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February 27, 2016   |   Articles

Happy 2nd Birthday Be Clever With Your Cash

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Celebrate with some of the blog’s biggest money savers.

Woah. Time flies. Be Clever With Your Cash is two! Well strictly speaking it’s two years and three days old. I forgot, but it’s not like I forgot a person’s birthday is it. I’d never do that. Well, rarely.

Anyways, I’m really excited about this milestone. It’s prompted me to reflect on the last couple of years, and I hadn’t really appreciated how much everything has changed.

In 2014 I was looking for something different. I’d spent the first six of of my 11 years at the BBC making TV programmes, and I really want to be producing creative content again. I also wanted to find a way I could indulge my love for helping people with their money.

Somehow a blog – Be Clever With Your Cash – was the result. I didn’t really think it would go anywhere. I thought it might act as a portfolio to get myself a personal finance journalism gig (it did!) and I’d just carry on with it as a hobby.

Well, that didn’t quite happen. I can’t commit as much time as I’d like to the site, but I genuinely love putting the effort and hours in to share knowledge and deals that help you get more from your money.

Last year was pretty special for the blog as it was recognised at the Santander Media Awards as the money blog of the year runner up, beating sites such as the Financial Times and Skint Dad. I’ve also found out the site has been shortlist at the Headlinemoney awards, which are kind of like the Oscars of personal finance journalism. So it’s all pretty exciting!

Top tips

To celebrate, I thought I’d share some of the biggest money savers I’ve written about in the last two years. If you’re a new reader and missed them, or whether you’ve been around for a while, these are my top tricks to put a little extra back in your pocket.

(By the way, you might have noticed the cake in the picture has five candles rather than two. Well that’s because it was baked by my professional cake making sister for my niece’s birthday. You can see more of her delicious creations at Wren Cakes.)

Be a student even if you’re not a student

I don’t mean just go into work for a few hours each day, or spent far too much time in bars. The most popular posts I’ve written are around a trick I found to get yourself a student discount at shops, cinemas and even flights well after you graduated.

All you need to do is sign up to certain e-learning courses which make you eligible for an NUS card!

>> My cashhack to get yourself an NUS card and student discounts

Loads of money from Topcashback and Quidco

Every time I buy something, and I mean every time, I’ll check the cashback rates at Quidco and Topcashback. Sometimes it’s just a few quid, but the returns can be massive too. I’ve just received £189 from last December’s broadband switch, and there’s another £78 due from a bank switch!

>> Sign up to Quidco – get a £3.50 bonus when you’ve earned £5 (Limited time)

>> Sign up to Topcashback

Change your bank

I’m a bit of a bank account geek, so I know most of you won’t be quite as extreme as me (I’ve nine current accounts. I think…). However, if you’re still with the same bank you’ve always been with, you could easily be £160 or more up this time next year. You don’t even have to switch to get some of the offers.

>> My guide to all the different current account deals

November 21, 2015   |   Articles

The seven levels of Talk Talk hell

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Unlike the famous Nine Circles of Hell by Dante, the Talk Talk customer experience hell only has seven levels. But they are a living nightmare and I’m struggling to find my way out.

You might remember back in the summer I wrote how I was leaving Talk Talk when they put their prices up. Well, we ended up staying in order to keep the YouView box which had programmes we’d recorded we still hadn’t got around to watching (and still haven’t in some cases!).

I really wish we hadn’t.

And it’s not because of the data hacking (though that doesn’t inspire confidence).

Instead it’s the all-round appalling quality of the product and customer service. I’ve spent at least four hours this week on the phone and webchat with them to try and sort some problems, and I’m not getting anywhere!

Here are the horrors I’ve faced this week dealing with Talk Talk and their customer service.

Talk Talk Hell Level 1: Never ending frustration

Since day one we’ve had issues. To Talk Talk’s credit they’ve normally been pretty good at trying to fix the issue, and compensating me when they ultimately couldn’t.

But the latest trio of issues are the last straw. We’re paying for a service which doesn’t live up to the initial promises and it’s not good enough.

Talk Talk Hell Level 2: Talking to yourself

It feels like there’s a script the generic customer service agents have to follow, and in turn it feels like they aren’t actually listening to what you say.

