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July 15, 2020   |   Articles

NOW TV price increase: Can you beat it?

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The streaming service will be increasing prices again from September. Is it still worth it?

From 1st September 2020, the price of an Entertainment Pass on NOW TV will go up by £1 to £9.99 a month. The Hayu pass will go up by the same amount to £4.99 a month.

A series of price increases

These are yet more hikes in prices for Sky’s streaming service after a number over the last 18 to 24 months.

It’s the second in 12 months for the Entertainment Pass (a year ago it was £7.99), and the Sky Cinema pass jumped by 20% from £9.99 to £11.99 in April 2019. 

And it’s been worse for sports fans. The Sky Sports day pass was £6.99 two years ago, but two increases since then has pushed it to £9.99 – a huge 43% extra. And 18 months ago the Sky Sports week pass went up to £14.99 from £12.99 (it had been £10.99 until February 2018).

Disappearing offers

I’m always tracking the different deals and discounts on NOW TV, and recently they’ve not been so good.

During lockdown there have been hardly any special offers for NOW TV, and it’s been harder to pick up gift cards (particularly sports) and passes bundled with boxes too.

These tend to be cheaper than just buying or renewing a pass direct with NOW TV.

Cynically you could guess that NOW TV knew they didn’t need to entice people along with discounts while they were stuck at home.

Yes, there could be supply chain issues, but I don’t see how this prevents digital offers and even those gift cards from going on sale.

And I noticed fewer offers and less freebies even before this year, which suggests to me a strategy away from attracting new customers to one that brings up the price people pay.

Is it still worth it?

NOW TV vs Sky

At full price, these passes are still significantly cheaper than getting your TV directly from the likes of Sky or Virgin.

You could sign up to a new Sky TV package for £25 a month – £15 more than the new price for the NOW TV Entertainment pass, and £120 more a year.

Yes you’ll get extras with cable and satellite TV such as a box to record programmes, but you’re also be tied into a long contract.

A huge part of the appeal of NOW TV is you can pick and choose each month if you want a certain package or not. So although the TV and film package for a year (at full price) with NOW TV will cost you £263.76, you can easily halve that by only having the passes every other month.

And of course, you rarely have to pay full price for NOW TV!

I’ve managed to utilise all sorts of deals and tricks over the last few years that mean the cost of the Entertainment month pass is always under £5. I’ve even got it free a few times.

And though discounts have been rare recently, I’d expect them to come back to some degree. You should always be able to pay less than full price.

NOW TV vs Amazon Prime, Netflix or Disney

It’s a harder call if you’re thinking of its value versus the other streaming services.

Amazon Prime is £7.99 a month (£5.99 without the extra Amazon benefits) or £79 a year, the most popular Netflix is £8.99 a month while Disney + is £5.99 month.

All have a mix of TV and movies with a price cheaper than the individual NOW TV passes. So in terms of price and content, you will probably be better off with one of the other options.

However, it’s all about what you want to watch, and if you’re a fan of The Walking Dead, West World or other shows that are only on Sky then you’ll want to give NOW TV a go at least some of the time.

The trick is to alternate between the services and only pay for the ones you are watching. I’m actually on a NOW TV break right now as we’ve got a lot of shows to catch up on via Netflix. But we’ll come back later in the year to stream the shows we’ll have missed on NOW TV.

There’s more in this video about the different TV streaming options and getting the best value from them

Can you beat the increases

If you want to make sure you lock in passes at a lower price, then your best bet is to get a discounted gift card.

You can pick up two months of Entertainment from Currys for £10, and you can buy multiples. There are similar savings on the Sky Cinema pass (two months for £15) and week of Sport for £10.

Gift cards tend to last 12 months but it’s worth checking when you buy them if there is an expiration date listed. 

You can also get a bundled Entertainment pass, Cinema Pass and Day sports pass with a NOW TV smart stick for around £29.99. Though this isn’t the best price – it’s often knocked down to £20 – it’s still decent value if you need all three passes and the stick. Plus you can sell your stick to CEX – just make sure you install it and log-on first as the passes are preloaded.

If you have a problem with your passes then you can get in touch with NOW TV via webchat – though I generally find this a bit of a pain!

The other great trick is to cancel your pass – or at least go through the process. Most of the time you will be offered a pass at a discounted price. Sometimes this can be beaten by other deals, but you never know – you might get something dirt cheap.

My guides to saving on NOW TV

July 8, 2020   |   Articles

Summer Statement – Stamp Duty & VAT cuts, job funding and more

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What you need to know about the latest financial policies.

The Chancellor Rishi Sunak today announced a number of measures that the government hopes will kick start the economy. Effectively a mini-budget, the “Summer Statement”, brings through more spending initiatives and tax cuts to help us through the crisis.

After lots of speculation, including the idea that everyone could get a £500 voucher, here are the key policies that could affect you, as well as a little more detail about a few things announced in the last few days.

Listen to more (or while you read) on the Cash Chats podcast

Job Retention Bonus

The Chancellor said the focus of this announcement was jobs. The Chancellor was adamant that the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, aka furlough, is still set to finish at the end of October, with contributions from employers starting in August.

After this there will be a bonus for employers who bring people back from the scheme.

If someone is continuously employed after furlough until the end of January 2021, the employer will get a bonus of £1,000 per employee.

To be eligible the employee needs to be paid at least £520 a month in November 2020, December 2020 and January 2021. We’ll get more details at the end of July.

Paid job scheme for 16-24-year-olds

Young people on Universal Credit will receive a total of £2bn via a temporary work scheme called “Kick Start”. The idea is that employers will be funded to give around £350,000 under 25’s a paid six-month placement at the national minimum wage.

