Gift cards are a popular present option, but they have some major downsides.
From birthday and Christmas through to leaving and wedding gifts, at some point, we’ve all received and purchased gift cards. It makes sense – they’re an easy choice when you don’t know what to buy someone. The issue is that every time you buy a gift card you risk losing the cash on it.
The majority of the time you’ll be fine, but there are a few risks of gift cards, many of which can be reduced or avoided. Still, to be safe you need to know the good and bad of gift cards.
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When gift cards are bad
I’ll lead with the dangers of gift cards – the reasons you could find your gift card is wasted cash.
Gift cards prevent you shopping around
One of the key tenets of Being Clever With Your Cash is getting the best deal. The easiest way to do this is very simple – shop around for the best price.
Yet if you have a gift card to use at Shop A, but the best price for what you want is at Shop B, you’ve no choice but to buy it from Shop A.
Ok, so it’s not the end of the world if we’re talking about a few quid, but you won’t want to miss out on larger savings.
And what if the shop you have a gift card for doesn’t have anything you want? You’ll end up using it to buy something you don’t need and probably won’t use. It’s a waste of money.
Refunds go back to a gift card
Another big risk of buying with a gift card becomes apparent if you need to return your purchase.
The money will go back to a gift card for the same shop. This is less of an issue if you shop frequently at the retailer, but what if it’s a one-off purchase?
It’s particularly bad if it’s a large purchase leaving hundreds of quid on a gift card rather than in your bank account.
This is why I never purchase discounted gift cards for anything I’m not certain about.
You also need to be careful here that you don’t chuck out your gift cards once you’ve used them. While most retailers will issue a new gift card, some will require the funds to go back to the original card.
Be aware that online purchases could also be refunded to credit that can only be used online. John Lewis is one worth highlighting here.
Say you’ve got a paper or plastic gift card you can use at both John Lewis & Waitrose shops and websites. Use it on the John Lewis website and any refunds are in credit just to use online only at John Lewis – but not Waitrose.
They often have hidden expiration dates
Most gift cards will have an expiration date. If you don’t use them before this date you lose the cash. That’s fine with paper vouchers, and most sent by email, where you can see this date in black and white.
But you need to be particularly careful with plastic gift cards. These can be loaded with different amounts at purchase, which means the details printed on them are often generic.
This makes it hard to see when the card expires, or how much is left on them. This means that a huge number will expire unused.
There are also different rules for different cards. Sometimes they’ll be valid for a set period, perhaps one or two years. Others will be valid for a certain time since they were last used. But it’s not always clear which is which.
Some, such as the One4All card will start charging you a monthly fee after a certain time (with One4All it’s 90p per month after 18 months).
The best way to prevent them from expiring (other than using them straight away) is to make a note of when you bought/received the card and its value. Then each time you use it, make a note of the date and new value, or keep your receipts with it, they typically have details of what’s left on the card.
Often you’ll find that if you don’t use the gift card in one go you’ll be left with a few quid, or even pennies, left over. They’re not enough to buy something outright, so you keep hold of the card until you next go to that retailer.
And then you forget. And that money sits there until the card expires. More wasted money.
There can be limits on using multiple cards
If you’re asking multiple people to give you cards to go towards a purchase, check if there’s a limit to how many cards you can use in a single transaction.
Marks & Spencer and Curry’s, for example, will only allow 10 to be used at once.
There’s no protection with a gift card
Spending with a credit or debit card can give you some advantages over gift cards. Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act protects credit card purchases over £100, while the Chargeback scheme for credit and debit cards is a route if you’ve problems with purchases under £100.
If you pay with gift cards, or cash for that matter, you lose this protection.
And much like cash, if you lose your gift card there’s no way of getting it back. So try not to carry too many gift cards around with you.
They can be worthless if the shop goes bust
We’ve seen a succession of high street staples shut their doors over the last few years, and when this happens the administrators don’t have to honour any gift cards.
Often shops closing down just stop accepting outstanding cards. Jessops, HMV and Peacocks all made gift cards and vouchers worthless overnight when they entered administration.
It’s also unlikely that buying gift cards on a credit card and using Section 75 would help you get your money back in these situations as gift card balances are usually far less than £100.
If, despite this, you still want to give a card, it would be wise to avoid any retailer which appears to be struggling.
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When gift cards are good
That’s one long list of negatives when it comes to gift cards… but there are a handful of times when they can be worth the risk.
When you get an extra discount
You don’t have to buy them as gifts – you can buy them for yourself for your own shopping. And that can be a good thing when you’re able to buy discounted gift cards.
It could mean you pay less for your everyday shopping, including at places where it’s hard to find offers. For instance, though small you could get 2% back at Amazon or 4% at the supermarket – better than the rate you’ll get from a cashback credit or debit card.
And since the gift cards are like cash, you can stack them with other promotions and savings, such as in tandem with Meerkat Movies at the cinema, or with BOGOF offers.
For example, I often get an extra 6% off John Lewis gift vouchers via my Scottish Friendly ISA perks. It comes as an email but I print it out and I’m able to use it both online and in-person at the department store and in Waitrose.
Supermarkets often run promotions on selected gift cards, such as Spotify, Pizza Express, Cineworld and Footlocker. If we spot decent deals we’ll share them on our gift card deals page.
When you spend them straight away
The main way to avoid the bulk of risks outlined above is to spend your gift card as soon as you get it! That way they can’t expire, be lost or lose their value of the shop goes bust.
When you can use them on lots of things
If you’re set on buying a gift card for someone then you could look at one you can use at multiple retailers.
Though there’s always the risk that the companies selling these could go out of business themselves, you’ve got a choice where you shop. The main ones are One4All and Love2Shop.
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Really you’re better off giving cash, sending a cheque or transferring money to a bank account. Yes these can feel lazy and seem impersonal. But really, is that very different from a gift card?
I know people worry that the money will just disappear from a bank account on everyday spending than buy something special. That certainly is a risk, but you can steer someone to use the gifted money in a certain way.
Perhaps you can say “use this for a nice meal out”. Or to “put it towards a new winter coat”. Hopefully if you suggest this you’ll get a nice text or email sharing when and where it is spent.
And don’t be put off sending a cheque (if you’re still got a chequebook). There are a number of banks now that let you pay in a cheque via the app.
Prices are changing all the time, usually upwards, and the rate these changes are measured is generally called inflation. However there are a few different options here, so we’ve broken down what they all mean, and why they matter.
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What is inflation?
Inflation is a measurement that helps us track the price increase of goods and services over time.
It compares the cost of things today with how much they cost a year ago. And the average increase in prices is what we call the inflation rate.
Let’s take a loaf of bread as an example. If it costs £1 to buy a loaf today and next year it costs £1.10, the annual inflation for that loaf of bread is 10%.
And falling inflation doesn’t mean prices will go down. If a rate moves from 5% to 4% month on month prices are still increasing, they’re just doing so at a slightly slower rate.
What is deflation?
Deflation works the opposite way and tracks the rate that prices decrease for goods and services over time.
So looking at that loaf of bread again. If it costs £1 to buy a loaf today but that falls to 90p next year, then the deflation rate would be -10%.
What’s the latest inflation rate?
Inflation is measured over a 12 month period, with the latest figures announced in the middle of each month. You can find out current rates in our UK Inflation: what is the current rate? article.
How is UK inflation measured?
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is in charge of measuring inflation in the UK and publishes figures each month to show how prices have changed.
There are three common measures of inflation; Consumer Prices Index (CPI), Consumer Prices Index with Housing (CPIH) and the Retail Price Index (RPI).
This can get a little confusing at first with all of the different figures, but the breakdown below shows how each one works and how relevant it is to you.
CPI inflation
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is the UK’s official measure of inflation and the rate you’re likely to see make headlines.
For CPI, the ONS tracks around 180,000 prices of 700 hundred everyday items in an imaginary shopping basket (called the basket of goods) to work out the inflation rate.
