MSE’s Money Tips URGENT tax back, ISAs & beat Apr price hikes; free Corona; Child Benefit WIN; 132Mb broadband £18/mt

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From: MSE's Money Tips - Tuesday Mar 12, 2024 08:33 pm
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Plus... we hit 1m car finance complaints; 5.27% savings; new top overseas card; beat eBay fee hike
                                                           
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 12 March 2024 | View in browser
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Martin: Urgent - steal a March on April
16 must-do NOWs before the coming April deadlines hit...

Urgent tax reclaims: Marriage tax | PPI tax | tax (er, tax)
The Budget: New tax & NI calc | Child Benefit WIN | childcare news
Beat price hikes incl: Council tax | stamps | mobiles
Savers - use or lose: Top cash ISAs | LISAs (for 1st time buyers)

Martin Lewis, MSE founder. Find out more about Martin on his official MSE biography page.Last April saw financial storms not showers. Things have marginally abated, but the cost of living crisis is still peeing down on the nation's bank accounts, and it's April when things usually get worse. Price hikes for public utilities happen, tax allowances close, yet if you know what's coming, you can act in advance to mitigate the damage, or even benefit - so steal a March on April.

Plus, last week's Budget has changed a few things too (watch my easy Budget explainer), so there's a lot to go through...

Urgent tax reclaims: Go quick to reclaim 4yrs
With a number of tax allowances you can claim back four tax years before the current one. So that means when the new tax year starts on 6 April we SAY BYE-BYE TO THE 2019/20 TAX YEAR (specifically 6 Apr 2019 to 5 Apr 2020), so to claim anything from then, do it now. 

1. Married or in civil partnership? Apply for marriage tax allowance now or lose up to £250. Around 2.1 million couples eligible for the marriage tax allowance don't get it. Are you... 

- Married or in a civil partnership (just cohabiting doesn't count)?
- Is one a non-income-taxpayer, the other a basic 20% taxpayer?

The non-taxpayer can give £1,260 of their tax-free allowance to their tax-paying spouse. That reduces the non-taxpayer's tax-free allowance to £11,310, and increases the taxpayer's to £13,830, up from £12,570. Image links to our full marriage tax allowance guide.If yes to both, the non-taxpayer can apply to shift 10% of their £12,570 tax-free allowance to their spouse, so they can now earn £1,260 more (it's rounded up) without paying 20% tax on it. That's a gain of £252 per tax year.

Once you're signed up, it's automatically paid year after year. If you've been eligible since 2019/20 you can backdate it for a gain of £1,260, but go quick, or you'll lose the earliest year. Full help to claim is in our Marriage tax guide.

As Jenny emailed: "I always check my emails from Martin and read about marriage tax allowance. I found it simple to apply. It took minutes and, to our amazement, we were posted a cheque for nearly £1,000! Thank you!"

Almost everyone eligible will gain, bar the rare circumstance where the non-taxpayer almost earns the £12,570/yr needed to pay tax and the taxpayer only just earns over this. See rare case where it's counter-productive.

2. PPI RECLAIMING ENDED 5YRS AGO... for many who got payouts then, it's your last chance to get the tax back. The deadline to reclaim PPI was 29 August 2019, slap bang in the middle of the tax year we're about to lose, so it's no surprise it was a huge year for PPI payouts. Here's how it works:

- PPI reclaims paid you back what you paid in, plus
- An added 8% annual statutory interest
- This statutory interest counts as savings interest for tax purposes
- So 20% taxpayers can earn £1,000/yr interest tax-free (£500/yr at 40%)
- Yet unlike savings, with PPI, 20% tax is automatically deducted

So MOST HAD TAX TAKEN OFF BUT NEEDN'T HAVE PAID IT. My reclaim PPI tax blog shows you how to get it back. In Feb, the CatsWhiskers tweeted us: "Claimed £12.5k in PPI, then a further £750 in tax. Thank you."

PS: There's a PPI group legal claim which aims to reclaim another £18bn of PPI, in some cases even if you've already received a partial payout.