The government money will only be for 25 hours, so employers can choose to pay for additional hours or a higher wage. Overheads will also be covered.

It’s to be targetted at those most likely to face long term unemployment and there should be hundreds of thousands of people who can take advantage,

The jobs have to be new jobs and help skill people up to find further work.

Funds for training and apprenticeships

This is alongside money that’ll boost traineeships and work experience. This includes money to fund new trainee schemes to upskill people on things like maths and CV writing while giving employers £1,000 for giving placements of 60 to 90 hours.

There will also be a £2,000 bonus per new apprentice hired, or £1,500 for apprentices aged 25 or over.

VAT cut for hospitality and tourism

The idea of cutting VAT is to get us shopping and spending. It was expected to be across the board but it was targetted at just one industry, and at a much larger than expected too.

This time, the temporary cut will see the rate drop from 20% to 5% in the hospitality and tourism sectors. This includes restaurants, hotels, cinemas, zoos and other attractions.

The change comes into play on Wednesday 15th July until 12th January 2021. We should get more details soon, though for example, cafes or pubs that don’t serve food won’t benefit, nor will places that don’t offer “eat in” or “hot takeaways”. And alcohol won’t be included.

But it does means you’ll see the price you pay at most of these businesses drop. For example, say a cinema ticket was £12, it’ll now be £10.50.

So the individual savings won’t be massive, but they will add up. Say as a household you spent £1,050 in those six months (that’s £175 a month), it would save you a total of £150.

Eat Out to Stay Out

A surprise move was to announce a discount at restaurants throughout August 2020. Moving in on the Tastecard and Meerkat Meals market, the government will subsidise every person who eats out by 50%, up to £10 per head.

It’ll only be at participating restaurants who will charge you the discounted price and claim the money back from the government. It’ll also only be Monday to Wednesday.

Stamp duty holiday

An immediate change is that you’ll only pay stamp duty on properties valued above £500,000. The tax holiday will end on 31st March 2021.

The idea behind this is to get people buying and selling their homes. Importantly this is just for England and Northern Ireland as there are different schemes in Scotland and Wales (though they might do something similar).

So how much will this save? With the average price in the UK £231,855 (as of the latest figures from March 2020), the new stamp duty cost would be zero, saving £2,137.

If you’re in a more expensive area, such as London, the average property price is £485,794. Buyers will be saving £14,289.

Stamp duty before today

The stamp duty charges that will return in March are as follows. Normally there’s no stamp duty on the first £125,000 (£300,000 for first-time buyers), and then you get charged a percentage of the value above this. Just how much this is increases as the property value goes up. 

  • 2% on the next £125,000 (so between £125,001 and £250,000)
  • 5% on the next £675,000 (so between £250,001 and £925,000)
  • 10% on the next £575,000 (so between £925,001 and £1.5m)
  • 12% on anything above £1.5m

There’s no change for properties above £500,001, so after that first half a million is accounted for the ranges will come into play. And there will still be an additional charge if it’s not your first or only property.

Eco subsidies

There will be £2bn worth of grants to help homeowners make their properties more energy-efficient. Those eligible will get up to £5,000 to put towards things like double glazing or loft insulation, floor or cavity wall insulation.

Low-income households will be eligible for 100% of the costs, but for most people the money will only be for part of the work. You’ll need to pay the rest yourself. You’ll also miss out as a renter unless your landlord wants to apply and pay.

It’ll go live in September 2020 and you’ll have to use approved companies to do the work. Around 650,000 households are expected to benefit.

There’s also another £1bn of funds to help reduce carbon emissions in public buildings.

Art funding

Late last week the government announced £1.57bn in funds to help the struggling arts and culture sectors. Around half the cash will be given out as grants.

What’s missing

There’s still no support for the one to three million self-employed, freelancers and Limited Company directors (aka “Excluded UK”).

There also wasn’t any help for non-leisure businesses. VAT will stay at 20% and there was no “helicopter money” voucher scheme.

June 17, 2020   |   Articles

The best mobile bank: Monzo vs Starling vs Revolut vs Monese

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Should you move to a digital-only bank? And if so which one is best?

The world of fintech has brought about a revolution in banking, with digital challenger banks such as Monzo and Starling leading the way with their app-based current accounts, along with Revolut, Monese and the now defunct N26.

These mobile phone only banks are changing our relationships with money, by making it easier for us to track our cash, budget our spending, separate our savings and pay our bills.

Plus they are fantastic for spending on your holiday as there are no fees on transactions and most cash withdrawals.

In this video I…

  • share how to open an account with Monzo, Starling, Revolut and Monese 
  • review the key features
  • break down any charges
  • explain how to withdraw and pay in money
  • look at whether they’re safe to use and if your money is protected 
  • compare them to let you know which bank I think is best for you.

For subtitles, press play and then hit the CC button at the bottom of the video (you might need to tap the video or hover your mouse over it) and you’ll be able to get auto-generated subtitles.

For a transcript, you’ll need to click through to YouTube. Then hit the three dots under the video to access all the subtitles at once. Remember they have been auto-generated by YouTube so there might be the odd word where it thinks I’ve said something else.

If you find this useful, please click to watch this video over on YouTube and then click the “thumbs up” icon as it helps the video appear higher up in YouTube’s search results.

Don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel for more videos.

Further links and reading

Monzo 

Starling Bank 

Revolut

Monese 

The best bank bonuses, interest and incentives

How to stick to a budget 

How to automate your savings

The real cost of an overdraft

The banks that’ll let you pay in a cheque online

Switching your energy bills

How to switch bank

May 19, 2020   |   Articles

How to watch classic gigs for free online

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How to find performances from the likes of Bowie, Beyonce and Billie Eilish to enjoy from the comfort of your own home.

