Find out more about the big ethical issues when it comes to spending with Amazon.
In 2021 I’m cutting out all spending direct with Amazon. There are a few different reasons but worries about the high street and a desire for Amazon (and other big tech) to pay a fair share of tax are right up there.
To explore why these issues matter I’m joined by Rob Harrison from Ethical Consumer to discuss whether a digital sales tax could work, why workers should be worried about using tech to manage them and more.
You can also listen to Cash Chats on all podcasting apps. Click through to your favourite
Switch to an HSBC Advance account and you can get a £125 bonus. It’s available to ex-customers too as long as you opened that old account before 1st January 2018.
If you fancy getting £180 worth of Virgin Wine then you’ve only a few days to switch to a Virgin Money account and nab this.
A new offer is coming on Monday but there’s no detail about what it’ll be. There’s a chance it’ll be better, but there’s also a chance it’ll be worse! So you’ll need to make a call if you want to wait or not.
I’ve taken a look this week at the only auto-savings app that is still free to use – Plum. Here’s how the “AI” savings work, which features are worth using and which options you should avoid.
Plus I’ve managed to negotiate a free £5 sign-up bonus just for Be Clever With Your Cash readers who sign up and save with the app!
Asda shoppers can pick up a £5 meal deal containing two medium pizzas, a large bottle of drink and a voucher worth £5.45 to spend at Sky Store on a movie rental. Here’s how to claim it.
This one is a little bit fiddly, but worth it if you shop at Sainsbury’s. If you’ve got enough Nectar points in your account then there’s a promo to earn you double points at Sainsbury’s for the next couple of months and 800 bonus Nectar points (worth £4).
To get this you need to swap 1,600 Nectar to Avios before the 14th of February – but you can then swap them back to Nectar later if you want. Here’s how it works.
No summer holidays? Covid’s impact on our finances. TV Licence increase & more.
Your Money, This Week is my regular Friday bonus episode on the podcast that looks at the biggest personal finance and money news stories of the last seven days.
I’m joined for this one by Peter Komolafe from the Conversations Of Money podcast and channel and we look at topics including:
The Government tell us not to book holidays
The FCA’s “Financial Lives” report looking at how Covid has hit our finances
Amateurs making rookie investing mistakes
Does the TV Licence offer value?
Valentine’s spending
And more…
You can also listen to Cash Chats on all podcasting apps. Click through to your favourite
More from Cash Chats
If this episode has saved you money, please do tell a friend!
Artificial Intelligence (AI) transfers can help you build up your savings without noticing.
One of the biggest reasons people who try to save but fail is that they don’t prioritise the act of saving.
The money sits in their current account alongside all their other cash, making it hard to distinguish between what’s needed for bills and what is available for other spending.
The easy solution is to set up a standing order to move money to a separate account just after payday, but it’s possible to save even more thanks to fintech innovations.
Using rules and algorithms based on your spending habits, apps like Plum, Chip, Monzo and Starling can automate the transfer of cash from your current account into separate savings pots.
My favourite is the artificial intelligence or AI savings app. I’ve written about Chip before, but now it charges you to use this function, I wanted to take a look at the free alternative – Plum.
What is Plum?
Plums describes itself as “The AI assistant that grows your money”. Though it offers a few extras, it’s primarily about helping you boost money for savings via automation.
It also acts as an entry level investment platform, but I won’t cover this element in the review.
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How much does Plum cost?
There are three tiers with Plum, ranging from free to £2.99 a month.
Basic – Free
Plus – £1 a month
Pro – £2.99 a month
Personally I’d stick with the free Basic option, and that’s what this review will focus on.
Editor’s pick: £100 savings bonus
Effective 6.45% rate for six months as a new Raisin customer
Plum is an app-only service, so you can’t take advantage of these if you don’t have a smart phone.
You connect Plum with your bank via Open Banking, giving the app read-only access to your account details. It’s a pretty simple process to connect as long as you already have your bank’s app installed on your phone. You need to reauthorise the connection every 90-days, which takes just a few clicks.
It’s possible to add more than one bank, though money will only be transferred from the account you designate. Unlike Chip you can change which bank this is whenever you want.
You can add credit cards too, but these won’t be used for the auto-savings features.