These everyday items and services fall into one of the following categories:
Food & non-alcoholic beverages
Alcohol & tobacco
Clothing & footwear
Housing & household services
Furniture & household goods
Health
Transport
Communication
Recreation & culture
Education
Restaurants & hotels
Miscellaneous goods & services
The basket of goods gets reviewed each year to make sure that it gives an accurate picture of how price rises relate to our spending habits and patterns.
This means that products and services might get added to the basket each month, while others are taken out.
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What is core inflation?
Another measurement for inflation you may have come across is “core inflation.” Core inflation tracks the same goods and services as CPI but doesn’t include food, energy, alcohol and tobacco.
These are taken out as they’re generally seen as the most volatile, so core inflation should give us a better understanding of how prices are changing outside of the everyday essentials.
What’s in the basket of goods?
Inflation in the UK is measured by looking at the price changes for an imaginary shopping basket, known as the “basket of goods.”
The basket includes lots of products and services that we use and tends to change to reflect our spending habits to make sure that the inflation rate is relevant.
The contents are refreshed each year, and in March 2024, 16 were added to the basket including air fryers, vinyl music and gluten free bread. Items that have been taken out of the basket include hand gel, rotisserie chicken and bakeware.
CPIH is a measure of UK inflation that takes into account housing costs, as well as everyday goods and services.
It uses the same basket of goods as CPI but also includes prices for things like the cost of owning, renting or maintaining your home. It also takes into account expenses like council tax.
CPIH is the newest measure of inflation and was introduced in 2013 to plug some of the gaps left by CPI (mainly the lack of tracking of housing costs.)
RPI inflation
RPI used to be the main measure of inflation in the UK until it was replaced by CPI in 2011.
It tracks the same basket of goods currently used for CPI but also includes things like estate agent fees, buildings insurance, TV licence and mortgage interest payments (which aren’t included anymore!) And, it tends to be higher than the CPI and CPIH measure of inflation.
Although RPI isn’t the main inflation figure anymore, it’s still used to set the price of things like interest on student loan repayments and rail fare increases we get each year – though there is the flexibility from the government to pick a lower rate if RPI is significantly high.
RPI also plays a big role in the level of retirement income people get from final salary pensions and annuities.
So you might be wondering why we still use RPI if it’s technically been replaced. Well, there’s an ongoing debate about its purpose and relevance.
On one hand, final salary pension schemes and annuities may see less of an income boost if RPI was scrapped altogether.
However, the government’s use of RPI compared to CPI, in particular, has also come under fire.
Usually, the government links its own spending – which includes things like the state pension, statutory sick pay and benefits – to the CPI rate of inflation, which is lower.
However, it uses RPI (which is higher) when it comes to the costs we pay such as train tickets, car tax and student loan interest to name a few.
At this stage, it remains to be seen what will happen with RPI and whether it is replaced completely by one of the other inflation measures.
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Inflation shows how much the cost of living is rising and gives you an idea of your spending power. So, the higher the rate of inflation, the more expensive everyday expenses tend to be.
With the current cost of living crisis, we’ve all seen how sharply prices have risen over recent years. From eye-watering grocery bills to the cost of heating and powering our homes, prices have risen across the board.
High inflation has also caused significant increases to the interest base rate by the BoE. That’s because the BoE raises interest rates in an attempt to bring down inflation to its 2% target. And changes to interest rates can impact both borrowing (especially mortgage) and savings.
Inflation also increases the risk of your money losing value in real terms. One area is wages. If they don’t increase in line with inflation you’ll need to use a higher proportion of your income to buy the same goods and services.
Similarly, your savings could lose value as well because, if your money is earning less interest than the rate of inflation – you won’t be able to buy as much with it.
Not only can you claim back money if your train is delayed, you can get cash rather than those annoying train travel vouchers.
I hate being late. I’ll always try to leave early, if not bang on time, so any kind of delay is the kind of thing that really annoys me. And trains are among the worst for getting me somewhere later than I planned.
Just a few weeks ago my train down to London from Yorkshire was cancelled. Though my ticket was valid on the next train it would mean I’d arrive back 30 minutes later than planned – and this meant I could get a partial refund!
With that cash arriving in my account this week, I thought it was time to share my Be Clever Basics Q&A for getting a refund when your train is delayed or cancelled.
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When can you claim a refund for a train delay?
The main requirement is your train has to be delayed by at least 15 minutes, though a handful will only pay out after a 30 or 60-minute delays.
The rules also say the delay has to be the train company’s fault in order to get a payout. However, most of the operators have signed up to the “Delay Repay” scheme which will pay out for any delay.
How do you claim?
You can do this online with most rail companies. If you’d rather do it on a form you should be able to pick up one at the station or print one out from the different websites.
Make sure you keep your train tickets as you’ll need to send them in with your claim if it’s via the post, or take a photo if you’re doing it online.
A handful, including Northern and C2C, will automatically issue a refund if you meet certain criteria such as holding a smartcard or booked in advance via their website or app.
How much can you claim?
Again, how big a refund you’ll get depends on the different operators. The length of the delay will also have an impact.
With Delay Repay, the minimum is 25% of a single delayed journey that’s delayed between 15 and 29 minutes. It jumps up to 50% back for delays between 30 and 59 minutes, and the full single fare back if you are delayed by more than an hour. Some will refund your whole ticket, including the return leg, if the delay is longer than 60 minutes.
If the train company isn’t part of Delay Repay you’re looking at 50% back for delays of an hour or more.
When do you need to claim a refund by?
You need to submit your claim within 28 days of the journey.
Can I get a refund if the train is cancelled?
If you don’t travel due to cancellation you can get a full refund from where you bought the ticket.
If you travel on a different train (check with platform staff first that it’s ok to do this), you’ll only be able to get a refund if you arrive more than 30-minutes later than the original booked train.
How can you receive the refund?
You no longer have to get your refund as one of those annoying train travel vouchers. Instead, you should be able to pick one form of payment such as a refund to your card, payment to bank account or even via cheque. For example, LNER lets you choose to have a payment made to your bank account or your PayPal account.
What if I have a season ticket?
You’ll be entitled to compensation equivalent to a single journey. Some train providers will also offer discounts on future season tickets if the service is consistently delayed.
What if you used pay as you go Oyster or Contactless in London?
You can claim for tube and TFL Rail journeys delayed over 15 minutes. It’s a bit of a faff and you need to use your Oyster account for this, but it’s worth doing.
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Hacks when claiming for train delays
Here are a few more tricks to boost your claim when you’re on the train, when you arrive at the station and when you get home.
On the train
Track the length your delay
With most train operators you’ll only be able to claim a refund (usually 50%) if you’re delayed by more than 30 minutes. So if a delay had been 29 mins, I’d not only have been inconvenienced, I wouldn’t be able to claim!
On some journeys, the conductor actually informed us that we could get a refund, though this often doesn’t happen – so it’s usually down to you to track the length of your delay.
The rules do change – more will refund you if the delay is 15 mins, while some require at least 60 minutes.
Ask why you’ve been delayed
The cause of the delay doesn’t matter if the train operator has signed up to the Delay Repay scheme. But if it hasn’t, you might be only to claim if the delay could have been avoided (so bad weather or strike action don’t count).
To help your claim, ask the guard if the company has signed up to Delay Repay, and if not what was the cause of the delay
Take a photo of your ticket
You’ll need proof of your journey to claim a refund, so if you have a physical ticket, take a snap with your phone just in case you lose it.
At the station
Don’t use the electronic gates
This one has caught me out a few times. Most automatic gates will eat your ticket, and no ticket means it’s harder to claim your compensation. So even if you’ve taken a photo it’s best to find the manual gate with a guard so you can keep hold of your ticket for the claim. Of course, with more and more tickets now digital when booked online, you can scan and go without worry.
Take a screenshot of live information or the arrivals board
Once you’ve arrived, take a photo of the arrivals board or the live tracking information on an app. You might not need it, but it’s extra proof if your delay time is close to one of the compensation brackets (normally 15, 30, 60 or 120 minutes).