Festival season would normally be kicking off about now (mid-May), but all of them have been cancelled (or will probably be) for this summer, along with any other live music concerts. 

And it’ll be a long time – potentially 2021 – before we get to attend any gigs or concerts again. I saw classic Britpop band Supergrass a few weeks before lockdown came in, so at least I managed to get a gig fix in this year.

Yes, there could be innovations that allow us to experience some kinds of live music while social distancing (there’s been a drive-in concert in Denmark), but these aren’t going to widespread.

So what’s the alternative? Overall, the best place for us to get the live music experience is probably going to be in our homes.

There have been a number of live performances on platforms such as Instagram and Facebook. They’re largely musician in their bedrooms gently belting out low-key acoustic numbers. Which are fine. But I much prefer something closer to a proper live show.

So I’ve been dipping into archive shows online and watching classic concerts on my TV.

Where to find free concerts & replays online

There are so many concerts out there you just need to get searching on one of the following platforms.

I’ve compiled a list of 50 performances which I think are worth watching. I’ve tried to cater to lots of different genres and tastes (including artists I know are popular but not really to my taste) so there’s hopefully something for everyone.

I’ll also share the best of any new shows announced in my weekly Cheap Night In round-up articles.

BBC iPlayer

For the last five years or so, I’ve had my own mini-festivals at home using concerts broadcast on BBC iPlayer such as Glastonbury and the 6 Music Festival.

These have been great, but tend to disappear after 30 days leaving a limited selection outside the summer.

BBC4 does tend to broadcast the odd classic concerts through the year so it’s always worth a look to see what’s available. The BBC has promised to show loads of classic Glastonbury shows at the end of June in lieu of the proper festival.

YouTube

During lockdown many artists (or their estates) have been releasing performances on their own YouTube channels, including Radiohead and Prince. 

And this discovery has led me down a few online rabbit holes. There are thousands of archive performances uploaded to the internet – and since lockdown began I’ve spent hour after hour watching all sorts of classic performances.

I’ve been able to catch some of my favourite bands, plus watch artists in their prime with shows from the 60s, 70s and 80s. A limited release Prince show last week was the highlight.

Watching a classic Prince concert on YouTube at home during Lockdown

Gigs on paid for streaming services

There are also a number of concert films on Amazon Prime, Netflix and Sky Arts (available on NOW TV and Sky TV). 

These are subscription services so you will pay – but are worth checking out if you already have them. There are also ways to save money on each of these platforms.

Netflix

Netflix has the smallest selection but they are newer shows from the likes of Beyonce and Taylor Swift. 

Amazon Prime

Amazon Prime has concert films from mainly older acts. It’s harder to filter searches here to just live performances so it’s trial and error whether you’ll get a gig or a documentary.

Here’s a search for the word “live” in the music genre for titles included for free with a Prime membership.

Sky Arts / Now TV

The biggest selection is via Sky Arts, but again most of the performers are from the 90s and earlier, even if the performances themselves are more recent.

The cheapest way to get this channel is to ditch your Sky or Virgin subscription and instead get a monthly pass from Now TV. 

How to watch the concerts at home

Obviously you can watch all these streaming services on your computer or via an app on your phone or tablet. But the best way to watch is going to be on your biggest screen with the best sound – which probably means your TV.

Most smart TVs, set-top boxes, games consoles and even newer DVD/Blu-Ray players will have a YouTube app making it really easy to stream on your telly. Whether you have the Netflix, Amazon Prime or NOW TV apps is hit and miss depending on your device.

If you don’t have any of these you can buy a smart stick to plug into a spare HDMI slot. Whichever device you use you’ll obviously need decent broadband.

Some of the videos will have adverts. Most of the time an advert is only “pre-roll” which means it’s at the start of a video.

However, sometimes it could appear mid-way through, and even on multiple occasions. If this bothers you there is the option to take out a 30-day free trial of YouTube Premium, which will allow ad-free viewing. 

Deciding what to watch

Obviously my list will have some gaps, possibly your favourites, so I’ve got a few tips to help you find more.

Filter your searches

On YouTube select the filer tab and you will be able to just see videos over 20 minutes long on your search results. 

Check the quality

I found quite a few concert videos listed which are just recordings from the mosh pit via a mobile phone. It’s not always clear this is the case until you watch them, so check them before you get excited about what you’re going to watch.

Finding out which songs are played

Sometimes you might only know a band’s early stuff, or perhaps you don’t want to sit through a three-hour concert (Hello Bruce Springsteen and Led Zeppelin!). 

Well if you’re lucky, a handful of the videos on YouTube will not only list the songs played but also provide the times so you can skip ahead.

If not you can use the website Setlist.fm to see what songs are played on a particular gig. Armed with this you can pick one gig over another, or fast forward between songs.

Curating your own festival

if you’ve ever enjoyed the pub chat with friends to decide your “Fantasy Festival” lineup then you have the chance to curate your ultimate day of bands – and actually watch them!

YouTube has a playlist feature where the next video will autoplay. I’ve used this to compile a list of those I want to watch, and put them in the order I want them to play.

If  you want to take it a little further I also found this website that will allow you to generate your own festival poster based on the bands you’d want to see.

 

My fantasy festival line-up with gigs I can watch online for free

Is it legal to watch these videos?

If you’re streaming on iPlayer, Netflix, Amazon Prime or NOW TV then everything is absolutely above board. It’s less clear cut on YouTube.

Most of the concerts you find there aren’t official uploads by the artists, labels or events. Instead someone has just posted a copy they don’t have the rights to.