3. Is your tax code wrong? Millions are - check now. A tax code is a series of letters & numbers, eg, 1257L, which tells your employer/pension provider what tax to deduct. It's YOUR RESPONSIBILITY, not HM Revenue & Customs', nor your employer's, to check if it's wrong, and if it is, it can mean you're overpaying, and are due cash back. You've until 5 April to do so for 2019/20. Full help via our Free Tax Code Calc.

4. Tax back if you wear a recognisable uniform to work. Even if it's just a branded T-shirt, if you wash or repair it yourself, you can likely claim a tax rebate. The minimum allowance is £60/yr (so worth £12/yr for a basic 20% taxpayer, £24 for a higher 40% payer). Go quick to backdate to 2019/20 via Uniform tax rebate free help.

 The Budget's April changes you need to know about
Martin's instant Budget analysis. Image links to our news story where you can find Martin's full reaction video. In probably his last Budget (maybe I could stop there) before the general election, the Chancellor announced some things that directly impact people's pockets (as opposed to indirect impacts, eg, economic & public spending, which aren't my bag)...

5. National insurance (NI) cut for the employed & self-employed. NI is a form of tax that only applies to earned income (as opposed to benefit, pension or investment income).

Short version: Our updated Income Tax & National Insurance Calc shows what your new 2024/25 tax year take-home pay will be.

Long version: NI rates will be cut again, which viewed in isolation, means workers will take home more.

- Employees: On 6 Jan the rate dropped from 12% to 10%, and the Budget now means on 6 Apr it'll drop again, to 8%. This applies to income between £12,570 and £50,270. It's worth roughly £200 for someone on £22,250, £450 on £35,000 and £750 for all those who earn over £50,270. See employee NI changes for full help. 

- Self-employed: On 6 Apr the main class 4 NI rate will be cut from 9% to 6% (it had been planned to drop to 8%, the extra's from the Budget), plus the £3.45/wk class 2 contributions become free too. See self-employed NI changes for full info.

6. ... BUT fiscal drag (frozen tax thresholds) eats some back. NI and income tax thresholds have been frozen since 2021 (slight changes in Scot) while earnings and especially prices have risen. The result... more of people's income goes to tax. This way of increasing tax revenue is called 'fiscal drag'. 

It's estimated that even after NI cuts, workers who earn under £26,000 and over £60,000 will be worse off in 2024/25. Those in between will be better off (especially those nearing £50k); those who don't work (eg, pensioners and those with unearned income) will mainly pay more tax. (Source: Institute for Fiscal Studies.)

7. A WIN. Welcome Child Benefit changes to come. It's easiest to watch my video explainer, yet in brief... in 2013 the high-income Child Benefit charge was introduced, meaning you start to lose Child Benefit once a (or either) parent earns £50,000+ (that's still the same threshold today, so many more are impacted). 

This is structurally unfair for single-parent and single or dominant-earner families (eg, a single parent earning £60,000 doesn't get it; next door, the parents both earn £49,000 and get the full amount).

Anger over this meant it was by far the biggest single issue you asked me to raise with the Chancellor before I interviewed him for my show in Jan. I told him that & pushed him on it (watch it here) and I spoke to him privately on Budget day and he then told me it was this and the follow-up letter, and knowing how big an issue people felt it, that tipped the balance. Two changes are coming...

a) From Apr '26 it 'should' move to household income. After a consultation, Child Benefit should from then be assessed on household income, not just the highest earner's income.

b) From 6 Apr '24 thresholds will increase. In the interim the threshold you start to lose Child Benefit at will increase for the first time since 2013, from £50,000 to £60,000 and the point where you in effect don't get any will rise from £60,000 to £80,000.

Many have tweeted me about this, such as burnem1983: "Well done @MartinSLewis, I'm going to be about £2,000/yr better off. I appreciate there are people worse off, but as a single-income family we aren't exactly living the high life, so I can now work overtime without paying 70% effective tax. Thanks."

For more details including how to opt back in to it, see new Child Benefit rules. As it's pretty much what I asked him to do, I want to thank the Chancellor for listening on this specific issue (if you campaign & they deliver it's important to acknowledge it - or they're less likely to do something next time).