Get a form at the station
You’ll be able to apply online for most if not all train firms now, but if you want to be sure or prefer doing it via post, you can pick up a compensation form at the station. Though it’d be nice if these were easy to find, I imagine you’ll need to ask for one at the ticket or information desk.
It’s not the end of the world if you can’t get one as you can usually print a form from the website.
If you didn’t make a note at the time, then check out the Recent Train Times website. It’s not the most user-friendly, but it shouldn’t take you long to find out exactly how long a delay was.
Work out where to apply
You’ll need to apply directly with the rail company where the delay occurred. So if you’ve changed lines during the journey, then it’ll be the one responsible for the delay who should pay you for the full ticket (assuming it wasn’t a split ticket).
Find the form online
If the train provider allows online claims this is usually quicker. You can upload a picture of your phone, which means it’s often easier to do this from your phone rather than a desktop. Here’s a list of all the different rail firms.
Ask for a bank transfer
It’s not always clear but you are legally entitled to a bank transfer or cheque refund. If you don’t ask for this you could be sent an annoying rail voucher than can only be used at ticket desks.
Take a copy of your ticket and form
If you’re posting your compensation claim form and ticket, make sure you have a copy (just take a photo if you don’t have a scanner). If you’re filling it in online you should be able to save a copy.
And make a note of to chase if you haven’t heard back within the time stated on the form.
Put the refund claim in before 28 days pass
Remember, you’ve only got four weeks to request your refund, so don’t leave it too late.
From big turkeys to posh chocs – Christmas is a time to over-indulge. So how do you enjoy your festive feast, but get the best value possible? I’ve got a few ideas.
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Make a list
Really basic, but it’s the best money saver. Once you know who’s coming over for Christmas, work out exactly what you’ll need, and write it all down. Don’t forget to check your cupboards and freezer for any ingredients you already have.
This is much better than just buying more than you need, which will not just cost you more money but could end up as unused leftovers.
Not sure how much to buy for Christmas dinner? Checkout this portion guide from BBC Goodfood – it will help you know exactly how much food you’ll need to buy.
Hunt for bargain veg
To entice you into their supermarkets at Christmas many retailers sell vegetables for pennies in a Christmas veg price war.
So far this year, we know that Asda, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Lidl and Aldi have all announced they are selling 15p veg from 19 – 24 December and Morrisons is beating everyone else by selling theirs for just 10p!
Frozen or fresh – you decide
Frozen turkeys are cheaper than fresh, so you could save money on one of your most expensive Christmas purchases – only if you have a large enough freezer to store it and you’re willing to put up with the faff of defrosting on Christmas eve!
You can also buy it early which can help spread the cost of Christmas
And speaking of frozen, this year Iceland are offering a Luxury Christmas Dinner for four for just £25. That’s lunch sorted for only £6.25 per head.
Go own-brand
For those non-priorities, you can spend less by trying own-brand versions. For example, you might always buy a bottle of Baileys at Christmas, but most supermarket own-brand versions taste exactly the same – but cost a lot less.
And own-label mince pies are nearly half the price of the well known cake brands, and by the time you’ve consumed dinner and had a glass or two of Baileys, you won’t know who’s mince pie you’re eating!
Avoid festive packaging
Often you’ll find something is branded with Christmas packaging, but there’s a normal alternative available on another aisle that’s either cheaper or better value.
Having different prices for what is essentially the same product can be confusing. Take pigs in blankets from Waitrose. The standard pack of 12 costs £5.25 for 12, whilst the Christmas branded pack is £6 for 12. But the Christmas pack is on a 3 for 2 offer, so depending on how many you need, could work out cheaper!
Ditch selection packs
It’s quite rare that someone enjoys all the biscuits in a Christmas tin, all the chocs in a festive box or all the crackers in a bumper cracker selection.
These selection packs more often than not work out more expensive than buying individual packets, so unless it’s in a pretty tin and you want to give it as a gift, you might want to stick to the individual packets instead, as once they’re out of the packet and on a serving plate, you wouldn’t know if they were from a festive pack or not.
To put this into perspective, the Jacob’s Festive selection box of crackers is currently £4 for 450g in Tesco (Clubcard price), whilst Tesco’s own-label cream crackers cost just 49p for 300g – that’s 73p per 100g cheaper.
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And don’t forget, if you want to avoid the crowds there’s always lots of ‘click and collect’ slots left, nearer to Christmas.
Wait for some reduced deals
If you can hold your nerve, then the day before Christmas is one of the best days of the year to snap up clearance food, including turkeys, vegetables and fresh gateaux.
Since many shops will shut on both Christmas Day and Boxing Day, there’s a lot of food that will need to be cleared from the shelves.
But like the clearance section most evenings in supermarkets, you can never count on getting what you want.
It’s obviously a risk buying your turkey discounted on Christmas Eve, so if that’s too much of a gamble, then you can always buy what you need in advance and use Christmas Eve to shop for bargains you can freeze for other celebrations like New Year or even Easter.
And don’t forget, after the festivities are over, you’ll often find crackers, wrapping paper and cards reduced to clearance, so if you have room in your loft, then stock up on those Christmas essentials for the following year.
Turkey sarnies, turkey curry, turkey soup, turkey stir-fry…just think Bubba in his famous shrimp recital in the Forest Gump movie! It’s possibly the one time of year where we actively enjoy using up leftovers.
There are so many helpful recipe ideas online including this selection at Olive, that there’s no excuse to let any Christmas food go to waste.
And if your fridge is packed to the rafters like mine is at Christmas, just make note of the use by dates so food doesn’t go to waste. If you don’t think you can finish it before the use-by date, just remember, many Christmas goodies can be frozen, including foods like cheese, mince pies and cake.
Just how good are the deals on grocery cashback apps?
We’ve reviewed CheckoutSmart, Shopmium and Green Jinn to see just what kind of savings these apps are giving and whether it is worth using them.
From money off to free products, we’ll let you know whether they are worth checking out. Plus there’s a code to get a free treat with Shopmium!
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How supermarket cashback apps work
Unlike when you use cashback sites to shop by clicking through, here the cashback is earned after you’ve bought the goods.
You need to look at the apps before you head to the supermarket – or even when you’re walking the aisles – to see the different promotions, pick up the products as you shop as normal and then claim your cashback when you get home.
Each app works slightly differently, but they all require you to select the offer you are claiming and upload a photo of your receipt.
If that’s all done correctly you’ll start to build up a little bit of extra money which you then transfer to your Paypal or bank account or even transfer for e-vouchers.
Most of the time it’s a proportion of the item cost you’ll get back, but you can sometimes get all your money back – making the items free.
The majority of the products listed on these apps are new. That’s because brands want you to try something different, hoping you’ll keep on buying it but you will occasionally see everyday products.
By the way, they work with online orders too, and you usually don’t need to print out the receipt. Just take a screengrab of it on your phone or download it as a file.
Supermarket cashback apps compared
There are currently three different apps we know of and to be fair that’s probably plenty, as it does take some preparation before you shop to get the most out of them.
Shopmium
Main supermarkets on the app
Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, Morrisons and Co-op
Other retailers (depending on products)
You’ll sometimes see offers for Iceland, Ocado, Boots, WH Smiths and others
Minimum payout level
£10 through bank transfer of PayPal
Welcome offer
Use code KHMYEEFW for free Cadbury Buttons
Referral scheme
£3 for every friend you refer who claims cashback
Having recently changed their payout minimum to £10, this may be a negative for some, but due to the number of high paying offers on this app, it is relatively quick to reach the £10 threshold and therefore it is my top supermarket cashback app.
That said, it does have some negatives. You have to click on each product to see what the offer is, which can be time consuming and not the easiest thing to do whilst you’re shopping.
Watch out too for products where different versions are on offer at different supermarkets. Again you need to click in to check.
Therefore this app is one that requires a little of your time before you shop. You can, however, filter the selection to a specific supermarket so you know what offers apply where.