However, YouTube does have some clever licencing software and most copyright holders can demand videos are removed.

On that basis, try as much as possible to only watch those videos which at least have an acknowledgement of copyright and licensing. 

This should mean the artists will get some payment. But if you want to make sure artists are properly remunerated then you can always choose to subsequently buy an album for any of the gigs you watch.

You could also argue that if a video has been left on there for years that the copyright holders aren’t overly worried.

50 live concerts you can watch online

To get you started I’ve looked through all the platforms to find a selection of bands and artists from The Rolling Stones to Taylor Swift to The XX all available to watch right now. 

How to watch classic gigs for free online

May 11, 2020   |   Articles

The cheapest way to rent movies online and by post

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Avoid expensive services like Sky Store and iTunes and stream new film releases for as little as £3.50… or even for free!

The very first article I wrote when I set up the blog was about how sad I was to see Blockbuster Video shut down. I still miss it! But since broadband speeds have increased it’s – more often than not – a perfectly good experience to stream a movie straight to your TV.

I do this a couple of times a month, usually to catch up on new releases I missed at the cinema. And I rarely pay anything at all. Yep, that’s right. Zero.

And even if I do have to shell out some cash, I’ll never pay more than £3.50, some £2 less than some of the most popular streaming services charge.

And if you don’t want to stream, there are a few options to get your hands on a DVD or Blu-Ray disc too. So here are my tricks to let you save cash when you rent a film.

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.

Renting and streaming digital movies

Don’t rent the “premiere” releases

Since the pandemic shut all cinemas we’ve seen some films come straight to home rental, usually at £14.99.

Now, that’s possible cheaper for a family than if you’d gone to the cinema, but if you wait just four months or so, it’ll come down to a regular rental price. Personally I’d be happy to wait and save myself a tenner (at least).

Choose a lower quality stream

Now that most new TVs are 4K, there’s a temptation to go for the best quality rentals. But that, of course, costs more money.

Personally I go for HD (High Definition) rather than 4K/UHD, but you could choose to go for SD (Standard Definition).

You’ll roughly save £1 between each level, with SD usually at £3.50, HD at £4.49 and UHD at £5.49.

Shop around for your rentals

But those prices actually vary depending on where you rent your movie, so it’s important to shop around.

If you’re a Sky Customer then you probably just go to the Sky Store app on your Sky Box and rent films there.  Well, stop. It costs £5.50 for a one-time rental – and that’s just for Standard Definition (SD) quality. A total rip off!!

iTunes isn’t much better with most new release rentals costing £4.49, £4.99 or £5.49. Only a handful of the films I looked at were available for under £3.50.

But shop around and you should be able to get the latest releases at £3.50. The ones I tend to use are

Depending on the film you might find these services don’t actually offer an SD option, with Rakuten the most likely to only have HD or higher. Amazon also tends to present the HD version as the displayed price so you need to choose “More purchase options” to find the cheaper SD price.

A great tool to help you find the prices is a website called Just Watch. You type in what you want to watch and it’ll share what platforms it’s available on and how much.

You can select whether you want to watch in SD, HD or 4K and compare the price if you’re renting with if you’re buying.

As this picture shows, there’s a £2 difference in SD between the different services.

The different prices for Jojo Rabbit as shown on Just Watch

Look for special offers

If you do choose to rent online, it’s often possible to get an even bigger discount. You can even sometimes find deals to pay nothing!

I’ve got a guide I regularly update with the latest offers, but as an idea of what’s out there, here are the ways I’ve saved recently.

Free or cheap Rakuten movie rentals

If you bank with Lloyds or Halifax there are accounts where you can get free rentals every month – subject to conditions.

You can also usually take out a trial with Times + (the digital subscription service for The Times newspaper) and you’ll be able to get a free Rakuten movie each month. The trials tend to cost £8 for eight weeks which isn’t such a great deal just to get a rental, but there are regular 30-day free trials or three months for £3 offers. I’ll update any decent deals here.

And Tastecard (which you can usually get free for 90-days) has also started offering £1 off Rakuten rentals

£1.99 Amazon Instant Video film rentals

If you have Amazon Prime, it’s worth checking what titles are in the regular promotions for members where a selection of latest releases are just £1.99.

Free Chili Cinema movie rentals

There are regular deals for Chili, whether £10 of credit and an Odeon ticket for £5.99 on Groupon or codes to get 50% off movies. I’ll share the best of these on my streaming deals page.

Discounted Google Play film rentals

Every now and then special promotions appear in the Google Play store. These are often for £1.49 rentals, but sometimes you’ll nab a free one. You’ll find them in the banners, just as in the picture below.

Look for discounts like this one in the banners on Google Play

Wait so it’s included in your Netflix, NOW TV or Amazon Prime subscriptions

If you’re already paying for a streaming service then eventually the films will arrive on one of these. Annoyingly it’s tough to tell which one.

Personally I’d avoid NOW TV’s Sky Cinema pass unless there’s a deal going on as the tricks above can make it cheaper to watch the films rather than shell out £10 a month.

Though if you are paying for Sky Cinema via Sky or Virgin then you are massively overpaying and NOW TV is a better option for the same channels.

Here’s a video explaining how the different rental and streaming services compare and which give the best value for money.

Check free services 

Don’t forget that most films broadcast on BBC channels are also available to watch on iPlayer afterwards. 

Rakuten also offers a small selection of free films every week, though from my experience there’s rarely anything worth watching.

Renting films on DVD and Blu-Ray

Rent films and TV by post for as little as £2.75 a film

Though Lovefilm was closed in 2017, there’s still an option to have films (and TV shows) sent via the post. And it’s cheap.

