A year ago Santander 123 halved its interest to 1.5% – now most should consider ditching it
Update Note: 12/12/2017. I wrote this blog just before November’s base rate rise, predicting then UK rates would rise and Santander 123 wouldn’t follow. Well UK rates did rise, and Santander’s confirmed it won’t follow. So everything below still stands. Some of the alternative accounts and rates have shifted slightly, but most are pretty similar – just click...
Warning: Parents with 2+ children who’ll go to uni, SAVE NOW, the system’s biased against you
The entire premise of our current student finance system is supposed to be “you don’t need cash to pay upfront to go to university!” Yet these days that’s simply not true. Many parents, especially those with more than one child, will need a war chest of possibly £10,000s. This isn’t about tuition fees. University fees are automatically...
The secret of how to pick your new energy provider from a list of firms you’ve not heard of
Comparing energy tariffs is easy. Yet as I’ve learnt over the last year, it’s picking your new supplier from a list of unknown names that is putting many off. So I wanted to bash out a quick blog to show you how to navigate through that. The majority of people in the UK are overspending on energy...
Are student loans broken? What I told Uni Minister Jo Johnson
If you read the papers you’d think the answer is a clear cut yes. I too agree, to an extent. Yet the most commonly quoted problems tend not to be what worries me most, and the things least mentioned can hurt. On Tuesday, MSE organised an event at the Tory party conference, where I debated this subject...
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Recent Blogs
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Martin Lewis: Why you shouldn't worry too much about your credit score – it’s not actually a real thing
14 June 2021![]()
When it comes to finances, numbers are key – whether it's what you earn, your credit card balance or the interest rate on your mortgage, small changes can add up to a big difference. Yet there's one number you shouldn't pay too much attention to – your credit score. -
Martin Lewis VIDEO: Should you pay off your Plan 1 student loan?
18 May 2021![]()
If you started university between 1998 and 2012, or since then in Scotland and Northern Ireland, you'll have a Plan 1 student loan. While much is written about whether those with savings should overpay the current English Plan 2 student loans, there's little out there about Plan 1. I wanted to change that, so here's a video explaining how to decide...