Plum currently works with the following banks:
Barclays
Danske Bank
First Direct
Halifax
HSBC
Lloyds
M&S
Monzo
Nationwide
Natwest
Revolut
RBS
Santander
Bank of Scotland
Starling
Tesco
TSB
Ulster Bank
Autosaves with Plum
This is the big selling point with Plum for me. These features help you build that savings pot without actually doing anything. The money is transferred via a Direct Debit that is set up when you link your account.
To access these savings features you need to find the ‘Brain’ option, which should appear on the home screen once you’ve connected to your bank.
The free tier of Plum has three ways to automatically move money from your bank to your Plum account:
Automatic
Round Ups
Pay Days
The Pro version also has Rainy Days and 52-Week Challenge options but I’ll ignore these here. Mainly because you’ll have to pay, but also because if they’re of interest then they’re available alongside even more options for free via Monzo.
Here’s more on each of these savings rules:
Automatic
This is my favourite of the three. As with Chip, an algorithm analyses your bank account, looking at your balance, spending and forthcoming regular payments in and out.
Based on this Plum works out how much you can afford to put aside. You can also adjust the ‘mood’ of your savings level, from the default option. The lowest level ‘shy’ will reduce that amount by half, while the top level ‘beast’ increases it by 75%.
Money is moved once a week from your connected bank account to your Plum account. You can pause these transfers, or turn them off completely whenever you want.
Round ups
Every time you make a purchase with a linked debit or credit card you can choose for the transaction to be rounded up to the nearest full pound, with the difference moved once a week to your pocket.
Be careful here though as these will continue even if you’re overdrawn, though you can switch this off in the app’s ‘brain’ under ‘overdraft deposits’.
Pay Days
This is essentially a standing order which automatically moves money from your bank account when you get paid. You set the date and the amount.
Personally I’d set up an actual standing order for this and move your money to an account where you’ll earn the best interest right now. Or opt for a regular savings account.
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The basic free version of Plum offers an interest pocket offering 0.25%.
You can beat this amount right now, but if you are using Plum then it makes sense to turn this feature on and put your cash there. You can choose where your money goes in the ‘brain’ part of the app.
It’s easy-access though if you move money into one of these pockets then you have to give one-day notice to withdraw the cash.
The rate is variable, so it could change (in fact it dropped in late January). If that happens Plum will give you 14 days notice.
The Plus and Pro versions increases this to 0.4%, but you’ll likely spend more to upgrade than you’ll make with the increased interest rate. For example, £1,000 at 0.4% for a year earns you £4. That’s £1.50 more than the Basic account, but at a cost of £12 (Plus) or £35.88 (Pro).
Is your money safe?
Any money in your main Plum ‘Pocket’ is held in something called an E-Wallet, meaning it’s not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. If something was to go wrong, or if Plum went bust, your money should still be fine, as it’s actually held at Barclays. But if Barclays went under then you’d lose your money.
The savings accounts are with Investec Bank and these are protected by the FSCS. It’s only up to a total of £85,000 and that’s across all accounts you might have with Investec.
Other features
The app also offers a handful of extra features on the basic option.
Free features
The Lost Money tab is the only significant extra on the Basic Plum account. It’s meant to analyse your bills to highlight where you’re overspending. However, since it can only see your payments, it’s not really that useful.
And though it’ll send you through to a comparison site to help you find better deals, you can do that yourself without the aid of the app.
Other paid features
I don’t think any of these are worth upgrading for, but just so you know what is on offer
Plum Plus
Access to 0.4% interest account
An extra Easy Access Interest pocket
The ability to use Plum Investing
Plum Pro
Cashback
Budgeting tools
Unlimited pockets
52 week challenge and Rainy Day savings rules
Plum alternatives
You can get the AI algorithm savings feature with Chip and Cleo for a monthly fee. Tandem did offer this but has closed the feature.
Round up savings are more and more commonplace now, with Starling, Monzo, Nationwide, Lloyds and others offering this.
Monzo also offers you the option to automate the Pro savings features such as savings challenges, moving money if it rains and much more – and it won’t charge you for it (more on this here).
The PayDay feature is essentially a standing order which can be set up between any two bank accounts.