You can get a film for £2.75 sent to your door with Cinema Paradiso (named after the Oscar-winning Italian movie) based on two movies a month. And it could be even cheaper if you watch four or more new releases each month.

The service offers a 30-day free trial. After that there are three levels of monthly packages, which you can cancel or switch between at any time – as long as you don’t have any discs still at home. The options are:

  • £5.99 p/month for two discs a month, but only one disc at a time
  • £9.99 p/month for unlimited discs a month, but just one disc at a time
  • £12.99 for unlimited films a month and two discs at once.

> Sign up to Cinema Paradiso

Rent films from the library

If you like to browse you can pop to your local library and there is often a collection of films to pick from. Unlike borrowing books you will have to pay, but it should only be a few quid.

Most libraries will also let you order films held at different libraries, and you can also reserve discs to make sure you get it next. Once you’ve joined up, also check out if you can access digital loans on e-books and magazines.

Buy them second hand

Retailers like Cex and charity shops often have a huge selection of older DVDs starting at 50p, though you can often find those same films on streaming services – so check you don’t already have access before buying.

May 7, 2020   |   Articles

The problem with Just Giving and the best fundraising alternatives

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Who you use to fundraise and donate money with can affect how much money the charity gets – so it pays to use Just Giving alternatives.

When you donate on one of the big fundraising websites, you’d think all your money is going to the cause you’re supporting. Well, it doesn’t. I was pretty shocked when I discovered this a few years ago. 

There can be fees added to or taken from the money you give, and the charities themselves could be faced with charges just for being listed on the platform.

Among the worst is the most popular – Just Giving. This is the only one of the major platforms that isn’t non-profit. Alongside these costs to the charities, it until recently also added a compulsory transaction fee for customers too. It’s now made that an optional charge, but paying it still means less of your money goes to the charity.

But some are much more affordable platforms that are Just Giving alternatives. And as with most things, a little shopping around can maximise how much of your cash actually goes to the good cause.

As you’ll see further down the article I’ve broken down how much money gets taken by the platforms. The cheapest gives 44p more to causes than Just Giving per £20 donated.

Though it might not seem a huge amount based on a £20 donation, it scales up massively over all the money that is raised.

For example, Captain Tom Moore had raised an unbelievable £32.8 million for NHS causes before it was closed on the 30th April. This was via Just Giving, and the fees and voluntary “tips” could easily be over £2 million.

If he’d chosen Virgin Money Giving then the total would have been half that (figures calculated via Virgin Money Giving’s calculator). And potentially even less with a different platform.

It just shows that the platform you choose for fundraising or donating can make a huge difference.

(FYI Just Giving has said 97% of the money raised by Captain Tom will go to the NHS after processing fees, though I assume that doesn’t include any extras people volunteer to pay to cover the fees. Plus it’s made its own £100,000 donation on top)

Image of £10 notes and coins

Where your money goes when you donate

You’ll be relieved that most of your donation does go to the charity – but not all. 

Payment fees

For a start, there are card transaction fees that all the charities have to pay. They don’t have a choice about this as it’s a cost levied by the card processing companies. In fact, any time we use our debit or credit cards these are part of what we pay, whether charity or not.

Just Giving will also take a cut of any Gift Aid added to your donation too, as part of the processing fee.

However, Just Giving alternatives all charge different fees, which can make a difference.

Wonderful, one of the best free platforms, has had to close (hopefully temporarily) but shared that it paid just 0.8% plus 18p for each transaction. So anything higher than this is possibly hiding additional charges.

Platform fees

Of course, these donation websites have all got to cover the costs of staff and operations. And, yes, this money does have to come from somewhere.

And it’s not cheap to do this. BT used to offer My Donate, a free service to charities, and fund it from its profits. But this project was closed down in 2019. 

So some of the websites will add this as an extra charge on your donation, possibly voluntary, or just take it from the money you give.

Charity listing fees

And that’s not the only way these companies take cash away from charities – the biggest platforms Just Giving and Virgin Money Giving both charge charities to use their platforms. 

Just Giving charges a monthly fee of £39 + VAT for any charity that raises £15,000 or more in a year. For those which raise less the fee drops to £15 + VAT a month.

Virgin Money Giving meanwhile has a flat, one-off fee of £150 + VAT.

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The alternatives to Just Giving and Virgin Money Giving

If like me, you want as much of your money to go to charity as possible, and for the charity to be able to use the platform without a charge, it makes sense to avoid the profit-making Just Giving.

It’s less clear-cut with Virgin Money Giving as though it is non-profit, the fees still make it quite expensive for smaller charities.

Fortunately, there are alternatives. Some don’t charge for anything, while a few others might have a transaction fee, but are free for the charity.

The major downside with most of these smaller platforms is just that – they are smaller. They won’t necessarily have your charity of choice on board, though it’s worth looking to see what your options are. Often it’s the smaller and local charities which need our support more than some of the giants – and they might be on the smaller platform.

If you’re fundraising, then talk to the charity, or check out its website at least, to see if they have a preferred platform.

Ways to maximise your donation

As well as choosing the cheapest platform for charities, you can boost the amount they get from your donation by making sure they can claim the tax back from the government.

If you donate via your paycheck – often called Payroll Giving – the taxman actually contributes some of the money. So a Basic rate taxpayer would only contribute 80p for the charity to get £1.

This is automatic and in theory an easy way for the charity to get the extra tax cash on top of your donation. Ask your HR team if they run a scheme. If they don’t seem if they will set one up.

So Payroll Giving works great for regular donations, but it won’t work for a one-off contribution. In that case, and if you are a tax-payer, you can choose to add Gift Aid to your donations, adding 25%.