Saying that it offers plenty of high paying cashback. This month for example you can try Domestos spray for £1 so that’s £2 cashback on your purchase and Comfort for £1, so again around £2 back in cashback. It doesn’t appear to offer many ‘free’ products where you get the entire cashback but more offers such as 50% off, or ‘try for £1’ or save £1.50.
You can make extra cashback with special tasks such as submitting a specific number of cashback requests within a certain timeframe. They also offer a loyalty scheme where you can progress through the tiers to get extra benefits such as exclusive offers and birthday treats.
CheckoutSmart
Main supermarkets on the app
Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, Morrisons and Ocado
Other retailers (depending on products)
Iceland, Co-op, plus many more although most don’t have any offers apart from the daily £10 draw
Minimum payout level
£1+ for your first payment; £5+ thereafter. NB payments under £20 made to bank or PayPal will incur a 5% transfer fee. Payments to e-vouchers just have to meet minimum payment level of £5.
Welcome offer
No
Referral scheme
No
CheckoutSmart tends to be the best for freebies. It also has a far wider list of supermarkets that are easy to filter.
In terms of ease of use you can see the product and what the discount is at a glance, helping you see whether it’s worth your time and also allowing you to check this app whilst you’re shopping.
You can also filter the offers in terms of the highest percentage paid, which will give you the free products (100% cashback) first. The free products may be good enough to entice you to another supermarket. At the time of writing there are free energy drinks, salami and chicken bites available at different retailers.
If you want cash to your bank account or PayPal the app has a high £20 payout level, though freebies can help you reach that amount if you use the app frequently. Or you can instead choose a gift card, though only in multiples of £5. This payment method is set to alternate each week with the cash payout. The payout time can take a long time and I’ve often waited over a week to receive my payment.
There is a negative with this app, in that there are times where there is little change in the offers available and some offers seem to have been on the app for ages. You can also find that this app may have some retailers with very few offers available at times – I often find Morrisons lacking in new offers for example.
Share a particular coupon with friends (marked with a green tab) and if they redeem it you’ll get a bonus £1
Green Jinn is easy to use and you can quickly select your retailer and see what offers are available without having to click into an advert like you do with Shopmium. There are some different products from what you see on the other apps as it claims to only offer good quality or healthy food and drink. At present, you’ll find lots of cereal bars, natural energy drinks and healthier drinks such as kombucha.
There are some really good offers for free products and some high-paying cashback offers too. It’s nice to be able to try a product for free or for £1 for example, that you may not have picked up usually. Just last week, I got cashback for the full price of a 4 pack of matcha fizzy drinks – that’s a £6 item I got to try for free!
Underneath all the offers is a section for each supermarket labelled ‘your everyday shop’ where you’ll usually find two cashback offers on fruit or veg so don’t forget to scroll down to these.
This app also offers a variety of cashback on products at Boots and WH Smith including non-food options such as Rock Face deodorant which you can currently try for £1 from Boots.
The only gripe I have with this app is that since the products are quite niche, they’re often hard to locate. There’s been some really interesting CBD drinks to try for free at Waitrose, but I’ve been to two stores and have yet to find them!
Get cashback on all your supermarket shopping
Don’t forget you can use apps like HyperJar, Cheddar and JamDoughnut to buy supermarket gift cards and earn cashback. So, say you earn 4% back on a £100 Tesco gift card, that’s £4 off your spend! Here’s more on each app;
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What to watch out for
Cashing out your cashback
When Shopitize suddenly closed a few years ago, many customers lost money that they hadn’t withdrawn from the app. So it’s vital that you don’t let money build up with these apps.
Payout limits are something to watch out for. It can take a while to reach the cashback threshold in your account to let you cash out – a particular issue with CheckoutSmart.
All three apps require you to request to cash out as none offer an automatic option, so you have to remember to do it.
Spending money to save money
Just as important is to not let the discount convince you to buy something you don’t want – just because you’re saving 50p, it doesn’t mean you should buy it. But that said, if an item is free, it’s worth giving it a try or even donating it to a food bank if you’re’ not likely to consume it.
I personally love the option it gives me to try something for a discount price or even free that I wouldn’t normally buy but I’m never encouraged to try something new if the cashback offered is really low.
Uploading errors
Frustratingly, receipts will sometimes be rejected for quality purposes. You then need to retake the photos and upload them until they are accepted. But this is rare, and even receipts that have been crumpled up in my shopping bag have been accepted.
And obviously you need to remember to print the receipt at the supermarket too. And don’t forget to hold on to it until your cashback claim has been accepted – usually a couple of hours to a day at most.
Buying the wrong products
Not all offers are valid at all supermarkets, and products can be very specific in terms of size and flavour. This means there’s a risk that you accidentally pick up the wrong product or buy it at the wrong supermarket.
I’ve certainly missed out by accidentally picking up raspberry rather than strawberry jam, or bought in Tesco to find the offer was only valid for Sainsbury’s.
You might also find that one flavour is on offer from one shop, and a different flavour from another, so read the full offer details to check.
While you’re at it, double-check the terms of the deal too. Rather than a simple money-back promo, or it could be along the lines of buy one get one free.
Finding the items in-store
And I wouldn’t go out of your way to visit a supermarket for one of these offers. I’ve often been frustrated to find my local branch didn’t stock the item.
It’s best to treat it as something to check when you get to the supermarket, rather than plan your shopping around it.
Are supermarket cashback apps worth using?
Since uploading a receipt and scanning the barcodes doesn’t take that long (maybe two minutes max) I’d say it’s worth the time to get cashback on a variety of products.
It is worth checking all three apps before you go shopping or even when you’re walking from the car to the supermarket entrance, to see if there are any products with a good cashback offer that may be worth keeping an eye out for.
Remember that not all offers are valid at all supermarkets, and products can be very specific in terms of size and flavour, so make sure you’re picking up the right product at the right supermarket.
And keep an eye out for products that are on offer at the supermarket. Green Jinn and CheckoutSmart allow you in theory to get double discount, so you could end up getting cashback on the rrp whilst the product is on offer at the supermarket – in theory making you some extra money. This doesn’t work with Shopmium though.
All in all, I’m a fan of using all three apps, but I’m willing to spend an extra five minutes before or during my weekly shop to see what offers are available and to take the time to claim the cashback once I’m home. The fact I can sometimes try items for free, makes it worth the effort.
With 10 million customers and counting, Monzo’s popularity has swept across the UK as customers flock to get their hands on its hot-coral card. The digital bank led the way with a variety of features to help customers manage their money from the comfort of their phones.
From spending insights and overdrafts to opening a savings pot, you can handle most aspects of your finances from the Monzo app. This review focuses on Monzo’s standard free-to-use current account rather than the paid-for options.
Find out how Monzo works and whether it’s worth getting an account.
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What is Monzo?
Monzo is a digital bank that is operated entirely through its smartphone app. It started its days back in 2016 as a prepaid card, but Monzo is now a fully-fledged bank with millions of customers across the UK.
Monzo has upgraded its features over time, and now offers several types of current account and other services like borrowing, savings and even investing products to help you manage your money. We’ll be putting our focus solely into its free standard current account for this review, though we also have reviews of its Extra, Perks and Max accounts.
Types of Monzo account
Monzo’s expanded its offering over time, so it currently offers seven different types of accounts, with another on the way soon.
One of the reasons Monzo is as popular as it is is the app. This is where you manage your Monzo account as there aren’t any branches.
Design and customisation
The design of the Monzo app has been through a few iterations over the years, with the latest one a major update to the home screen design.
A big part of this is customisation, so you can choose what you see and where. Straight away it makes it a lot easier to see your main Monzo account, and access key features such as your card and get statements.
Above this you’ll see selected insights into your spending, while Pots can also be reordered and customised, giving you the choice between the “classic look” (with pictures) or a list.
You still have the Trends, Payments and Help tabs at the bottom of the screen to quickly jump between these sections. You’ll find more settings by hitting your initials (or a photo if you’ve set this up) in the top left corner.