Conclusion
I’m a huge fan of auto-savings algorithms, and now that both Chip and Cleo charge for this, Plum is my top pick.
Link up your main current account and set the “brain” to the savings rules and levels that work for you, and you should slowly but surely see the amount saved grow.
Of course you’re not earning much right now with this account so you might want to move the money on a regular basis to one that pays a little more.
I’d stay clear of the paid versions – you don’t get enough extra for your money – and the other features don’t really offer much.
How to manage multiple accounts, double switching bonuses, finding lost accounts and claiming Amex cashback.
I love hearing from you, whether it’s on the blog, social media, YouTube or on email. Often you’re asking me questions about your finances, and I’m always glad to help.
But I realised that my answers could also be useful to other followers. So I’ll be putting my responses to the best questions into regular articles here on the blog.
I can’t promise I’ll be able to answer all questions but I’ll do my best.
Right over to the latest questions…
Managing multiple accounts
John, via Twitter
@AndyCleverCash Hi Andy: 1. If you have several bank accounts, e.g. hub, bills, expenses, how much buffer (positive balance) do you suggest keeping in each one? 2. Is it a good idea to have an overdrafts on these, even if you never use them? If so, how much?
Thanks for this John. Yes, the danger of having multiple current accounts is accidentally going overdrawn or not having enough to fulfil a payment.
You can have a buffer to mitigate this, or overdrafts, but personally I’d rather keep them as lean as possible. I have some accounts were the balance is zero – money comes in to meet the minimum requirements for the freebies etc, and then goes straight out again.
A few things you can often set up will help. Most banks will send you text alerts when the balance is low (often you can set the level) or if you don’t have enough to make a payment. This gives you time to sort things that day.
You can also use aggregator apps such as Yolt and Money Dashboard to see all your accounts in one place -it’s easier to check this single app than all your bank accounts!
Your second question now. The best place for an emergency fund is somewhere you can access it when you need it – which means not locking it away in a fixed account. I’d also be looking for the account which pays you the most interest. I’ve covered this here, hopefully it’ll help!
The golden rule for amount you want to have available is generally three to six months of expenses so you can pay the rent/mortgage and the bills if you lose your income.
Claiming Amex cashback
Darren S via Twitter
@AndyCleverCash Hi mate, I'm build up a nice pot of cashback with my Amex Platinum cashback card. When/how do I claim this back?
Hi can you switch two separate bank accounts and still get 2 x cash rewards? Or is it 1 per customer only?
Sadly all the switching bonuses offering free cash are per person not per account. You can of course get other family members to also switch if they’re eligible.
But look out in a few years for switching bonuses from banks you’ve already had a bonus from – often you can get it again by switching in a new account. I’ve done this with Halifax, Lloyds and HSBC.
Finding bank accounts for a deceased parent
Kim via YouTube
In the UK, how many years can all bank statements, building society accounts, post office accounts, trust funds, debit cards, credit cards go back from a deceased person? My father was self-employed.
Really sorry to hear about your loss Kim. I assume you’re the executor of the will? In which case you can use the free My Lost Account service to trace any bank, building society and NS&I accounts he had in his name. You’ll need to prove you are acting for the estate.
You can use this service to look for your own forgotten accounts too.
You should be able to request old statements direct from banks too – though they might charge a fee and only go have to go back 5 years.
If you shop regularly at Lidl then there’s a new loyalty offer worth knowing about.
Scan the Lidl Plus app when you shop and if you spend £100 in February you’ll get a £2 coupon back, and another £10 voucher if you spend £200. Here’s more on how it works
It’s probably best to allow a little extra time if you’re ordering flowers this year. To help you save money (or more romantically, get more flowers for the amount you want to spend) I’ve had a look for some of the best offers.
It includes £5 free credit for existing Bloom and Wilde customers, and 50% off for new Freddie’s Flowers users.
This one is a little bid fiddly, but worth it if you shop at Sainsbury’s. If you’ve got enough Nectar points in your account then there’s a promo to earn you double points at Sainsbury’s for the next couple of months.
To get this you need to swap 1,600 Nectar to Avios before the 14th of February – but you can then swap them back to Nectar if you want. You’ll also earn an extra 320 Nectar points in the process. Here’s how it works.