They don’t seem to be able to deviate from the processes laid out in front of them. There’s no ability to use common sense or respond to what I’m actually asking.

Talk Talk Hell Level 3: Stuck on repeat

It’s like Groundhog Day. I have the same conversation each time I speak to them.

Each one starts with me explaining the problems and ends with the very same outcome – the promise of another phone call – which starts the cycle again.

Talk Talk Hell Level 4: No solutions

Of the seven people I’ve spoken to this week, not one actually tried to fix the problems I report. No solution suggested. No request to try this, or attempt that. Nothing.

They say it’s because they can only deal with problems happening now (ours are intermittent), yet there’s an inability, perhaps unwillingness, to offer any practical help.

Talk Talk Hell Level 5: Hitting a brick wall

At one point I managed to get transferred to a woman who could have a two way conversation. This time she didn’t just follow the script.

Unfortunately she was rude, accused me of lying, obstructive, patronising and spoke over me

I tried to get her to reason. I appealed to her good nature. No matter what I said, there was no way past. Ultimately she was the equivalent of a huge immovable brick wall.

It was possibly the worst customer service experience I’ve ever had.

Talk Talk Hell Level 6: Despair

After the most recent call, all I could see in front of me was a never ending cycle of never actually having anything happen.

It’s so frustrating that I was very nearly tempted to just pay the £130 exit fee. I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s their whole intention.

Talk Talk Hell Level 7: Limbo

This is where I currently am. Talk Talk won’t try to fix anything unless the problem is happening when we speak. They won’t send an engineer without a charge of £65 until they’ve tried to fix it over the phone. But the issues are intermittent, and sometimes brief. It feels like it’s never going to get fixed.

As I see it I’m faced with three choices:

  1. Trying to cope with a service that doesn’t deliver.
  2. Paying the exit fee and taking the financial loss.
  3. Make an official complaint and see where that gets me.

The first isn’t good enough. The second doesn’t sit well with me. So I’m going to go with the latter. Wish me luck.

 

 

October 7, 2015   |   Articles

How to avoid beer pressure and not lose your friends

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Whether you’re going Sober for October, or just trying to save some cash, it’s time to say no to this round.

I’m saving for a wedding right now so I’ve cut back on social spend and prioritised putting money into savings. The whole point of Be Clever With Your Cash is that I know you can still have fun and spend money while you save. But it has to be on your terms and you have to stay in control of your spending. Which is why “beer pressure” is a problem.

For many people, getting rounds and splitting the bill are part convenience and part social. But there’s also a large element of people not wanting to seem tight or annoy their friends. And it means people won’t speak up.

A survey by the Money Advice Service showed that 67% of people expect to spend more on a round than they’d get back. A third said that they feel they lose out and pay for more than they’ve eaten, while 59% were ‘uncomfortable’ to ask to only pay for what they ordered. The survey estimated we spend £341 extra on average because we’re are worried we’ll look tight!

So how do you avoid ‘beer pressure’ without losing your friends? Here are my top tips:

1. Tell your friends why

The most important thing to do is to tell people that you’re on a budget. So if a certain restaurant or club is too pricey for you, just say so and see if everyone is happy to go elsewhere. Before people order their meal, just let the others know you’re going to just pay for your own meal as you’ve a limit on what you can spend.

If you need help planning a budget, my template and tools should help.

2. Don’t just say you can’t afford it

By saying “I’m saving for…”, people won’t think you were lying when they see you splash the cash elsewhere.

I could spend more money going out, but then I’d be saving less for the wedding. It doesn’t even have to be something big. It’s your money so it’s up to you how you prioritise your spending.

3. Treat others as you want to be treated

Don’t be selective and think it’s ok to split the bill when your meal cost more than the average.

And definitely don’t accept drinks as part of a round if you’ve no intention of buying them a drink back later!

4. Avoid large rounds

In the pub I’ll avoid rounds larger than 3 or 4 people so I can keep tabs on my tab. Any more and it’s difficult to keep to budget.

If someone offers you a drink as part of a round and you can’t afford to buy a round back for the rest of the group, just say thanks but you’re ok at the moment. If you’ve explained to friends why, they won’t think you’re being tight or rude.