8. Got a 2 year old child? From April 2024, eligible parents will have access to 15 hours of 'funded' childcare. OK, this was last year's Budget, but it didn't fit the other sections, so I'm putting it here. If your child was born at least a year and 36 weeks ago, apply by 31 Mar for funded childcare hours (ie, state funds childcare up to a certain amount - you may need to supplement it).

PS: If you still pay for childcare on top, check out the hideously misnamed Tax-Free Childcare system to get a 20% discount.

9. Changes to debt help, Universal Credit loans, and more. This note's already long, so please jump to our Budget news summary for the other key consumer finance changes.

Savers & 1st time buyers: USE 'EMs or LOSE 'EMs
10. Savers... interest rate rises mean many needlessly pay tax, so use your 2023/24 cash ISA allowance while you can. Adults can put £20,000 into tax-free ISAs each tax year, yet if you don't use the year's allowance you lose it on 5 April. And once it's in a cash ISA it stays tax-free year after year, so some who have maxed it every year now have £100,000s in cash ISAs.

Understanding how ISAs work is a piece of cake...
(I've been doing this analogy since 2001, and it's not stale yet)

Our top cash ISAs guide.Picture a cake, let's say a chocolate one, for cash savings (though it could equally be a strawberry one for shares). Normally it's just sitting there, so the tax collector can come take a bite.

But an ISA wrapper is a protective piece of clingfilm you can wrap around some of the cake. Once your cash is inside, nothing changes - the cash in savings is still cash in savings, the only difference is... now the tax collector can't eat any.

You only pay tax on savings if you earn enough interest. Outside an ISA, savings interest is taxed as income, but the personal savings allowance (PSA) means basic 20% rate taxpayers don't pay tax on the first £1,000/yr interest earned (higher 40% taxpayers £500/yr). Of course as interest rates have risen, you need far less saved to bust the limit. In the top 5.11% easy-access savings...

- A 20% rate taxpayer would earn enough to pay tax with £19,500+ saved.
- A 40% rate taxpayer would earn enough to pay tax with £9,750+ saved.

However, money saved in cash ISAs doesn't count towards your PSA, so you can earn interest there untaxed on top of this. 

Top cash ISAs (AER) Top normal savings (AER) Easy access - Moneybox 5.11% (min £500)
- Chip 5.1% - Monument 5.11% (min £25k)
- Secure Trust Bank 5.1%
Equivalent to: 
4.1% after 20% tax 
3.1% after 40% tax 1 year fix - OakNorth 5.06%
- Aldermore 5.05% (min £1k) - SmartSave 5.28% (min £10k)
- MBNA 5.27%* (min £1k) 
Equivalent to: 
4.2% after 20% tax 
3.2% after 40% tax


Normal savings usually pay more than cash ISAs. Though of course, on the day I write that, it's a tie for easy access - though not fixes. So if you don't have enough saved to pay tax, a cash ISA isn't (usually) worth it. Yet if you pay tax on savings interest or will soon, cash ISAs are a winner. Just compare them to the equivalent rates on normal savings for those who pay tax, shown in the table.

ISA rules change on 6 April. You'll be able to pay into multiple ISAs of the same type each tax year (eg, two cash ISAs) and do partial transfers of this year's (as well as past years') ISA funds - more in ISA changes.

PS: There are also investment ISAs. It's not really our bag, but you can also protect investments via a stocks & shares ISA - worth noting as the capital gains and dividend tax allowances are being halved on 6 April.

11. Saving for your first home? Max your 2023/24 LISA allowance now, if you can. 

Max your LISA allowance to get £1,000 free. Image links to our full Lifetime ISAs guide.A top Lifetime ISA (LISA) is a powerful tool for first-time buyers' savings (even if you're buying with someone who's owned before). You can save up to £4,000 per tax year and the state adds 25%, so a max £1,000 free cash a year. If you've not filled yours yet, and have the cash, do it before 5 April. Though I've four caveats...

- You have to be aged 18 to 39 to open one.
- You have to have it open a year before you're eligible for the 25% bonus.
- It only works on homes worth under £450,000.
- If you withdraw for any other reason than to buy a qualifying home, or once aged 60, you pay an effective fine of 6.25% of your money to access it.