You’ll see this option when you donate online. However with Gift Aid the charity has to claim this tax back. This can come with administration costs to the charity.

Both methods will mean the same amount of money goes to the charity.

How much does it cost to donate £20?

Here’s the real cost of a £20 donation to Just Giving, Virgin Money Giving and some of the other donation platforms. Some of the platforms will give you the choice to pay this. I’ve included the extra value of Gift Aid on top too.

These figures assume you aren’t choosing to add the fees to your initial donation. They also don’t reflect Just Giving’s monthly fee or Virgin’s set-up fee which are worth bearing in mind.

Kindlink

Kindlink has no charges for the charities to use the platform or be listed, making it one of the cheaper options.

  • Payment processing fee of 1.45% + 10p = 39p
  • Platform fee of 0% = 0p
  • Gift Aid fee of 0%= 0p

Total cost per £20 = 39p

Total to charity after Gift Aid = £24.61

GoFundMe

With GoFundMe you’ll be charged a similar amount to Virgin Money Giving but there’s no charge for charities to be listed.

  • Payment processing fee of 2.9% + 0.25p = 39p
  • Platform fee of 0% = 0p
  • Gift Aid fee of 0%= 0p

Total cost per £20 = 83p

Total to charity after Gift Aid = £24.17

Just Giving

The monthly fee that charities are charged won’t make much difference to this figure if they’re taking a lot of donations. However medium-sized charities could fee the impact more.

  • Payment processing fee of 1.9% + 20p = 58p
  • Platform fee of 0% = 0p
  • Gift Aid fee of 5% = 25p

Total cost per £20 = 83p

Total to charity after Gift Aid = £24.17

Virgin Money Giving

Since Virgin Money Giving has a sign-up fee the actual amount will be a little less. Though for large charities the £150 one-off fee will be negligible.

  • Payment processing fee of 2.5% = 50p
  • Platform fee of 2% = 40p
  • Gift Aid fee of 0% = 0p

Total cost per £20 = 90p

Total to charity after Gift Aid = £24.10

During the lockdown the platform fee will be covered by Virgin Money but it’ll return afterwards. The figures above include the platform fee.

Every Click

Another free site for charities to join, Every Click is funded from the commission paid by retailers if shoppers use the portal before making online purchases (in the same way cashback and voucher code sites work).

  • Payment processing fee of 4.8% = 96p
  • Platform fee of 0% = 0p
  • Gift Aid fee of 0%= 0p

Total cost per £20 = 83p

Total to charity after Gift Aid = £24.04

Givey

Givey is targeted at small and medium charities. It charges the donor 5%, so £1 for a £20 donation. But again the platform is free for charities to use. Further funding comes from businesses who can choose to match donations.

  • Combined payment processing fee & platform fee of 5% = £1
  • Gift Aid fee of 0%= 0p

Total cost per £20 = £1

Total to charity after Gift Aid = £24

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May 5, 2020   |   Articles

Cash hack: Free magazines trick, and other ways to save

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Don’t pay full price when you can get free or discounted magazine copies and subscriptions.

For about 20 years I subscribed to the film magazine Empire (yes I was a young movie addict), but I stopped reading it a few years ago as even special offers and discounts couldn’t justify the price.

However, I’ve found a way to read Empire – and more – for free each month.

Here’s how, plus other ways you can cut back on your magazine spend.

Rather watch rather than read? Check out this video?

 

Free magazines tricks

Get them digitally from your library

Libraries don’t just lend books and DVDs – you can now borrow digitally. As well as (non-Kindle) e-books, magazines are available via your library’s RBDigitial service.

You just need to join your local library, and many will let you do this from their website – even if you don’t have proof of residency. You can find your local library here.

Then once you have your library ID you can sign into its magazine service portal.

Not every library will have this service, and the selection of magazines will vary (some incredibly random!), but there will probably be something that interests you.

Once signed up you can access different magazines that can be downloaded to your tablet, phone or viewed on a computer. It doesn’t take much getting used to reading them on a tablet; an extra bonus is you can zoom in on any bits that are a little too small to read.

I’ve regularly download Empire, Radio Times and Wallpaper for free, and my wife has chosen Vogue (both the UK and the American version for some reason), Good Housekeeping and Newsweek – and there are dozens and dozens of other options.

> Find out more ways your library can save you money 

Open a Club Lloyds bank account

Every year with this bank account you have the choice of a free annual magazine subscription or six free cinema tickets.

You do need to pay in £1,500 a month to avoid a £3 monthly fee, but you don’t have to keep the money in the account.

There’s also sometimes a switching bonus if you close an account at another bank and move everything over so it’s worth keeping an eye out for that.

Free magazines with the Club Lloyds bank account

The magazines available (updated 5/5/20) are:

  • Bike
  • Bird Watching
  • Car
  • Cosmopolitan
  • Country Living
  • Country Walking
  • Elle
  • Elle Decoration
  • Empire
  • Esquire
  • Food to Love
  • Garden Answers
  • Good Housekeeping
  • Harper’s Bazaar
  • House Beautiful
  • Improve your Coarse Fishing
  • Landscape
  • Men’s Health
  • Mother & Baby
  • Practical Photography
  • Prima
  • Q
  • Red
  • Runner’s World
  • Steam Railway
  • Today’s Golfer
  • Woman’s Health

More on the Lloyds Club and other banks accounts

Read online with Amazon Prime

A less well-known feature that Amazon introduced for Prime members called Prime Reading. Here you get free access to a number of books and magazines.

The selection rotates each month so you won’t see the same titles featured every month, but there’s a decent mix to choose from. At the time of writing you can pick up 75 different magazines including Red, Good Food and Total Film.