5. Know what your meal costs

It can annoy some people, but if you figure out exactly what you’ll owe (don’t forget the tip) before they split the bill, your friends can just deduct it from the total and work it out for everyone else.

Use your judgement. If you’ve all had roughly the same, the difference between you is probably only pennies. It’s probably more hassle than it’s worth.

6. Stick up for others

I’ve often been at a meal where someone hasn’t eaten much or isn’t drinking – maybe they’re driving, unwell or pregnant (or just non drinkers), but people have forgotten this when splitting the bill. If this happens, point it out to everyone so they’re not paying for your pints.

You might also be able to get the drinks on a separate bill, making it much easier to split them for less people.

7. Don’t be tempted to up your order

You might think it’s easier just to change your food order or drink to a pricier option if someone else orders big, in order to get your money’s worth and split the bill. But really you’re just spending money you have planned to use elsewhere.

So, if everyone is getting a starter, don’t just get one too if you don’t need or want it. If you can afford it, great, push the boat out. If not, you’re better off following the steps above.

March 21, 2015   |   Articles

Budget 2015 basics – the six things you need to know

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Will it make a difference to you?

Last Wednesday saw the chancellor reveal his fifth budget, and the last one before May’s General Election. It wasn’t the “giveaway” that many had predicted, and behind the gags aimed at Ed Milliband, most of the changes announced won’t be relevant to us normal folk, at least not on a day-to-day basis.

There were a few changes though that it’s worth knowing about – here are my top six.

1. Less tax for savers

At the moment you pay 20% tax on most of your savings (40% if you are a high earner). It gets automatically deducted by your bank and pretty much the only way to avoid this is with an ISA.

From April next year, everyone will be able to make £1,000 interest tax-free in normal accounts. I’m always going on about making sure you’re using the high interest bank accounts to get the most cash, and this means you’ll make even more.

The question is, will anyone need an ISA after this? £1,000 is a LOT of money to make on savings (eg you’d need £50,000 at 2%).

If you do have an ISA, another change this autumn will mean you’ll be able to withdraw money and then pay it back in without it affecting your £15,240 allowance. This is a good thing!

There’s also going to be a new Help-to-Buy ISA for any first-time home buyers. From the autumn, the government will top up savings in these accounts by 25%, up to a maximum of £3,000. You’ll only be able to save a maximum of £200 a month and it would take over four years to save the max possible. Still, it’s free money if you fit the criteria.

If you have money to save, you can read my thoughts about whether you should get an ISA or a high interest current account.

2. Less tax for workers

We already knew that the amount of money you earn before you pay Income Tax (called the Personal Allowance) will go up from £10,000 to £10,600 this April. In this Budget, the chancellor announced that it’ll go up by another £200 next April, and £200 again the year after. Each £100 it rises is worth £20, so by 2018, that’s an £200 we’ll all take home in our paypack.

The minimum wage will go up by 20p from October, good news for any low earners.

If you are a “Higher-earner” – basically anyone who currently earns more than £41,866 – you have to pay 40% tax on earnings over that amount. From April this won’t kick in until you earn above £42,385, which means you’ll pay £104 less in tax. It’ll go up again to £43,300 in April 2017.

If this all sounds confusing, I’ve written a guide to explain your payslip.

3. Less tax for drivers & drinks, more for smokers.

A planned petrol tax increase due in September has been cancelled. That’s meant to be worth around £10 a tank.

Beer will be 1p cheaper a pint, while the tax on cider and spirit will go down by 2%.

Just because both will be cheaper doesn’t mean you should be doing it at the same time!

Smokers though will still have to pay more as the already planned rise will go ahead.

4. There’s a new £1 coin

From 2017 we’ll all be using a 16 sided coin rather than the normal rounds ones. It’s to tackle forgeries. Though I’m pretty sure vending machine and supermarket trolley companies won’t be too happy!

5. More freedoms for people with a pension

From next year, anyone who has already cashing in their pension pot and bought an annuity will be able to sell it for a cash lump sum. Whether that’s a good idea or not is another matter!

6. Less hassle for anyone who fills in a Self-Assessment tax return

They’re going to gradually replace these with digital accounts, hopefully making it a lot easier for people to work out how much they owe. It’ll start in the new year but take five years to finish.

