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October 24, 2019   |   Deals

Andy’s deals of the week – 24th October 2019

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Free pumpkins, 20% off kids bikes, Star Wars ticket deals, 25% off wine, free Gourmet Society trial, Sky Sports pass offer, Morrisons 3% boost and more.

Andy’s back with eight top deals to save you money. From free pumpkins at the supermarket to cheap ways to book for the new Star Wars movie the cinema, these offers can’t be missed.

Watch the latest episode of deals of the week

Read about the deals

I only share deals and special offers on the blog which I think are really good value. Click the titles or links for more information.

Plus, it’s worth following me on Instagram where I post any extra deals which come too late for the newsletter.

Save money on Star Wars IX: The Rise of Skywalker

Advance tickets are now on sale for the final movie in the Star Wars saga, and if you’re keen to book your seats before the first showings sell out I’ve a few deals that’ll help you pay less.

Free pumpkin

Pick up a pumpkin and you’ll get £2 back from the TopCashback app. I nabbed a medium one from Waitrose for £2 so my pumpkin was free.

Get 25% off wine at Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury’s

This top deal is back at three of the major supermarkets. Buy at least six bottles and you’ll save 25%. It’s a good opportunity to stock up for Christmas, though if you have Nectar points I’d wait until the Double Up event in November (more on this next week).

20% off all kids bikes at Halfords

If a bike is at the top of your kid’s Christmas list then it’s worth checking the prices at Halfords. There’s a promotion on right now which gives 20% off all children’s bikes, and there’s a guarantee that if the price drops before Christmas Eve (such as in the Black Friday sales), you’ll get the extra discount refunded as a gift card.

Free Gourmet Society trial for three months

Like Tastecard, Gourmet Society gives you discounts at restaurants and cinemas. The difference is most of the time you’re getting 25% off the entire bill – so that includes drinks and sides. This could work out better value so this trial could be an opportunity to try it out.

One month Sky Sports pass on NOW TV for £20

Until Sunday new and existing NOW TV customers can get a month of Sky Sports for £20, saving £14. Watch out though as it’ll renew at full price.

Morrisons 3% bonus – ENDS 31st Oct

I wrote last month about a hack to boost your supermarket spending power through Christmas saving cards. The Morrisons scheme ends next week, so if you want to buy some stamps, you haven’t got long. The bonus isn’t as good as at other supermarkets, with the most you’ll get added to your money just 3%. But if you’re going to shop in Morrisons before Christmas it’s worth a look.

Free 30-day trial of new BritBox streaming service

ITV and the BBC have launched a new subscription service at £5.99 a month to access much of its back catalogue. If you want to try it out, there’s currently a free 30-day trial. However, it’s not the full version right now and I found the selection quite disappointing. Personally I’d wait until there’s more on there.

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October 21, 2019   |   Podcast

Cash Chats #96 – Your money in the countdown to Christmas

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It might seem a little early to talk about Christmas, but there are just two months to go and it’ll creep up on you much faster than you expect. And the sooner you think about your finances over the festive period, the more further your money will go.

In this episode Andy has looked at a checklist of things you need to consider from travel, presents and food to how you’ll actually pay for everything.

 

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FURTHER READING

> Your Christmas money checklist

> How to make extra money in time for Christmas

October 14, 2019   |   Podcast

Cash Chats #95 – The best cashback and reward credit cards

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You could be hundreds of pounds better off if you swap your debit card or cash for a credit card that pays you every time you spend.

If you manage them right, a cashback credit card can be the best weapon you have in your wallet to boost your income. Here Andy shares when you should get one (and when you shouldn’t), as well as his pick of the cards on the market.

 

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Further reading

> Andy’s review of the best cashback credit cards

October 7, 2019   |   Podcast

Cash Chats #94 – Where to put your savings

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You can still get above inflation interest for your savings – but it’s harder than it was six months ago.

In recent weeks and months, savings rates have been cut from 5% to 3% at TSB and 3% to 1% at Tesco, 5% Regular Savers have been axed at Nationwide, First Direct and HSBC, and the leading easy access savings account from Marcus fallen to 1.45%.

With fewer options available, Andy has shared where you can put your cash with interest that will beat inflation.

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FURTHER READING 

> Cash savings to beat inflation

> More about the Personal Savings Allowance

October 3, 2019   |   Deals

Andy’s deals of the week – 3rd October 2019

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I’m back once more with some top deals. Watch the video or listen to the podcast for a little more detail, or click the links to read more.

Watch the latest episode of Andy’s deals of the week

Read more about this week’s deals

£125 Lloyds Bank switch offer

I’m really excited about this one as it’s a brand new switching offer – and one I’m actually able to take advantage of! You’ll get £125 credited to your account if you open a Lloyds Club account and switch over (as long as you don’t already have one). You can also get a choice of six free cinema tickets or a 12 month magazines subscription.