You don’t need a Kindle to read them, in fact they work better if you use the Kindle app on your tablet.

Prime costs £79 a year, though you can get a free 30-day trial each year, and there’s a trick to get it half-price too.

> Read my review of Amazon Prime

Get a weekend newspaper magazine for free

Weekend papers have a good range of magazines, particularly for food and style. If you have a Waitrose supermarket near you, its loyalty schemes give you a free paper if you spend £10 in-store.

> Find out more about Waitrose’s myWaitrose card

Cheap magazine tricks

Try a multi-magazine digital subscription 

If you don’t have the RGB service at your library, you can try a couple of different Netlflix style services where you pay a monthly fee for unlimited access.

The two main ones are Readly and Magzter, and both have free or cheap trials to give them a go.

Readly offers a one-month trial for 99p, while it’s 7-days free at Magzter.

Both have hundreds of titles, many of them designed specifically for tablets making them a far more interactive read.

Once the trials end it’s a bit pricey at £7.99 and £9.99 a month respectively. However, it’s not bad value if you’d normally buy two or three magazines a month – and even better if you can split the subscription with friends or family.

There are often more ways to save which I’ll share in the link below.

> The latest offers for Readly and Magzter

Buy a cut-price subscription online

If print is more your thing, please don’t pay full price for a subscription. You’ll almost always be able to find a cheaper deal online.

If you have Tesco Clubcard vouchers, you can exchange 50p in points for £1.50 to spend on a variety of titles.

Sites such as Great Magazines and iSubscribe offer money off full price, though you’re unlikely to get more than 40% off. Occasionally you can also get a free voucher (eg Amazon or Ticketmaster) with a reduced subscription.

From time to time deals appear on deals sites too. We got a year of Vogue for £19 a few years back – a rare discount.

> The latest magazine offers

Look for vouchers in papers

At the end of each month coupons often appear to get one of the leading women’s fashion titles (and occasionally men’s lifestyle ones) for just £1.

The idea is to clear old editions before new additions hit the newsstands, so stock can often be limited.

I’ve noticed these in Metro quite often, which has a digital version you can print from.

Haggle for trials and discounts

I’m constantly called by the Empire sales team as a former subscriber. At one point I got 12 issues for less than £10!

There’s no reason you won’t be able to haggle with the magazine publisher direct. Go to their website to find the number and see what you can get.

Just make sure you cancel before the full Direct Debit starts.

April 15, 2020   |   Articles

What benefits and financial help are you entitled to?

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Help is available for those you need it.

Benefits aren’t just for the unemployed or the sick. There’s support available for a broad variety of people – from parents to the bereaved, from low-earners to carers, from the young to the old. Even people will a decent income might be eligible for certain support.

And it’s not all money. Some benefits come in the form of discounts on bills, housing, travel and more. Others might provide you with food, a blue badge for parking, free dental treatment or even things like school uniforms.

There could even be a grant you can apply for, where the money and support you get comes from charities rather than the government.

Ok, so the amount you’ll get in cash or kind from any of these routes might not be great. And at times the processes can be mired in bureaucracy and injustice. But if you are entitled to any of these benefits it means you need it. And it will in turn help you and your finances.

Don’t be too proud. Don’t think you can’t claim. If you’re struggling then it really is worth making a claim.

So how do you go about doing this? Well, first of all, you need to find out what – if anything – is available to you.

Find out what benefits you can claim

There are so many different benefits I’m not going to list them here. Instead it’s worth taking 10 minutes to check what you personally can get.

The way to do this is to use a benefits calculator. There are a number out there, and these are regarded as good ones to try.

You’ll need some basic information to complete the calculators including your household income and level of savings, details of any benefits you already claim and all your bills.

Go through the calculator and you’ll get a list of what you can apply for and how.

Where to get advice about benefits

Need more help? Well there’s plenty of free advice out there.

Citizens Advice is a great source of help for people needing advice on many topics, including benefits. However, demand always outstrips availability so you might struggle to get an appointment. You can find more information about how to get in touch with your local Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) here.

There are also specialist benefit advice lines for individuals suffering from cancer, the elderly, single parents and more. The Money Advice Service has a good list of these groups here.

How to get a food bank referral

Food banks work slightly differently, and you need to have a referral in order to get one of the food parcels.

Places you can get a referral from include local organisations and individuals such as your local CAB, your GP and social workers.

The Trussell Trust, which runs the country’s largest network of food banks, suggests you contact your local food bank to see who they work with locally. 

Once you get your referral voucher you can visit your food bank and you’ll be given a parcel that should last you three days.

It’s worth noting that most food banks are only open for a couple of days each week (the one near me is just Tuesday and Friday), so you need to plan ahead if you are close to running out of all your food.

April 5, 2020   |   Articles

Time to talk about death and money

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You need to make plans and have a conversation about what will happen to your finances when you die.

Very little seems taboo nowadays, but a couple of things people tend to avoid talking about are money and death. And even more so when those two things are combined.

It’s understandable. No one wants to consider losing their loved ones, so if you don’t talk about it you can avoid the idea that it’ll ever happen. And to discuss money in the same context does seem like bad taste.

But this conversation is vital. When someone dies, dealing with finances is one of the last things loved ones want to do, and it can even lead to greater distress if funds are frozen and income drops.

So anything we can all do beforehand will be a huge help – and the first step is to talk about it. I’ve done this with my parents, my wife and my sister too.

This isn’t just about inheritance (though that’s still very important). It’s also about how bills, funeral wishes, debts and more.

And everyone needs to do this, whether you’re young or old as you don’t know what could happen.