 

 

March 16, 2015   |   Articles

HSBC Advance current account – is it worth it?

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A new current account and linked accounts from HSBC offer up to £198 in extra interest payments over a year. Should you get one?

I’m a big believer that loyalty rarely pays in the banking sector, so if you can get a better deal with your current account elsewhere it’s worth looking in to. You can get switching bonuses, cashback and high interest  – read my 6 ways to make your bank pay you article for more details. So how does this new account measure up?

Pros

Open the HSBC Advance Bank Account and you’re eligible to open two customer only savings accounts.

1. High interest ISA

The first is the HSBC Loyalty Cash ISA. You get 1.5% AER which is good for instant access ISAs but not great compared to some current accounts from other banks. However, as long as you pay in a lump sum of £300 or a monthly payment of £25, you’ll have the account topped up by £10 every month for the first year. That’s a free £120.

If you miss a month, you won’t get the tenner for that month. Also, the 1.5% interest on the ISA will drop to 0.5% AER after the first year.

If have you already have an ISA with a low rate, you can transfer that money in. Read my ISA basics for a little more info.

2. High interest regular saver

You’ll also be able to open a 6% AER Regular Saver (it’s normally only 4%). This accounts let you pay in £250 every month for 12 months. If you do that for the whole year you’ll get £97.89 interest before tax on a final balance of £3,000, which is the equivalent of 3.26%.

It’s not a bad rate if you are saving month by month, though if you have a lump sum you can get better elsewhere.

In total that means at the end of a year you’ll have made around £198 in interest on £3,300 of cash, which works out as the equivalent of 6% after tax! Pretty good.

3. You don’t have to switch

Some accounts only give the free cash if you’ve switched and closed your old account. Here you don’t need to, so you can just open one as an extra account.

Cons

To get the HSBC Advance account you need first to pass a credit check (though that’s the case with all new accounts).

You also need to pay in £1,750 every month. That’s roughly an annual salary of £26,500 being paid in every month.

However you don’t need to keep that money in there. You can transfer it straight out again into another account (or to pay your rent and bills!) and have a balance of zero.

So is it any good?

I think it looks like a decent way to get some free cash, and all you need to do is remember to pay in the monthly minimum. I’m certainly going to sign up for one.

At the end of the 12 months I’ll either close it down or switch it to a bank that offers a £100 switching bonus!

There are lots of other accounts you can chose from though, so if you’re only planning on opening one you might be better with one of those.

Also I wouldn’t switch to this account. Halifax have a deal right now with a £125 bonus and £5 a month in interest. That’s going to be a lot easier!

 

 

March 12, 2015   |   Articles

Why my pub lunch proves checking your receipt can pay

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Are you paying too much from pricing errors?

Last month there was a story in the papers of a lady who’d not checked the total on the card reader when entering her pin. Rather than £35, she’d agreed to pay £35,000!!!

That was a freak event, but it’s easier than ever, especially for small amounts where you pay for contactless. How often do you actually check your receipts or bill totals when paying?

I’m admittedly a little bit anal when making sure I pay the right amount, but even I can get caught out.

A few weeks back I went for a ‘team lunch’ with some colleagues from my 9-5. I’ve written before about the awkwardness of splitting the bill evenly (and why you shouldn’t ever feel you have to if you can’t afford it), and fortunately I was with some like minded people.

What surprised us wasn’t that we’d been charged for things we didn’t order (something it’s worth always checking for). Checking the bill, we’d actually been charged more for most of the dishes!  Five of our seven dishes were all billed at higher prices than listed on the menu, ranging from 25p extra on a fish finger sandwich to a crazy £2 markup on a cheese board.

receipt

If we’d just looked at the total and split it seven ways, we’d all have paid extra. Ok, so it wasn’t a huge amount. Maybe just £4.50 total. But if we’d had starters, desert or drinks it could easily have been much more.

(Side note – the pub easily had 100 covers for lunch. If they overcharged everyone, they’d have made a decent cut over a whole day, week and more. Not good! For info it was The Last near Chancery Lane)

It can be hassle, but I’d recommend always asking for a receipt (including when you use contactless at the pub) and checking you’ve been charged the right amount.