Categorisation and notifications
When you make a payment, you receive a notification about the transaction, along with how much you’ve spent that day. The transaction is also automatically assigned to a category. With the standard account, you’re limited to a set number of categories, but they pretty much have all the ones you’d want, including groceries, shopping and bills.
It’s easy to change the category of a transaction, and when you do, it offers to change similar past and future transactions in one go, so you don’t have to manually change several transactions in a row.
You can also add tags and additional notes to your transactions to help sort your payments – this is particularly helpful in the joint account to better communicate a transaction.
Budgeting features
One of the big benefits of Monzo is that it helps you budget effectively. Although, if you really want to get into the nitty gritty then you might be better off with a third-party budgeting app.
Monzo offers “Monzo Trends”, which gives you an overview of your finances in the app, both on the home screen and in a separate tab.
Here, you can see your individual and combined balances across your different Monzo accounts and any Pots you’ve set up and track your spending and see how much you’ve paid for different categories of expenses.
For example, it’ll show how much you’ve spent on things like transport, entertainment or groceries to name a few. It also lets you compare your spending insights month on month to highlight any changes.
You can set targets for your spending each month — this can be broken down into specific categories as well. This will then show you how much you have left to spend of your overall budget (and for each category if you’ve set specific targets for those).
In addition, you can create up to 20 Monzo Pots. These can be used for different expenses, such as bills, food, and nights out. This is very similar to the “jam jar” or envelope budgeting method.
You’re also able to see a list of all of your regular outgoings each month including bills and subscriptions.
More on Monzo Pots
Monzo Pots can be customised with pictures and bespoke titles.
These do not have their own sort codes and account numbers so you’ll mostly need to manually transfer cash into them, however, you can set Direct Debits to come out of specific pots – handy for allocating cash each month for things like bills. If there’s not enough in a pot, Monzo will pull cash from your main account — so you don’t have to worry about a transaction declining if you’re a little disorganised.
Monzo’s auto-savings feature allows you to round up your payments on the card to the nearest pound and it puts the extra money into a pot for you. This can build up to a nice chunk of change over time!
You can connect to a service called IFTTT (If This, Then That) to trigger auto savings. This can be anything from the 1p savings challenge through to moving money when an event happens such as rain. It’s a unique feature which might make it easier to add to your savings without any effort.
Integrations
The Monzo app is secured with biometrics or a passcode. You can also be emailed a “magic link” to log in.
You can use Monzo with a great deal of apps that let you connect your account via Open Banking, including Cheddar, Emma, Plum and Airtime Rewards.
In addition, you can use IFTTT, which we touched on earlier. This can be used for auto-savings, but there are actually a fair few different things possible with this, from ridiculous (saving money whenever you Tweet) to sensible (putting your transactions into a spreadsheet or taxing yourself when you get a takeaway).
These are, realistically, a bit of fun, but they could help you save money in alternate ways, like doing more steps – yep, you can connect it to Fitbit. You can even connect it to your Octopus Energy account and put away money when you save on energy.
You can pay with Apple Pay and Google Pay, as well as using a smart watch like a Fitbit or Samsung Watch.
You can decide if you want a lower cap for contactless spending, set by default at £100 for single taps and £200 cumulative before you need to enter the PIN. You can also block transactions to gambling websites and services through the app.
Monzo allows you to check your PIN and debit card details, including the CVC, in the app. You can also copy these to paste elsewhere, though I find this doesn’t always work.
If you think you’ve lost your card, you can freeze it in the app to stop payments from going through until you find it.
Virtual cards are limited to the Premium account holders. If you think you’d like an account that offers virtual cards, Starling might be a good option.
Sending and receiving money in the Monzo app
If you need to send or receive money, you have a few different options.
Firstly, you can easily share your account number and sort code via messenger, email and other apps. It preps a message for you with all the details, so you don’t have to go back and forth.
If you’re requesting money from people, you can send them a QR code or create a unique Monzo.me link in the app for people to pay you back. You can choose the amount you’re asking for, too. You can use this to pay people, too.
How to find your Monzo.me link
It’s a little tricky to remember where this is in the app if you don’t use it regularly. Go to the Payments tab at the bottom of the app, then click the QR code icon at the top of the screen. You’ll then find a “Share link instead” button on this page. You can also access it from the “Request money” selection.
If you have friends on Monzo, you can split bills and payments in the app by selecting “Split bill” from the transaction. You can find people with Monzo accounts nearby if you’ve got Bluetooth turned on, too. Great when you’ve just had dinner with your friends and don’t want to faff with entering bank details.
If you’re regularly splitting bills with the same people, such as your partner, you can also set up a shared tab. This is similar to what Kroo offers, as it lets multiple people assign transactions and choose how to split the payments, and then it works out who owes who what when you choose to settle up.
What happens to my Monzo account if I lose my phone?
If your phone is lost or stolen, you can freeze your account to prevent any payments or transactions from being made. You’ll just need to log into Monzo’s emergency webpageto activate the freeze. It’s a really basic version of Monzo that only allows you to see your accounts, check your balance, view recent payments from the last 90 days and freeze or unfreeze your card.
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As a current account, Monzo is pretty decent. It’s a good choice for using abroad, although other accounts definitely trump it, certainly for longer holidays.
Account basics
You get Monzo’s classic hot coral card with the account, although there have been promotions that can get you another colour when you refer friends. The card is sent out for free and you can get a replacement for free if you lose it.
In addition, you can start using the card before it even arrives by setting it up with Google Pay and Apple Pay.
You’re also able to set up or amend standing orders or direct debits directly from the app.
To pay in cash, you need to deposit it at a PayPoint. Monzo charges a £1 fee for making the deposit. You can deposit £5 to £300 at one time, and can pay in a maximum of £1,000 every 180 days. It appears in your account within ten minutes.
You can pay in cheques with your Monzo app, too. These previously had to be posted, but you can now pay in a cheque up to the value of £500 using your phone’s camera.
There’s a £10,000 daily transfer limit to UK bank accounts. This is lower than most banks typically offer, with Chase offering £25,000 and Revolut letting you transfer £50,000 per day. Starling is higher than this, at £1m.
Unlike most other banks, there’s a limit to the amount of cash you can withdraw — you can take out up to £400 every 30 days in the UK (after that a 3% fee applies). However, if you’re using Monzo as your main bank there are no limits at home or in the EU.
How to make Monzo your main bank
If you want to lift some of the limits with the free Monzo account you need to do one of the following:
Pay in £500 and have one active direct debit in a rolling 35 day period
Have a student loan payment made into your account in the last rolling 8 month period
Received a DWP payment in the last rolling 35 day period
Have a joint account with someone who’s met one of the above conditions
You can switch your bank account to Monzo using the Current Account Switching Service (CASS). This is likely to satisfy at least one of these points by default.
Can I use Monzo abroad?
Monzo is a fairly decent account to use abroad. You can spend fee-free all around the world, and if you have it as a “main account”, then there’s no cap on cash withdrawals in Europe either.
However, if not, then you can only withdraw up to £400 for free per month in EEA countries. All users are capped at £200 of withdrawals in non-EEA countries. If you go over these limits a 3% fee applies.
This isn’t the best account on the market — Chase offers fee-free spending and withdrawals and 1% cashback on your spending. Check out our roundup of the best debit and credit cards to use abroad for more.
Monzo account fees
Although Monzo’s standard account is free to use, the following fees may kick in for certain payments or services:
Cash withdrawals in the UK: Monzo charges 3% on cash withdrawals over £400 in a 30-day period in the UK.
Cash withdrawals abroad: A 3% charge applies to withdrawals over £400 in EEA countries and £200 in countries outside of the EEA.
Cash deposits: You’ll have to pay £1 per cash deposit into your Monzo account
Card replacements: Monzo charges £5 for card replacements unless you meet the criteria for 2 free cards per year, your card expires, is stolen or you’re the victim of fraud.
You get free card replacements if you use Monzo as “more of a bank”. Monzo doesn’t exactly explain how they decide this, but it’s likely to be regular money in and out of the account. You’ll get two replacements per year per account.