Chancellor didn't change LISA rules, but there's still hope... 

Pre-Budget, I was pushing the Chancellor to wipe the withdrawal fee for priced-out first-timers now having to buy homes costing over £450,000. I'm gutted for many young people, especially in SE England, that the unfairness - they've done what the state suggested, but now are fined to access their own money - hasn't been fixed. I spoke to the Chancellor about it on Budget day, and he told me the reason he's not doing it was:

"I wanted to do a big home ownership package but that doesn't work until property prices are definitely rising and I still have to keep an eye on overall borrowing." He also told me: "I want to do more than remove the penalty. I want to reform LISAs." So there's still hope change will come, but not yet sadly.

Beat April's big price rises & hikes...
If only April Fool's Day was the month's most frustrating tradition - sadly each year there's a raft of public service & utility price hikes too.

12. Beat the up-to-13% stamp price rises on 2 April. 1st class stamp prices for letters are set to rise to £1.35 (from £1.25), 2nd class to 85p (from 75p). But buy now and they're valid after, and they're unlikely to drop in price, so stock up on all you'll need in future now - see stamp price rises.

13. Broadband & mobile prices to rise up to 8.8% - yet many can halve costs. Outrageously, firms are allowed to lock people in to above-inflation price rises even mid-contract...

- Broadband: Jump down to our full broadband info below. Millions can halve prices and boost speeds.

- Mobile: Price rises are ubiquitous - many big firms are hiking prices by the full 8%, so see our full firm-by-firm price rise list. Yet 14m people are out of contract and free to move, and while if you do nothing prices are rising, prices for switchers' deals are plummeting. For example, unlimited calls & texts plus...

- 12GB for '£3.95/mth' MSE Blagged - Lebara (uses Vodafone's network), 1mth contract
- 30GB for '£4.50/mth' - iD Mobile (uses Three's network), 12mth contract
- 100GB for '£7.92/mth' - iD Mobile (uses Three's network), 24mth contract

Find the cheapest Sim on your network: Use our Cheap Mobile Finder tool or to stick where you are, see our Mobile phone haggling guide.

14. Council tax bills UP 5% (c. £100/yr) for many on 1 April - are you already overpaying? Most English councils have signalled they'll raise bills the max 5% this year, adding a typical £100/yr for a band D property (a few have been given permission to raise it more). In Wales, it's 5% to 10% (it's mostly frozen in Scot). Little can be done about that, but check...

- Are you one of up to 400,000 in the wrong band? If yours is too high, you could be due a backdated payout of £1,000s plus a lower bill. Try my 10-min council tax check 'n' challenge to see.

- Are you missing out on a discount? This includes those who live alone (or with students/children) | full-time students | those on low incomes | with disabilities | a 'severe mental impairment' (often dementia or severe stroke) | and carers. Full info in Are you due a council tax discount?

15. Water bills UP an average 6% from 1 April. Huge variance here, eg, Hafren Dyfrdwy's rise is 20%, while South West Water's prices won't change. Check firm-by-firm price changes. Yet for those in ENGLAND & WALES, here's my rule of thumb...

More bedrooms in your home than people (so, eg, three bedrooms, two people), or the same number? If so, a water meter is likely to save you cash
Use the water meter calculator to see if you'll save. Find one in our Cut your water bills guide.

As Marie emailed: "My last water bill had risen to £1,600 a year - I took your advice, had a meter installed and now pay just over £250 annually - saving over £1,000 a year." If they say you can't get a water meter, ask for an 'assessed charge'. Plus, there's lots more help, including info on discounted tariffs, in our water savings guide, and some of these work for Scotland too.

16. Energy Price Cap to FALL by an average 12%. The price of energy may be falling but it's still a massive bill. Use our 'What will I pay from April 2024?' Price Cap Calc to help you budget. And many can now switch & save a little, including...

- Undercut the price cap by 3%. Read E.on Next Pledge tariff help.
- Fix for price certainty. See top energy fixes for info & if it's worth fixing.