If you find there’s a mistake, say as soon as you notice. It’s best if it’s before you pay or just after, but it’s worth following up even days or weeks after.

Again this was only small change, but a few times I’ve been caught out at supermarkets when reduced items have gone through full price. With one item that should have been 45p coming up as £4, I used online chat with Tesco to let them know what happened. Five minutes later I was offered a full refund and double the pricing error.

You might not want to bother with small amounts, but little savings are well worth getting if they’re not much hassle. They really can add up over the weeks and months.

>> It’s also worth checking your bank statements. Find out how there can be hundreds of pounds hidden for you to claim back

January 11, 2015   |   Articles

Save-Ometer: How I got £14,000 in 2014 by being clever with my cash

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Twelve months ago I set myself a challenge to see just how much I could save in a year…

The Saveometer challenge was my way of seeing exactly how much the tips and deals I feature on Be Clever With Your Cash could actually save someone.

Rather than guess, I decided to put my money where my mouth was and do it for real myself.

I wrote down EVERYTHING I spent during 2014, and how much I saved from full price, plus anything extra I earned such as cashback.

I knew I was good with my money, but I never expected that I was doing this well. So how much exactly did I save in the last 12 months?

I saved (drumroll please)…

£13,917.23

Actual amount I spent – £23,473.01
True value of spend – £37,390.24

That means I spent 37% less than I should have.

What does that mean?

The idea wasn’t to spend as little as possible. Do that and you could easily save even more money. But would you have any fun? This was about getting more for less.

I still lived my life as normal, which included Glastonbury festival, a holiday to New York, a new iPhone and eating out far too much. And if something didn’t have a saving, I didn’t turn it down – some things you have to pay full price!

Saving £14,000 doesn’t mean I’ve got that money left over. Though I did put into savings accounts throughout the year, I only included interest earned in this challenge.

It’s better to think of it as how much more did I get for my money.

It’s like getting a £22,000 pay rise

If I’d done all the things I did last year, gone all the places, bought all the meals and so on, but done it at full price, I’d have needed a salary of £52,000 to break even! I earn nowhere near that and would have gone well into debt. Plus I wouldn’t have put anything aside for my wedding this year.

To do it all at the prices I actually paid, you’d only need a salary of £30,000 a year.

That’s essentially a £22,000 – or 43% – pay-rise before tax!

How did I do it?

You know when people say every little helps, well it really does. Yes there were some three figure savings such as when I renewed my home insurance and bought a new freezer. But they only made around £1,000. Really it was the £1 here and £20 there that made the bulk.

Here are some of the ways I paid less and links so you can read more – but just search the site and you’ll find plenty more.

It wasn’t just paying less – I also made a little extra

It wasn’t all about finding cheaper alternatives. Cashback from TopCashback and my Amex credit card on my spending bought in a whopping £1,000. Interest earned on my savings came to £500 thanks to current account stacking.

Plus don’t turn your nose up at freebies – they came to £1,650! Yes I wouldn’t have bought that puzzle from WH Smiths, but it made a good gift for my folks. Signing up for newsletters got me £100s of free tickets to top West End theatre productions, while the O2 Priority Moments app gave away everything from my Christmas cards to free cinema tickets.

Could you save as much?

My savings are compared to my spend. If you spend more you could probably save more money. If you’ve less to spend, you’ve less to make. But if you look at it as a percentage, I saved 37%. I’m sure most people could easily get close to a third more value from their cash.

Part of the way I measured a saving was against someone who didn’t save at all – which is pretty unlikely. But I know plenty of people who spend over a tenner at work every day on lunch and coffees, think nothing of getting a black cab rather than tube or bus, auto-renew their insurances and have never used a comparison site.

I think a decent saving is achievable for everyone – even if you’re limited for free time. I wasn’t entering every competition under the sun or going out of my way to pick up things for nowt. Yes, it does take more time to shop around, but I hope this article helps you see just how much it can be worth.

If you’re reading this, you’re probably already clued up on some ways to be clever with your cash. But there’s more you can do, and that’s why I started Be Clever With Your Cash – to help others find ways to get more for their money and still have fun! Make sure you sign up for my newsletter and follow me on Twitter, Facebook or Google+ to read my blog posts and deals first.

What next?