If you’re stocking up after Dry January, then there are some decent discounts in this Brewdog sale. Personally, I’d avoid the ones you can get at low prices in the supermarket and look at the online-only beers.
All Premier League matches will once again be shown on TV this month so I’ve had a look at what passes you’ll need to follow your team. Plus a NOW TV Sky Sports month pass offer that ends on Monday.
Your Money, This Week is a new regular Friday bonus episode on the podcast that looks at the biggest personal finance and money news stories of the last seven days.
I’m joined for this one by Clare Seal from My Frugal Year and we look at topics including:
The new rules to clampdown on Klarna and other Buy Now Pay Later services
The extra supermarket costs from lockdown
Could furlough be extended?
More small energy firm collapses
New Ofcom rules to help broadband switching
The spectre of negative interest rates
You can also listen to Cash Chats on all podcasting apps. Click through to your favourite
More from Cash Chats
If this episode has saved you money, please do tell a friend!
Companies are happy to take our cash, but when they owe us, it’s a different matter – especially if we’ve moved our business elsewhere. The problem is, if you don’t check your final bill you might never realise they’ve kept your money.
We’re in a switching society. It’s so easy to change supplier, whether mobile phone or pay TV. Great! But there’s something about switching that’s not so simple – and it could end up costing you cash.
I’ve found most times I switch it takes a while to get the final bill – and when it does, it’s usually not what I expected.
Here are three things to look out for on your final bill.
1. Have you been overcharged?
Last month I left Three and moved to SMARTY, as part of my search for the perfect lockdown SIM. Well, the final mobile bill arrived this week – and they owe me money! £2.42 in total! Ok, so it isn’t much, but it is still my money.
The same has happened when I’ve left other providers including Sky, TalkTalk, NPower and other utility providers. Each had a positive credit left on the account where I’d overpaid. This is quite normal as you usually pay a little in advance.
The issue with each of them is I had to phone them to get a refund. Yes, they were happy to take my cash, but less inclined to automatically give it back to me.
Some have got better and will process the payment – but as my bill from Three showed, some will still ask you to claim.
Yet how many people bother to check their bills to see the final totals? I’m sure there’s a ton of cash sitting with Three and other companies that by right doesn’t belong to them
So if you don’t check your final bill, or chase the company after leaving, that money will just sit there. Go check your old accounts and make sure you aren’t owed money too.
The same thing happened to me when I left Three a previous time (back in 2017), as I spoke about in this short video
2. Have you underpaid?
Of course, there’s also a chance you end up owing the old company. This is most likely with energy bills as they’re estimated each month, but it could easily happen if you buy extras through your mobile network or rent movies via your TV provider.
This happened to us a few years ago when we switched from EOn to EDF. It turned out our direct debits had been VERY low, and our final bill was £100. We had enough to cover this, but if you didn’t expect it and that money just disappeared from your bank account (they’re still happy to take this money), you could get hit with overdraft charges.
Sometimes when you think you’ve cancelled, you haven’t. Direct debits and standing orders could keep coming out, and if you don’t check you won’t know.
The main offenders are subscription services you stopped using or forgot you had, things like Netflix or Spotify. The monthly cost is pretty low so you might not notice them on your bank statement – but over a year they can add up, especially if you are signed up to multiple ones.
My advice with streaming services is to cancel every month as soon as you sign up. It won’t take long to sign up again in 30 days time if you want to keep using the service – you might even get a discount to come back!
Of course, mistakes can be made too that mean bigger bills keep getting charged, especially if you’ve just stopped your contract rather than switched. It’s not uncommon for old mobile phone accounts to still be running along even though the phone is buried in a drawer and you thought you had cancelled.
Plus, watch out for some of the biggest bills you probably didn’t even remember you had. Annual insurance policies on your car, home or travel can be very expensive and often roll over if you don’t stop them.
The easy way to check this is to get your bank statements or open your banking app and look for the standing orders and direct debits. If there are any regular payments coming out, check they are things you should be paying for.
I always did this with the families I helped as part of Channel 5’s Shop Smart Save Money and in one episode I spotted the household was paying two lots of Council Tax! They’d moved three months before but hadn’t told the previous council about it. They were able to get a refund, but that won’t always be the case.
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