 
 
DON'T believe the fake 'Martin Lewis' or 'MSE' ads
Lots of scam ads litter social media and even newspaper websites - some of these lie that we or Martin promote Bitcoin, binary trading etc. See Fake ads warning.
 
 
 

Warning: Your broadband cost is likely to rise 8% in April
Yet many can LOCK IN fast fibre for '£18/mth' now

Outrageously, broadband providers are allowed to add above-inflation price rises mid-contract (we're campaigning to change that), meaning millions will see their bills increase near April's start. Our firm-by-firm rises list goes through it in detail, but here are the typical rises from the main providers:

BT, EE & Plusnet 7.9% from 31 March | Sky avg 6.7% from 1 April | TalkTalk 7.7% from 1 April | Virgin Media 8.8% from 1 April | Vodafone 7.9% from 1 April | Shell Energy 6% from 1 April

So if you pay £40 now, you'll pay roughly £43 from April. Yet seven million households are currently out of contract. You don't have to put up with hikes, and can switch providers without penalty. Many can halve prices and double speeds, taking advantage of short-lived promo deals via comparison sites (these links take you to ours), not direct.

New. Virgin Media MSE Blagged
132Mb fibre & line '£18.40/mth'
18-month contract
Cheapest fast 132Mb fibre deal, 'OK' service, available to 60% of homes. Via this Virgin 132Mb link, you pay £23.95/mth and AUTOMATICALLY get £100 bill credit on your first bill, so there's nowt to pay for four months, unless you make calls. Factored in, that's equivalent to £18.40/mth before call costs. Virgin was rated 'OK' in our last service poll (1). Ends 11.59pm Wed. Vodafone
67Mb fibre & line '£23.09/mth'
24-month contract
Cheap 67Mb fibre, with 'good' service, widely available. This Vodafone 67Mb deal is available to 97% of homes. You pay £26/mth, but can CLAIM a £70 Amazon, Tesco, Sainsbury's or M&S voucher (don't forget). Factor that all in and it's equivalent to £23.09/mth before call costs. Vodafone was rated 'good' in our last service poll (1).

PS: It's also worth checking a slightly cheaper Now 100Mb deal at a flat £24/mth, though it will likely increase the price sometime before April 2025.
Ends 11.59pm Thu. Vodafone
500Mb fibre & line '£27.17/mth'
24-month contract
Cheapest superfast 500Mb deal, 'good' service, only available to 40% of homes. Via this Vodafone 500Mb link, you pay £33/mth, but can CLAIM (don't forget) a £140 Amazon, Tesco, Sainsbury's or M&S voucher within four months. Factor that in and it's equivalent to £27.17/mth before call costs. Vodafone's rated 'good' for service (1).
New. Virgin Media
516Mb broadband-only (no line) '£27.45/mth'
18-month contract
Cheap superfast 500Mb deal, 'OK' service, available to 60% of homes. Via this Virgin 516Mb link, you can pay £33/mth and AUTOMATICALLY get £100 bill credit added to your first bill, so there's nowt to pay for four months, unless you make calls. Factored in, that's equivalent to £27.45/mth before call costs. Virgin was rated 'OK' in our last service poll (1).
On Universal Credit or similar benefits? Try a social tariff. Many providers offer special discounted social broadband tariffs which give long-term cheap prices of usually £12.50 to £20/mth for 30Mb+ broadband. Click the link for a full rundown.
Top broadband switcher & line deals (none will raise the price before April 2025)
Deals are postcode-dependent, so links go via our broadband tool which shows if you can get 'em 
To compare, we use 'equivalent costs' - adding all costs, except calls, deducting promo credits & averaging over the contract. (1) Broadband service ratings tend to be worse than other sectors, so all scores are lower, and feedback is relative. For full results, see our broadband service poll.
Don't want to switch? Haggle. If you're out of contract and free to move, you're in a powerful position to haggle. In our December poll, the vast majority of those who'd haggled with the big broadband firms were successful. Use the deals above as a benchmark to help you get your costs down. Not sure how? Read full Broadband haggling tips.

Slow broadband? Test your speed - is it the Wi-Fi or the connection? Do a broadband speed check - first when using Wi-Fi, then by plugging your device into the router (if you can). If Wi-Fi's a lot slower, try our eight speed-boosters.