I’m looking forward to not writing down every time I spend money, and I’m certainly not going to keep such detailed records. But I have got a budget to stick to in this wedding year, so I’ll still be making sure I keep track.

I’d like to see how you lot do and if you can even beat my percentage saving, so keep an eye out in the coming weeks for details of how you can take part in the challenge and write a blog post for Be Clever With Your Cash. You can email me if you’d like to know more.

2014 Month By Month Totals

READ THE SAVE-OMETER INTRO BLOG AND THE MONTLY ENTRIES TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT HOW THE SAVE-OMETER CHALLENGE WORKED.

January 2014:
Actual Spend £2,401.21 / Value Of Spend £3,817.86 / Saved £1,416.65 (37%)
February 2014:
Actual Spend £1,305.25 / Value Of Spend £1,888.20 / Saved £582.95 (31%)
March 2014:
Actual Spend £2,209.29 / Value Of Spend £3,538.68 / Saved £1,329.38 (38%)
April 2014:
Actual Spend £2,339.99 / Value Of Spend £3,622.89 / Saved £1,282.90 (35%)
May 2014:
Actual Spend £1,883.45 / Value Of Spend £3,137.28 / Saved £1,253.83 (40%)
June 2014:
Actual Spend £3,067.50 / Value Of Spend £4,282.29 / Saved £1,214.79 (28%)
July 2014:
Actual Spend £1,756.41 / Value Of Spend £2787.55 / Saved £1031.14 (37%)
August 2014:
Actual Spend £1,677.90 / Value Of Spend £2,440.05 / Saved £762.15 (12%)
September 2014:
Actual Spend £1,639.33 / Value Of Spend £2,691.40 / Saved £1052.07 (39%)
October to December 2014:
Actual Spend £5,194.68 / Value Of Spend £9,186.05 / Saved £3,991.37 (43%)

October 19, 2014   |   Articles

Already fixed your energy? Why you need to be wary of comparison site savings

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If you’re keen on saving cash, getting on the right energy deal is a must – but for those who’ve already fixed, savings shown on comparison sites aren’t what they appear to be.

Comparison sites are a great way of seeing what tariffs are on the market and how much they’ll cost you over a 12 month period. They also let you easily make a switch. If you pay a standard (ie not fixed) energy price, you can possibly save up to £200 by fixing your supplier.

If you’ve already fixed, it’s another matter.

I’m regularly fixing and switching my energy provider to make sure I’m on the best deal possible. My deal has another six months to go, but when I looked this week at a few comparison sites, I was told I could be saving over £100 a year. Yes there are new companies out there undercutting the big boys, but since I last fixed, prices have gone up. £100 was just too much. Something didn’t ring true. So I’ve investigated.

How comparison sites work out savings

Common sense says a comparison would be between my existing deal and the newer tariffs available. So if I’m paying £x for each kilowatt per hour now, the new prices shown will be based on £y for each kilowatt per hour. Then any saving would be the difference between the two.

Here’s how USwitch, MoneySuperMarket, Which? and many of the others actually do the calculations. They all use personal projections of the next 12 months. If a fix ends during that time, it uses the prices from your networks standard tariffs for the remainder of the year. Some also factor in seasonality – so more gas in winter.

You’ll struggle to find explanations on many of the sites. MoneySuperMarket is one of the websites which actually gives an example of how a comparison is calculated:

  • They say the remaining 35 days on a fixed tariff costs £100
  • Then the 330 days left in the year on a standard tariff would cost £1300. That’s a total of £1400
  • The new tariff they find would cost £1225 a year, meaning a saving £175.

How is that different to my expectation of how it would be calculated? In the above example, 12 months of the original fixed tariff would actually cost £1043. That means the new fixed tariff would cost £182 more a year.

So splashing a big “You’ll save £175” on the comparison results feels misleading. The majority of the sites would have you think you can save that much money by switching now. Actually each year you’d be paying £182 extra than you currently do!

You’re probably be paying more by switching early

The personal projection system does work for people who pay a standard – non fixed – price. But those who have fixed before are surely likely to fix again?

Once there’s less than a year of a fix to go, anyone who compares deals would probably see an annual saving in their results. This is dangerous as people could be switching early based on this saving. Instead it’s likely they’ll be out of pocket!

