Martin Lewis: Too many energy smart meters are broken, they need fixing — letter to Ed Miliband, Secretary of State for Energy
Complaints about smart meters are through the roof. Too many people tell me theirs are broken. Others refuse to have them and feel companies are forcing them. I'm generally in favour of the concept of smart meters, though I think the way they've been rolled out since the start has been dire. Things need to change, so today I sent this open letter to the new Labour Government's Energy Secretary of State, Ed Miliband...
Martin Lewis: Get £100s of credit back from your energy firm – it's all about the Direct Debit cycle…
Energy firms are said to be sitting on over £3 BILLION of our cash, building up this huge reservoir from the two-thirds of homes who pay by monthly Direct Debit. Yet right now, May, is the PERFECT TIME to stop the rip-off and get that money back – it's all about understanding the Direct Debit cycle.
Martin Lewis: What happened to my pledge to give £10m to charity – 2022 update (spoiler: it's now £20m)
Nearly a decade ago, in June 2012, MSE joined the MSM Group and I pledged £10m to go to charity. As that was a public pledge and I feel I've a duty of transparency, every year or two I bash out a blog report to explain where I'm up to, and who's got what money.
Martin Lewis: Should I move my Help to Buy ISA into a Lifetime ISA?
Which is better, the Help to Buy ISA (H2B ISA) or the Lifetime ISA (LISA)? I'm asked this all the time. No wonder, as they both offer an unbeatable, no-brainer 25% bonus for first-time buyers saving in them – yet there are some big differences, so I've bashed out an answer...
Martin Lewis: This is why I set up a charity…
Last week I got an email with the board papers for the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute (MMHPI) charity trustees board meeting (which I chair). I set up the charity in 2016, and have funded it since, with its aim to come up with policies and ideas to break the marriage made in hell between mental health problems, money and debt.
Martin Lewis: A glimmer of hope for excluded new-starter self-employed
In March, at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, the Chancellor was rightly lauded for putting together decades' worth of financial support measures in days. Millions of people, then and since, have had their incomes covered in a desperate time. Yet that has created a society of the helped and helped-nots. Up to three million people have been excluded from specific support schemes.
The recession’s over … it’s recovery time!
Great news isn’t it? Listening to yesterday’s budget, the political buzz-phrase that kept ringing out was “as we proceed to recovery”. Isn’t language marvellous? We went from boom-time, to downturn, then recession lasted a week, and now we’re “heading to recovery”.
Starting to convert the family…
They say the last to recognize a prophet are those closest. And while I’m certainly no prophet, I’ve been accused of MoneySaving zealotry many times, and predictably my family are the toughest to persuade.
ING Direct… A crash, a burn, a sell-out all in one!
You have to hand it to ING Direct; first it sold out its customers by continually allowing its rates to drop, now it’s put the rate up, and left its old “no tricks” branding out in the cold.
1 October 2024
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Martin: 'Get off the Energy Cap'
'You're overpaying'
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Two FREE £175 bank switches
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Winter Fuel Payments legal bid
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Martin Lewis: Is it time to ban unnecessary Christmas presents?
17 September 2024Update 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...