At least 50% of customers must get the advertised speeds at peak times. The providers above also tell you the estimated max speed you're likely to get before you sign up.

Switching usually only means about two hours' downtime. You're told the switch time, and most don't need an engineer to set it up - though some moving to or from Virgin may (you're told before applying).

Members of cashback sites can sometimes undercut deals. In some cases, the cashback can mean these sites undercut promos elsewhere, though sometimes the deal differs - so check carefully. More in Top cashback sites.
 
We've hit 1,000,000 car finance complaints via our free tool - should you try? That's a staggering 30,000/day since last month's launch. Key info: How to complain | Most complained-to firms | What to do after complaining (provisional).

Trick gets brand NEW Google Pixel 8 for £395 - saving c. £150. Newbies to Voxi (a Vodafone sub-brand) can get the latest Google Pixel for £385.20 (£144 cheaper than we can see elsewhere). You need to buy a Voxi Sim to get it, eg, £10 for 30GB data, but if you get a one-month contract, you can cancel quickly. It's a great way to get the handset cheap, whatever Sim you want to use (though Voxi may pull the deal quickly after this). Want a different handset? See Cheap Mobile Finder.

He's bad! 'Michael Jackson' chases former Together Energy & Igloo Energy customers for debts. Unbelievably, a debt collector has sent letters appearing to be signed by the former 'Prince of Pop'. In some cases debts are owed, in others not - it's not black and white. Martin's written to Govt & regulators to urge clarity. See 'Michael Jackson' debts.

Free £6 Corona, free £3 vegan chicken, free £1.50 Warburtons & more March coupons. Check out our list of 40+ supermarket coupons & cashback. Please be Drinkaware.

Top 1yr fixed 5.27% savings & from a big name. If you can lock money away, the Lloyds-owned MBNA 5.27% AER 1yr fixed* saver (min £1,000) is top, unless you've £10,000+, when SmartSave's 5.28% AER 1yr fix pays a smidge more (10p/yr more per £1,000). More options in Top savings.

FREE (normally £18ish) Ideal Home Show tickets (including see Martin live). From 22 March to 7 April in London. For how to get your tickets and what days Martin's on, see free Ideal Home Show.

£190 Lottie London make-up 'dupes' £34. MSE Blagged. 30 items incl Fenty & Huda Beauty lookalikes. Lottie London.

FREE £200 to switch bank. Sister banks NatWest* & RBS* are still paying accepted switchers a FREE £200 for their Reward accounts, plus £3/mth cashback, which beats Lloyds' FREE £175 plus perks. And this week, HSBC's joined the party. It pays £100 upfront, but - if you'll jump through a few hoops - you can also get an extra £10/mth for up to 12mths. See full info, including crucial ELIGIBILITY criteria, in Top bank accounts.

£37 Barbour prescription specs or sunnies (normally £135). MSE Blagged. Via SpeckyFourEyes code.

IT'S BACK! For a one-off special: The Martin Lewis Money Show Live, 8pm tonight (Tue), ITV1. Over to Martin: "It's a one-off show tonight, to ensure you're tooled up post-Budget and before April hits. I'll be covering Child Benefit, taxes, ISAs, how to beat the price hikes & more. Do watch, spread word, and set the Betamax. (If you miss it, catch up later via ITVX.)"
 
 
 
 

The fight to be top for OVERSEAS SPENDING hots up
New. Halifax Clarity: Perfect rates & pays you £20 
VERSUS Chase: Easy to get, perfect rates & 1% cashback

If you're going abroad, whether speedily sorting for Easter, good early prep for summer, or owt else, be careful - DON'T PAY TO PAY. Whether it's bureaux de change or just using your usual plastic, there are lots of hidden costs. Yet thankfully there's a host of specialist cards for using abroad which give you near-perfect, bureau-beating exchange rates EVERY TIME YOU TRAVEL (so sort now then you needn't do it again), and the competition has just heated up. PS: If you prefer cash, say for budgeting, that's fine - just ensure you do a speedy travel cash comparison to get the best rates.