How do you accurately see what you could be paying?

There’s no easy answer as all sites are different. My advice is to:

  • Use exact figures from your bills to show how much energy you use in a year
  • Ignore annual saving figures
  • Look for the lowest new annual cost. If it’s more than you’re paying now, stay with your current deal until just before your fix ends. 
  • Ideally only compare when you’ve two months left of your fix (it can take this long to switch) or if there is a price drop.

The system does work for those who haven’t fixed and are on standard tariffs though. If that’s you, savings really could be as much as £200. You can read about how to do it in my 7 Steps to cheaper energy guide.

Why aren’t sites clearer?

It was surprising how difficult it was for me to find out information on this. I couldn’t find any details about how sites such as CompareTheMarket and Confused.com perform their calculations, while it wasn’t easy to find on sites which did (MoneySuperMarket, uSwitch and Which?). 

It looks like Ofgem (the government’s energy body) want to make “Personal Projections” a requirement for accredited comparison sites, which would make this worse. I found this response to a government consultation from Money Saving Expert showing they’re against this system for the same reasons as me, but it implies that they too calculate this way.

There’s lots in the press about comparison sites needing to be open about commissions – how about they’re open about how they compare too?

October 15, 2014   |   Articles

Andy’s Amazing Savings #1: American Express

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I’ve had credit cards over the years but rarely used them. Now thanks to some great deals, I put everything I can on my American Express card. Here’s why it’s one of my amazing savings.

** This is the first in a series where I’ll share some my favourite ways to save. Be Clever With Your Cash is completely independent and the brands featured have nothing to do with the posts. These are just the companies or products which I’m a big fan of for saving or making money. **  

I’ve always managed my money well. So when it came to credit cards I only used them for you overseas spending or when I wanted the extra protection you get with big purchases.

That all changed a year ago when I signed up for my first American Express – or Amex – card. In year one the card earned me an extra £350!

Here’s why it’s an amazing saving:

1. Cashback

With the Platinum Cashback credit card I get 1.25%  back to my account for every full £1 I spend. For the first three months it was 5% (up to a total of £125). There’s a £25 annual fee but I’ve worked out it’s worth it.

Last year I earned £200 with the Preferred Rewards Gold card. The second year had a £125 fee so I cancelled it and applied for the Platinum card.

I spend as much as I can on this card, then have a direct debit to pay it off in full each month. That means I can earn an extra month’s interest on my savings in a high interest account and max the cashback.

The only downside is that there are still places that won’t take it, but that number is getting smaller and smaller. Other cards also give you money back on purchases, but American Express is my top pick.

2. Statement credits

The idea is you register your card for specific offers. When you spend the required amount you’ll get a credit to your statement. Some are open to all, others tailored to you and your spending. I’ve never had a product that offers so many deals.

In the last year some I’ve used have included:

  • Free £5 for writing a TripAdvisor review
  • £15 when you spend £50 at Gap
  • £5 when you spend £10 at Tesco
  • £25 when you spend two lots of £25 at the London Restaurant Festival
  • £25 when you spend two lots of £25 at selected shops (including Space NK and Argos)
  • £10 when you spend £50 at House of Fraser
  • £20 when you spend £100 at Westfield
  • £10 when you buy a month’s Spotify (at £9.99)
  • £10 when you spend £30 at Gourmet Burger Kitchen
  • £5 when you spend £10 at a selected small business.

There are dozens more throughout the year, including shops such as Top Shop, Selfridges, Curry’s and much more.

You can get a card for your partner, or have more than one card yourself, and the statement credits offers are usually per card rather than card holder, so you can increase your benefits.

3. Great member perks

American Express sponsor plenty of events, which means members can get discounts and special access on tickets. I’ve picked up tickets for otherwise sold out shows, had early bird access to booking the recent Mastercard pop-up and recently picked up a free behind the scenes tour of the National Theatre.

There have also been around a dozen free apps given away this year, with more to come.

4. Amazing customer service

It’s rare that something goes wrong, but when cashback or a statement credit haven’t gone through correctly, I’ve been massively impressed by the service. Based in Brighton, they’ll sort your problem quickly, politely and without a queue. I’ve also heard some great stories of the help they’ve provided people with card issues overseas.