Monzo overdraft
Monzo offers an overdraft on its account. Depending on your credit score, this could be 19%, 29% or 39% to use it. These rates are lower than most other banks, but it’s still an expensive way to borrow and there are better options.
You can borrow up to £2,000, though Monzo chooses this based on your credit score and current borrowing.
Monzo keeps a tally of how much your overdraft will cost you each month based on the amount you have overdrawn and for how long. This stays at the top of your account, so you can keep tabs on the cost.
Other things you can do with the Monzo current account
Monzo has a few additional features, including a salary sorter, loans, credit cards and a teen account. Here are the details.
Salary sorter
This feature splits your salary across different pots, such as money for spending, bills and savings. It works for any sums over £100 coming into your account with one of the below payment types. You can choose your sorting settings within 72 hours of money entering the account.
Eligible payment types include:
Bank Transfers
BACS
Cash Deposits
CHAPS
Cheques
Peer to peer
Get paid early
If your salary is paid into Monzo, you can be paid the money at 4pm the day before. This is for BACS payments up to £20,000. This is simply Monzo clocking that money is due to enter your account and passing it over a day early. It isn’t considered to be borrowing, so it won’t impact your credit score.
16-17 account
Younger students aged 16-17 can apply for a Monzo account as well. The Monzo 16-17 account works in the same way as the standard one, except there are spending blocks built into the account for age-restricted things like gambling.
Mortgage tracker
You can connect your mortgage to the Monzo app and track your payment progress, explore overpayments and get more insights. Though, how useful this will be is questionable.
Loans and credit cards
Monzo offers loans of up to £25,000 for eligible account holders. It also offers Monzo Flex, which is basically a credit card with Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL). You can split the cost of your purchases into instalments over three, six or twelve months with this.
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Monzo rewards
Monzo’s not offered much in the rewards space during its time, but it’s slowly improving this.
Savings rates with Monzo
To save money with Monzo, you can make use of the Pots feature to separate money from your main account. However, to earn interest on this money you’ll need to open a specific savings pot. This pays 2.75% at the moment and can be beaten by other savings accounts.
Monzo switch and referral offers
Monzo doesn’t offer any switching deals currently, though you can still switch as you would to any other bank using the Current Account Switch Service (CASS).
We have a round-up of the best bank switching dealswhich will tell you which providers are offering top-paying welcome bonuses, cashback and rewards if you switch to them.
You can get £5 for you and a friend if you refer a friend.
Cashback with Monzo
Monzo launched cashback in late 2023.
You can’t earn cashback on all of your spending, as Chase offers. Instead, Monzo has a list of participating retailers, where you can earn cashback on your spending. These change fairly often, with Monzo notifying you each week of your cashback offers. At the time of writing, I can get 3% cashback at Sainsbury’s, 5% from Just Eat and 10% from Krispy Kreme.
These need to be loaded before you can use them, and cashback will go into a separate pot, so you can keep track of what you’ve earned. We’ve written a full guide on how it works.
You can apply for a Monzo account for free, here’s how:
Download the app: Search “Monzo’” in the App Store or Google Play, then hit download. It’s worth seeing if any friends already use Monzo as you might be able to get a £5 referral link to use when joining.
Personal details: You’ll fill in the first section of the application with personal details such as your name, home address, employment status and phone number.
ID checks: Monzo will then verify your ID by asking you to snap a picture of your ID. You can use your passport, driving licence, national ID card or biometric residency permit. Then record a selfie video.
Choose your account: Once your ID is confirmed you can choose your Monzo account and card.
Activate your card: You’ll need to activate your card in the Monzo app to start using it. (It usually takes a couple of days for it to arrive at your home address).
Monzo is one of the few UK current accounts that doesn’t perform a hard search on your credit report when you apply – as long as you don’t apply for any borrowing such as an overdraft or Monzo Flex.
This means it can be a good “dummy” current account for bank switching. Though be aware that if you switch away you’ll have to wait at least 30-days to open another – and there’s no guarantee they’ll offer you one.
Is Monzo safe?
Monzo is a fully-fledged bank and is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). That means that it’s legally required to treat customers fairly and protect their funds.
Up to £85,000 of the money held in your Monzo is protected by something called the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS).
This basically means that if Monzo goes bust, you’ll be able to get up to £85,000 money back.
However, if you add money to some linked savings accounts (though not all), they may held with other banks. It’ll be clear who this is (if it’s not Monzo) when you open that savings pot.
What is the FSCS scheme?
FSCS protects up to £85,000 of your money held in banks regulated by the FCA. It’s important to note that the protection applies to a banking licence and multiple banks can be held under each one licence.
So, let’s say you have three current accounts with different banks under the same licence – e.g. Lloyds, Halifax and Bank of Scotland, that means the £85,000 coverage would be split across all three, rather than applying to each account. Here’s more.
Will Monzo close my account?
There are often reports of Monzo closing or freezing bank accounts – there’s even a Facebook group devoted to impacted customers. And they’re not the only bank to come under fire for this, NatWest, Barclays, Monese and Revolut have also hit headlines for bank account closures too.
Ultimately, as with all banks, Monzo has the power to freeze, block or close your account to protect other customers.
Some of the reasons why they might close your account include:
Unusual activity: If they suspect your account is being used for criminal activity it may be blocked or closed. (This includes if their fraud systems pick up that someone else might have access to your account to protect your money from being stolen.)
Risky customers: Any account holders that are flagged as a risk to Monzo or other customers may have their accounts closed.
Police instruction: Monzo will close your account if they’re asked to by the police as part of a financial crime investigation.
We don’t think it should be something to worry about over other banks. Monzo argues they might appear to close more accounts, but that’s because their technology means they’re better equipped to spot dodgy behaviour.
However, they won’t always get this right. So if you are affected, then contact the Financial Ombudsman.
Positive reviews of Monzo’s standard current account highlighted the ease of use, app features and savings pots.
Negative reviews of Monzo’s standard current account had issues contacting customer service and getting their queries resolved.
How to get help with Monzo
Monzo is a completely digital bank and doesn’t have any physical branches for you to visit. So, most of the customer service is managed within the app.
You can get in touch with Monzo’s customer services team 24/7 with urgent queries by tapping the “help” tab and starting a chat (at least you should be able to – check out the next box if it doesn’t appear for you).
Why isn’t the chat function showing in Monzo?
Though some Monzo customers will be able to easily click to chat with Monzo, some users won’t find this option (including our Editor Andy). Luckily we’ve uncovered a workaround.
On the Help tab, type “Contact support” in the search box, and it’ll pull up a page where you can open up a chat via a link called “Tap here to get started”.
You’ll see some preset options, and even if these don’t relate to your query you can keep answering questions until you’re shown the option of “ I need to chat with someone”
Monzo also offers customer support via call between 7am and 8pm. You can call for free on 0800 802 1281 if you’re in the UK or +44 20 3872 0620 if you’re calling from abroad.
There are some things Monzo can’t help with over the phone though. This includes sharing account information and updating your mobile number or email address registered to your account. (You can update these in the settings on your app).
Pros and cons of Monzo
Pros
Simple to set up and use
Lots of budgeting features and some spending insights
Fee-free spending abroad
Automated savings including round ups and your own scheduled savings pots
Ability to combine with IFTTT to boost savings
Potentially lower cost overdrafts
FCA-regulated and FSCS protection
No credit checks unless you apply for an overdraft
Cons
3% charges on cash withdrawals over the free allowance in the UK and abroad if it’s not your “main account”
No bank branches or face-to-face customer support
£1 fee for each cash deposit you make (and you can only deposit £1,000 every 6 months)
You have to pay for full functionality
No virtual cards on the free account
No bank switching offers
Summary: Is Monzo any good?
Beyond the fandom, Monzo’s standard current account is a decent all-rounder for spending and budgeting.
The redesign is a return to a more intuitive experience, and it still offers lots of features that help you get to grips with managing your money, setting budgets and saving too.