You can also listen to my discuss this topic on my Cash Chats podcast

How to start the conversation

This probably isn’t one chat. You’ll want to talk about your own wishes and situations, but potentially also ask your loved ones about their plans.

It’s important to have these chats with everyone who could be affected. So start with your partner so you both know the situation. Then once you both know what you want, talk to your parents or your grown-up kids – or both.

Though I think it’s better to do this in person so you can take visual cues on this tough conversation, you don’t have to. And with so many of us now able to use video chats it might be almost as good an option. Do check if it’s a good time to have a talk too.

You might want to start the chat by asking them have they thought about it, and stress why it’s so important. If they haven’t then it’s probably best to give them a few weeks to consider what they want.

Remember a big part of a conversation is listening, so be sympathetic and don’t be judgemental. 

If they really don’t want to talk about it, don’t be too pushy, but explain to them why it’s really important to at least consider what they want and put it in a will.

What to talk about

These are the key topics to talk about. 

Funeral wishes

Whether you want to be buried or cremated, funerals can be very expensive. The average basic funeral now costs £4,417 according to SunLife. And it’s a lot more in London, where the average is £5,693.

Though cremations are cheaper, you’d still need to find an average of £3,858 for one that includes a service. It’s all really pricey.

Remember this is just “basic”, so it could be higher still when you add in things like limousine hire, food for a send-off and flowers.

So all very expensive, and not everyone will have money in their estate to cover these costs. And even if they do, these funds won’t necessarily be available to pay the costs at the time. 

Which means there’s a very good chance loved ones will have to use their own money if they have it, or borrow money if they don’t – which can lead to debt.

One way you can help now is to think about what you’d actually want, and then discuss it with your family. If you are happy with something basic then say. If not, it’s easy for grieving loved ones to avoid some cheaper options which might be perfectly fine.

When my gran died 10 years ago I took on things like choosing the coffin and stone so my mum didn’t have to. There are so many different options at a huge range of costs. I can see how easy it would be to go for a higher specification. It would have been so much easier if I’d know what my gran would have liked.

You could also look at a funeral plan where you prepay, though these aren’t without their own pros and cons. Here’s a really good guide and cost comparison from Money Saving Expert.

What happens if you get seriously ill

It’s not just dying that could impact your finances and your family. Think about what you want to happen if your body or mind deteriorates to the extent you can’t look after yourself.

This can range from whether you want to be resuscitated through to whether you’d want to be cared for at home.

It’s worth having a power of attorney in place while you’re full with it mentally so you can be sure someone you trust is able to make decisions on your behalf.

Children

If you have kids that are still at home you need to make plans for who will look after them until they are 18 if you and your partner both die at the same time. 

You’ll need to ask family or friends to agree to be legal guardians, and then put this into your will.

Inheritance

It’s your money, and you can do what you want with it so this isn’t necessarily something you have to talk about with your wider family. But you absolutely should discuss this with your partner and work out together where you want everything to go.

It’s also an opportunity to plan around inheritance tax as there are things you can do to minimise how much of your estate is lost in tax.

What you need to do

Once you’ve had a chat about these topics, you can then take a few actions that’ll make it easier to deal with money matters when you do die.

Sort out a will

This is the most important one. In fact, even if you can’t bring yourself to have the chat, at least get it down on paper. It not only makes it easier for everyone, it also means your money will go where you want it.

Without a will your estate (i.e. everything you own including property, savings and possessions) will go be distributed according to the law. For example if you’re married most will go to your spouse. But if you’re not, long-term partners could miss out completely.

You can make a will yourself for free, or use an online will-writing service relatively cheaply, and if it’s really simple there’s no reason to not do this.

But if anything is more complicated then you will probably want to talk to a solicitor. There are a couple of ways this can be done for less, including Free Wills Month in March and October and Will Aid in November.

We did the latter last year in exchange for a charitable donation and the process really made us think about what we wanted.

This guide from Which? magazine takes you through the different will options.

Consider life insurance

Now you’ve been thinking and talking about death, it’s logical to see if you can afford life assurance. This is an insurance policy which in exchange for a monthly fee will pay out a lump sum on death.

This is actually a lot cheaper than you might think. I used to have this via my work, but once I went freelance I took out a personal policy.

List your bills and accounts

This is really important if you’re the person who tends to deal with most of the bills at home, but you should list all your different bank and pension accounts too.

There are two reasons for this. First, if you have anyone else in your home they’ll need to make sure they can pay the bills, then transfer them over to their name. 

Second, you don’t want them to miss out on a savings or pension pot. If these are all written down in a list then it makes this so much easier at what will be a horrible time. 

So write down the account and customer numbers, but be careful about listing passwords. You could look at using a password manager to help keep those secure.

Don’t forget to also include any debts – they’ll need to be paid out of your estate so if loved ones know they exist they won’t be surprised later on.

Oh – and make sure people know where to find this list (and your will).

Make sure your partner has access to money

When you die, your bank accounts will be frozen while the estate is being sorted according to your wishes. But if you have all the money in your account that could mean your partner has limited access to cashflow – and this can last a while.

So, open up a joint account and make sure there’s always some money in there. If you can, it’s worth having a joint account or joint savings account with funds that aren’t touched. Here’s more on the good and bad of joint bank accounts.

Share the workload

Similarly, you need to make sure you both have access to bills.

Because of what I do, I’ve tended to be the one who looks after most bills and bank accounts. Yes it means I can get the best deals and rates, but the downside is that my wife isn’t as on top of everything as she would like.

So we’ve made sure to split some of the bills between us, and wherever possible to have them in joint names.

If you haven’t done this yet, it’s worth doing that now, and helping your partner know what’s what and why.