How specialist overseas spending cards work. Spend on plastic abroad, and the card firms get a near-perfect exchange rate on the day, but most charge a 3%-ish 'non-sterling exchange fee' on top. So spend £100 worth of euros and it costs you £103 - and there can be more fees with some too. The specialist cards don't do this, so you get just the same top exchange rate the bank does, and the £100 costs you £100 (or arguably, with some, less)...
Top cards DEBIT card
Chase Mastercard* via the Chase app CREDIT card
New promo. Halifax Clarity Mastercard. Link goes via our eligibility calc, to show your acceptance odds CREDIT card
Barclaycard Rewards Visa. Link goes via our eligibility calc, to show your acceptance odds Top exchange rates? Yes Yes Yes Must pass credit-check? Limited - just ID-check Yes Yes SPENDING interest None None if you repay IN FULL each month (if not, 23.9% rep APR, so avoid) None if you repay IN FULL each month (if not, 28.9% rep APR, so avoid) SPENDING cashback
 1% (max £15/month) on most UK & overseas spending This is the promo bit. You get £20 when you make your 1st UK or overseas purchase (even just 1p) within 90 days Ongoing 0.25% on most UK & overseas spending CASH WITHDRAWALS - are they fee-free? (1) Yes (but only up to £1,500/month) Yes (up to £500/day) Yes (up to £500/day) CASH WITHDRAWALS - is there interest?  No Yes. 23.9% to 29.9% even if repaid in full, so best to spend on the card instead No, if you repay IN FULL each month (if not, it's up to 31.9%, so avoid) Section 75 protection? No Yes Yes
The top three cards for spending in a foreign currency
(1) These cards may be fee-free, but individual ATMs may not be.

Which is the winning card? Er... it depends. It's a fine call, and all are good, but if you want the analysis...
- The new Halifax cashback is simple, and only takes a banana-swipe to get the £20 (ie, use it to buy a banana at a supermarket). Yet not everyone will be accepted for it.
- Chase is easy to get, though to beat the Halifax £20 you'd need to spend £2,000+ at home & abroad (over more than one month as it's max £15/mth). But that's not a lot, as Chase is the best flat-rate UK cashback card.
- With the credit cards, you use them and are billed later (only do this if you'd pay them off IN FULL). Whereas Chase is a debit card (if it's not your main account, just add cash from your main account).
- The cashback makes Halifax the winning credit card for many. But Barclaycard wins for big spenders who withdraw cash.
- As credit cards, Halifax & Barclaycard have a secret purchase-protection superpower. Buy something costing £100.01 to £30,000 and pay for any of it (even 1p) using one of them, and Section 75 laws mean your card provider's jointly liable with the retailer, so you can go to it direct if things go wrong while spending abroad (or anywhere for that matter). As a debit card, Chase only gives you the lesser, though still useful, chargeback protection.

There are other specialist cards too, but whether it's worth switching is questionable. If you've already got a specialist debit or credit card (eg, First Direct, Starling, Santander 123/World, the NatWest Credit Card, Virgin Money's Travel Card), the above do beat them (generally due to the cashback), but it's marginal so most needn't bother switching.

Always pay in local currency, not pounds. With these cards, you only get the special rate if the card does the conversion. So if overseas ATMs / shops ask, 'Do you want to convert to pounds?', say no. See Martin's Pay in euros blog.

To lock in a rate, get a top prepaid travel card. The cards above give you the top exchange rates on the day you spend. Specialist prepaid cards let you load on to them in advance, and choose the day the currency's converted. So you're taking a punt on how you think rates will move. App-only Revolut* costs £4.99 (for the physical card, the digital one's free) and gives the perfect interbank rate midweek on up to £1,000 exchanged per 30-day period. Exchange more than this, or at weekends, and there's a 1% fee. Plus you can only do £200/mth of fee-free ATM withdrawals (max 5 withdrawals a month). Revolut won't credit-check you, but you'll be ID-checked. Our full review and more options are in Prepaid travel cards.
 

Martin's pod: Is 'Sorry you'll have to go to the manufacturer' right or wrong? | Budget news | Clive Myrie Money Mastermind | Financial education & more. All in the new The Martin Lewis Podcast. Listen via BBC Sounds, Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you like to get your podcast fix.