Little things like being able to view your debit card number or PIN make paying so much simpler as well (though of course, many others offer this too).
Overall, if you’re looking for an easy way to budget and manage your everyday spending, it’s worth giving Monzo a look – as long as you’re comfortable with a fully digital banking experience.
However, we think there are better options, which we’ve listed below.
For an everyday banking experience, Starling still has the edge in our opinion. Plus there are no limits on cash withdrawals and the ability to use the Post Office for cash.
Chase is also very easy to use but comes with the added bonus of 1% cashback at home and abroad.
Alternatively, you could look at a reward based account from more established banks that have much-improved apps as well as access to high street branches (as long as they’ve not been shut down). Freebies include free Disney+ from Club Lloyds or £5 a month from Halifax Rewards.
And, when it comes to saving, you’re probably better off automating the money you’d like to set aside to go to an account with another provider. This means that you’ll be able to take advantage of the best savings rates out there.
£5 back when you spend £15 at small shops won’t be returning
Every year, American Express ran a Shop Small offer giving money back for every £15 spent at small businesses. You could get money back from shops, restaurants, pubs and even places like hairdressers, galleries and dentists in the form of a statement credit.
But from 2024 it didn’t return. Here’s everything you need to know.
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What happened to Amex Shop Small in 2024?
One of my favourite perks for being an American Express customer was always Shop Small. You’d spend a set amount (around £15) and get a fiver back. It encouraged you to support local businesses and make some money!
However in the last years of the offer, it got smaller and smaller, reducing how many times you could use the promotion and how long the offer ran for. Eventually it was just three times over just three days – a far cry from the two weeks and ten redemptions previously.
Well, American Express quietly killed it off completely in 2024. Their press office told me that a competition announced in October 2024 was instead of the cardholder credit offer, rather than as well as.
Cardholders nominated their favourite independent retailers. There were 50 cardholders who won £1,000 credited to their card. You could enter ten times until 7 December 2024, though it had to be a different shop for each nomination.
In addition, ten of the nominated small shops got a £10,000 grant.
We don’t yet know whether this competition will return for 2025.
When is Amex Shop Small 2025?
American Express won’t be running the scheme in 2025.
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How Shop Small 2023 worked
Though it won’t be back this year, here’s how it last ran in 2023.
The pretty big change was a reduction in how many times you could use the offer.
Earned £5 back for a spend of £15 or more (before 2021 this was £5 for every £10 spent)
You could get the offer at up to three different small shops (previously five shops in 2021 and 2022, and before that in ten shops)
There was a cap of £15 earned per card (previously £25 in the last two years, and £50 before that)
It also lasted for just three days. THREE. This reduction was a huge difference to previous years. In 2022 it lasted for ten days, down on the 13 of winter 2021, and 16 days in the years before this.
Other conditions stayed the same, including the rule that you could only earn a Shop Small credit once per retailer, per card.
Here’s how you could take advantage of the offer when it was running. Note the following all refers to the offer as it ran in 2023.
Add the offer to your card
The offer wasn’t automatically applied to your account. You needed to “add” the offer to your card to take advantage.
Throughout the year you also saw other decent offers. Over the years I gained £250 off a £500 United flight, £20 back from a Eurostar trip, 10% off LNER bookings and £100 back from a £250 hotel booking spend – and there were plenty more. I reckon I easily made another £50 to £100 each year from these offers, sometimes much more.
Add it to your partner’s card
If you had an additional, or ‘supplementary’ card on your account for your partner, then they could also add the offer to their card.
This meant you could both take advantage of the promotion, and you could shop twice at the same retailer – once with each card.
Apply for an extra American Express credit card
You weren’t limited to a single American Express card. Since the offer was per card not per person, if you got another card or two in your name it increased the retailers you could spend at.
It’s easy to always buy things at the same big shops, or visit the same places. This was a chance to try new stores and businesses.
Some of the businesses I looked out for were:
Off-licences
Corner shops
Cafes and restaurants
Bars and pubs
Small boutiques
Museums and galleries
Services like dentists, dry cleaning or picture framing
Buy gift cards
If there was nothing you wanted to buy in the moment but you knew there would be purchases you’d make at specific businesses in the short term, then you could buy a gift card using Shop Small.
Split the bill
If you used Shop Small at a restaurant and you were with someone else using Amex, you could split the bill so you both got the credit.
Who paid for Amex Shop Small discounts?
The money all came from American Express. The shops and retailers weren’t be out of pocket at all. You genuinely were helping shops by using this offer which is why it’s such a shame it’s gone.
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The changes to the promo in 2021 changed how I took advantage, and that was even more so with the latest cuts in 2023. I used to mainly spend in restaurants and bars, using it as an opportunity to enjoy a meal out with a little discount, but that got harder over a weekend, especially over multiple cards.
So I looked out for retailers that sold gift cards. This meant I could extend the offer by a few weeks and months.
How to get an Amex credit card
It could take up to two weeks for your card to arrive, though it’s usually much quicker.
(A quick aside, if you don’t feel confident you’ll be able to pay off your spending every month, then don’t even apply! The interest charges will far outweigh the benefits you get).
Right now there are a couple of boosted refer-a-friend welcome bonuses, which is normally a great extra. You can get the increased deals via:
Save money on beer from the likes of Brewdog, Beer52 and more.
This page is dedicated to special offers, sales and vouchers which will help you get already cheaper beers for less, or make rarer and more expensive small-batch beers more affordable.
Some articles on the site contain affiliate links, which provide a small commission to help fund our work. However, they won’t affect the price you pay or our editorial independence. Read more here.
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Free beer
Free 4-pack of Beavertown for Londoners (ended)
You can currently get a free four-pack of Beavertown Satellite Super Session IPA. All you’ve got to do is sign up, purchase a pack from a London Co-op and upload your receipt using the link you’ll have been sent to claim the money back. You can get up to £7 for a 4-pack.
This offer ends on 30 November 2024 or when 3,600 cashback redemptions have been made.
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Beer 52
Beer52 is a monthly subscription box full of beers and there are always deals out there to save on your first box. Alternatively you can also buy individual beer as you please via an online beer shop.
Also, from time to time Beer52 also offer heavily discounted boxes of beers that are close to or just past the best before date. They’re still good to drink, and I once picked up a fantastic Stone Brewery box with 8 beers for about £12. I’ll add any of these deals I spot below.
If you don’t want to keep getting beers in subsequent months, which will be charged at the full price, you’ll need to cancel. You can choose to take holidays if you’d rather where you miss the odd month.
We’ll tell you how to find the cheapest flights, give you tips to keep the costs down, and we also lift the lid on all the so-called hacks to make your air travel as cheap as possible.
Some articles on the site contain affiliate links, which provide a small commission to help fund our work. However, they won’t affect the price you pay or our editorial independence. Read more here.
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Make use of flight comparison sites and trackers
Google Flights, Skyscanner and Kayak are just three of the many flight comparison sites out there that can help you find the cheapest price possible for the flight you want.
If you are particular about a date and a place you want to fly to, then you can set up alerts on all of these sites. Then just sit back and leave the comparison sites to tell you when it’s best to book. If the price drops (or dare we say rises), these alerts will let you know.
Alternatively, if you are not fussed about the exact date you want to fly, then you can use comparison sites to look at a whole month and use this to pick the cheapest dates.
This works too if you’re not set on a particular place as you can simply input ‘everywhere’ as your destination and see the cheapest places to visit in a particular month.
Using this method, you can even find great priced flights in the busiest travel months of the year. For example, input the month of August 2024 into Skyscanner with ‘everywhere’ as the destination and at the time of writing you’ll find return flights available to book for less than £50 to Denmark, Norway, Italy, Luxembourg, Germany and more.
Check for codeshare savings
Codeshares are a type of flight where one airline operates the flight, while other airlines may sell seats on it. Sometimes exactly the same flight is cheaper when you book through one or the other airline. You can check who will be operating the plane by checking the flight number.
