the site called ‘We will give pensioners security and dignity’. He asked if he could do it and we said, "why not?" After all, part of what MoneySavingExpert.com is about is providing a forum for people to engage...
It seems an ISA is nicer than a NISA – so we’re going to call them ISAs
Last March in the Budget, the Chancellor announced ISAs were to become new ISAs, or NISAs. The main changes were a bigger £15,000 limit, the ability for all of it to be cash savings (so more than doubling the tax-free savings cash limit in effect) and the ability to convert old shares ISAs into cash ISAs. The...
Shame on you Virgin – using a hokey-cokey marketing trick to spam you
Richard Branson’s Virgin brand is supposed to pride itself on treating its customers right. Whether it lives up to it in practice is open to question, but I was shocked to see what I suspect is a deliberate attempt by the Virgin Atlantic credit card to befuddle consumers into signing up to its marketing, effectively a spammer’s...
Are mortgage affordability rules stopping you getting a cheap remortgage?
Over the last year the regulator has introduced stringent affordability rules on mortgage lending. These check all of your incomings and outgoings to see if you can repay not just at today’s rate but at rates of 6% or 7%. The laudable aim is to try and robustly protect you from overcommitting in the event of an...
Green energy is surprisingly unpopular
Last week we launched the MSE Big Winter Switch Event – a collective switch where we’ve used the huge user base of this site to negotiate what are mostly cheaper than the cheapest energy tariffs. While all the deals are hot, by far the hottest compared to its peers is the Green Tariff, yet while the event...
Latest MoneySaving Tips
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MSE Autoswitch launchesLet us do it all for you
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'Secret' shoe outletsEg, £21 Puma trainers
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NS&I slashes savingsWhat to do?
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New 29mth 0% debt-shift cardPlus NOW check your chances for top cards
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'Can I get a refund on £9k tuition fees...''...if my course is now online?'
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£150 make-up bundle for £3424-piece
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BT Sport & BT TV hikeYour rights
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Biggest upfront bank switch bribesUp to £125 FREE
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Hoover cordless vacuum cleaners 30% offEg, £200 version now £140 del
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£5 off when you recycle clothesAt M&S, H&M etc
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New. Hot 64GB iPhone SE deal with 4GB dataNO upfront cost
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9 new coronavirus need-to-knowsAs UK returns to 'level 4' alert
Recent Blogs
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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?