Santander slashes rate on its 5.2% easy-access saver. Many of you grabbed this last September, but it's now announced it'll cut the rate to 4.2% in May. Should you ditch & switch?

Extra 25% back when you trade in old Ikea furniture. Ikea buys back its second-hand chairs, bookcases, drawers & more at up to half their value - but 'Ikea Family' members (free to join) get an extra 25% boost till 30 April, eg, £45 instead of £36 for a chest of drawers. Ikea buyback boost

25% off most National Express journeys until 29 March via code. It's valid on all fare types (singles and returns), eg, makes a Cardiff to Swansea return £11. Take the National Express

eBay's hiking fees. From 8 April, eBay will hoick selling charges - sell sooner to beat it & see eBay's fee rise for info.

'I was diagnosed with cancer - reading your guide saved me £1,200 on travel insurance.' Our success of the week comes from Terence, who said: "A few years ago I was diagnosed with cancer and I tried to find travel insurance for a single trip. I was quoted £1,273, then I saw your Travel insurance for pre-existing conditions guide and got insurance for £77 (saving £1,196). Thanks very much Martin and team - keep up the good work." If we've helped you save (on this, or owt else), send us your successes.

On Tax Credits? Urgent check if you receive(d) your 'migration notice letter' BEFORE 9 April. Everyone on Tax Credits will be getting a govt letter saying you must apply to shift to Universal Credit (UC) - don't ignore it, you'll lose your benefits. Yet if you're entitled to less on UC than you get now (many are - check using our Benefits Calc) and your deadline to apply is AFTER 8 April, don't do it early, as you'll get extra 'transitional protection' if you wait till at least 9 April. Full help in managed migration.
 
 
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AT A GLANCE BEST BUYS
 

THIS WEEK'S POLL

Do you have an ISA? An ISA is a savings account where you'll never pay tax on the interest - and in the 2023/24 tax year, everyone aged 16 or over can put up to £20,000 into one. Yet with less than four weeks left to use up this year's ISA allowance, we want to know whether you have an ISA, and if so, what kind? Vote in this week's poll.

More than a third of MoneySavers claim Child Benefit. Almost 3,000 people responded to our child benefit claim poll last week, with 38% saying they claim Child Benefit. Of those who don't claim, but have children of the right age, the most common reason not to claim was earning too much to get a payment. See full poll results.
 
 
 
 

MONEY MORAL DILEMMA

Should I complain about a prize that's worth less than was advertised? I was lucky enough to win a gas barbecue worth £400, along with some food to go with it, in an online competition. Yet I was sent a lesser model, worth £300, and only about half the food. Should I contact the website to complain, or should I be grateful for what I've got? Enter the Money Moral Maze: Should I complain about my prize? | Suggest a Money Moral Dilemma
 
 
 
 

MARTIN'S APPEARANCES (TUE 12 MAR ONWARDS)

Tue 12 Mar - The Martin Lewis Money Show Live, ITV1, 8pm (watch previous episodes)
Wed 13 Mar - Ask Martin Lewis, BBC Radio 5 Live, 1pm
Tue 19 Mar - This Morning, phone-in, ITV1, 10.15am
 

SHELF CONTROL: INDULGING A LOVE OF READING IN A MONEYSAVING WAY

That's all for this week, but before we go... MSE Forumites have been sharing their novel ideas about how they feed their reading addictions for less. The local library is the most obvious source, with second-hand bookshops, charity shops, eBay, book swaps and book fairs not far behind. And while some prefer the weight of a physical book in their hands, others are e-reader and audiobook converts, with Project Gutenberg, Amazon and YouTube all recommended as places to download or listen for free (with many saying their local library offers this too). Yet how to buy cheap books isn't all they've shared. Forumite MrsStepford, the thread's original poster, told of the times she used to go on holiday as a child, taking one holdall for clothes and one for books. Others have responded in kind with how their love of books started, plus authors and books they recommend. Find new recommendations and add yours in our 'reading as a cheap hobby' forum thread.

We hope you save some money,
The MSE team
 
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