That said, you will need to watch out for transatlantic flights as US airlines aren’t part of stronger EU rules on delay compensation – even if you booked via an EU or UK partner.
Book budget flights earlier rather than later
Tickets are often less with budget airlines when they first go on sale. As seats sell, fares tend to increase in price with the most expensive ones close to travel.
However, buying early doesn’t mean they won’t get cheaper, since airlines often run promotions, but generally with budget, the earlier, the better.
Watch out for flight brokers
When you use sites like Skyscanner and Kayak, you’ll usually see prices from third party agencies, and these can often appear to be the cheapest option.
Booking through them should be the same as booking via a travel agency but we’ve seen several stories where the price changes or different flights are booked.There have even been cases where bookings haven’t been even made and customer service has been non-existent.
Do a little research before using one, as most have plenty of customer reviews. If there isn’t a great deal of difference in price, then it might be better going with the airline directly or using a more established agency such as Expedia or eBookers.
To keep the costs down when looking for flights, consider flying indirect routes, as these are almost always cheaper. You can do one way or both ways indirectly.
It is best to book as one trip rather than booking individual legs separately, so you’ll be covered if you are delayed on any flight and will get moved to a later connection.
For peace of mind, it’s always best to choose connecting flights that give you at least one hour to get from plane to plane as you may need to go through customs or pick up your luggage on the way. This varies depending on the country you are passing through, so always allow yourself enough time so you’re not running to your next connection.
Just a heads up, when looking at indirect flights be aware that there are some connecting flights which require you to switch airports. I’ve seen this for US flights where the connection is in New York and you land in JFK but take off on the connecting flight from Newark airport.
You would have the cost and hassle of lugging your cases across New York, making that low cost indirect flight you found, not quite as good as you once thought!
Make a stopover
If you don’t fancy extending your flight time or enduring lengthy layovers in the airport when flying indirect, it could be better to extend the interim stop and spend the night there. You’ll often save some cash and there’s the benefit of getting to visit another destination on your trip.
Go “open jaw”
An alternative to a stopover is an “open jaw”. These flights are booked at the same time but depart from and return to different airports.
A few years back, editor Andy flew from London to San Francisco and returned from San Diego to London. This allowed him to spend a day in San Francisco before getting a separately booked short and cheap flight to San Diego. All three flights combined were actually cheaper than flying direct to San Diego!
To find options look for multi-destination options in search options. Or, if you want to book the additional flights yourself, we also like the site Skiplagged to find potential routes.
Fly into other airports
If a town has multiple airports or if there are alternative airports that are easy to travel to then it’s worth checking prices at each of those for both your departure and arrival. Do check exactly where these are though as you could find you’re adding on more time and money to actually reach your final destination for some.
You may actually find these smaller airports have less queues at passport control as they’re often quieter. I have also found with car hire it has been cheaper to pick up and drop off at the smaller airports. Obviously this is not always the case, but it’s worth checking all the costs involved with travelling before booking your flights.
Keep luggage costs down
The first price given on most airline websites is the cost of the flight without hold luggage, so if you want to keep the flight price as it is, then you need to travel light.
Now there are some circumstances where you have to take hold luggage such as if you have large cosmetics, golf clubs or a big suitcase. But rather than book the upgraded economy ticket to include this, work out the price difference if you add these as extras – it can sometimes work out cheaper.
This can really save cash when booking for multiple people as the airlines apply a seat upgrade to all the tickets you are booking. Since you won’t necessarily need a hold suitcase for each person, you can just book all the travellers at the basic rate and then add on the amount of hold luggage you’ll be taking as an extra.
This is how I book flights for my family as we never need 5 suitcases – I book the most basic ticket and add on 2 additional suitcases.
If you are adding sports equipment as an extra, such as golf clubs, and there’s space, think about packing your clothing and toiletries in with the equipment (up to the permitted weight), rather than paying for an additional suitcase. The additional padding from the clothes protects your sports equipment too!
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Make your carry on luggage allowance go further
Different airlines offer different carry-on luggage weights and size limits, but here are the airlines with the best carry on allowance included in their most basic fare, that we found:
Norse Atlantic 40 x 30 x 15 cm, no weight limit
British Airways 56cm x 45cm x 25cm and 23kg + a personal item like a handbag or small rucksack
Virgin 23 x 36 x 56cm and 10kg plus a personal item small enough to fit under seat in front (no weight specified)
Using the free carry-on luggage allowance to its max, which with some airlines will be a small suitcase and a rucksack, may mean you don’t actually need a large suitcase in the hold and this could save you money.
Make sure you read up on what you can put in your carry-on luggage as there are restrictions on liquids among other things.
Still need more room? Think about stuffing clothes into your neck pillow. You can buy one specifically designed to do this, or if you already have one with a removal cover, ditch the cushion and fill it with pants, socks, t-shirts and other soft clothes and you have a luggage carrier that’s also a comfortable neck pillow – great for those long haul flights.
Don’t pay to book seats when you book your flight
To book airline seats or not to book seats? A question everyone wants answered, but there’s no right or wrong answer.
If you want to ensure you are sitting with your travel companions or, if you have a preference for a particular seat on the plane, then expect to pay a hefty price to guarantee this. The airlines are really cashing in when it comes to seat allocation and you can expect to pay anything from a few pounds to a few hundred pounds to guarantee your seats.
But Which? recently surveyed the major airlines who, all but Ryanair, confirmed they have systems that will always try to seat groups on the same booking together.
So if you check in as soon as you’re able to, you should in theory get to sit together, as long as there are seats available. Now if the flight is busy and lots have decided to pay upfront for their seats, then this may stop you from getting seats together.
But you can keep checking the seat allocation on your flight right up to check-in. By going to the ‘manage my booking’ section of the airline’s website, you’ll be able to look at what seats have been taken and what’s available by doing a mock seat purchase.
The reserved seats will usually be greyed out so you’ll be able to see how much space is available on the flight and make a call as to whether it is necessary or not to pay to reserve seats.
If you’re willing to wait until check-in to select seats, ensure you check in at the soonest you can. This will vary by airline, also by ticket type and even by loyalty card status. For example, BA bronze executive club members get to select seats one week before departure whilst for Blue members and non-members it’s 24 hours.
Check your options if you’re travelling with kids
If you’re travelling with kids, then most airlines will aim to sit you together or as close as they can. Again it’s no guarantee, but they do go out of their way to ensure this happens so you don’t have to pay to reserve seats.
RyanAir is a bit different and allegedly it separates parties unless you pay to reserve seats. To guarantee sitting with your children, they insist you pay to reserve a seat so bear this extra cost in mind before booking.
Make sure you pick a good seat
Before you book your seats, use a site like seatguru to find out which seats are the best and which ones should be avoided, as it maps out each plane and colour codes seats according to how good they are. If they’re colour coded green, then the seat has had a positive review.
Our podcast
Listen to Cash Chats, our award-winning podcast, presented by Editor-at-Large Andy Webb and Deputy Editor Amelia Murray.
If you collect the various airline points, then don’t forget to check the price of flights by paying with points in part or in full as you may be able to snag yourself deal.
Most of the time we think you’re better off swapping your Avios into Nectar and shopping around for flight deals, but if you have companion vouchers you may be able to save on your tickets.
Use “incognito” or private browsing
Experts differ with their opinions on whether this actually happens or not but some say that flight websites use tracking cookies when you’re looking for flights to change the price if you’ve searched for the same route a few times. It’s been reported that you might even get higher prices if you use an Apple Mac rather than a PC.
There’s no guarantee you’ll get lower fares, but if you use the incognito option in Chrome or private in Safari you can hide your search cookies from them. Just remember to close the windows and open new ones for each search.
Sign up for deals
Sign up free to Jack’s Flight Club and get an email every week with the best flight deals they have found. There’s also a premium membership at £39 a year where you’ll be sent even more deals. I’ve not signed up for this, but if you have the flexibility with work and family to get away on a whim, it could well be worth it.
Secret Flying is another site worth looking at if you want a rock bottom price for a flight and are open to different destinations.
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