Cheapest “The Secret Commonwealth” copies

Philip Pullman’s brand new book in the His Dark Materials/Book of Dust series is out today. Here are the cheapest places to get it online and on the high street.

Extra £2.50 Quidco bonus today only

Existing customers can opt-in for this extra bonus, on top of any other cashback you might earn when you spend £15 via Quidco. It’s today, Thursday 3rd October only.

Beat the NOW TV price increase

On Wednesday the NOW TV Entertainment pass will go up by £1 to £8.99. I’ve had a look and there aren’t many special offers on passes with NOW TV sticks – a sign perhaps that they’ll also go up in price. Your best bet to beat the increase right now is to either buy a pass direct from NOW TV before the 9th.

If you already have a pass you might be able to do better. Go to cancel it and give the reason that you can’t afford it. There’s a good chance you’ll be offered a reduced price for future months which you can lock in now.

£4.75 Odeon tickets

This Groupon offer ends on Friday, though you’ve until the 10th to use any tickets you buy. You can get two tickets for £10 or five for £20. There’s a 75p booking fee when you use each voucher, so the cheapest is £4.75 for a ticket.

Amazon £5 for streaming video

This offer was due to finish at the end of September but it’s been extended by a week – so it’s a good chance to grab it if you haven’t already. Any Amazon Prime customers who haven’t used Amazon Prime Video can get a £5 voucher just for watching a film or video.

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October 2, 2019   |   Articles

How to get the cheapest advance train tickets

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Know when and how to pick up low-cost advance rail tickets.

We all know that the priciest train tickets are the ones you buy on the day you travel, and that the earlier you buy one the cheaper it’ll be.

But how do you get these advance tickets? Here are the simple things I do to make sure I don’t pay more than I need to.

Understand when advance fares are available

You’d think anytime before your journey date would count as advance, but in fact, most train tickets aren’t put on sale until 10 to 12 weeks in advance of travel.

Some train companies will put fares on sale much earlier, those these tend to be weekday tickets as weekend ones are those likely to be affected by engineering works, and subsequently announced later.

Check advance fares are actually on sale

Ok, so 12 weeks before travel and you’ll get the cheaper fares right? Well, not always. Lots of train booking websites will sell you tickets even though advance fares aren’t actually available.

I had this recently where Trainline said a weekend return from London to Leeds in ten weeks would cost a huge £113.50 – compared to the £36 I’d expect that far in advance.

Confused, I checked on the LNER website. I discovered these advance fares won’t actually be on sale until four weeks before travel. So the very expensive Trainline ticket was just a generic price.

If you have bought one of these non-advance fares before advance fares go on sale, see if you can get a refund from the rail company.

Set an alert for your travel dates

To make sure I know as soon as advance tickets are released, I’ll generally put a note in my phone’s calendar to look for the tickets around that 12-week point (if I know that far in advance).

But I’ll also use alert services. These send you an email for your exact journey.

The best one is probably from the Trainline as it covers all the different networks. However don’t book with The Trainline as you’ll be hit with extra fees.

Some train providers also offer their own alert service (such as LNER). Other’s have usually have a page sharing what tickets are currently available.

Advance tickets are available right until you travel

There’s actually more than one price for an advance ticket. Once the cheapest have sold out, the next level becomes available and so on. In fact, it’s possible to get an advance fair on the morning of travel with some rail companies.

Yes you might miss out on the very cheapest fares if you aren’t booking 12-weeks ahead, but it’s always worth checking as soon as you know you are going somewhere by train.

Monitor price increases

Another handy tool from Trainline is on its app. Here you can see a prediction for when fares are likely to increase. It’s based on booking data so it’s not going to be 100% accurate, but it helps give you a sense of when a change could happen.

Not all routes have advance fares

Frustratingly not all routes have advance fares, meaning the price you pay is the same whenever you buy your ticket. If you’re not sure whether they’ve just sold out or simply not available, you can do a quick search for different dates to check.

> More on how to save money on train tickets

September 30, 2019   |   Podcast

Cash Chats #93 – FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early)

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This week Andy has been joined by his money blogging friend Ken Okoroafor. Ken is a keen advocate of the FI and FIRE movements where people work hard to reach financial independence well before the normal retirement age. He tells Andy how he got started and shares what people can do if they want to start their own FI journey.

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FURTHER READING 

Andy’s blog Be Clever With Your Cash can help you cut back and make your money go further

https://becleverwithyourcash.com/

Ken’s blog The Humble Penny is full of ways to make more money

https://thehumblepenny.com/blog

 

ABOUT CASH CHATS

Cash Chats is presented by money blogger and broadcaster Andy Webb.

In 2019 it was awarded Best Money Podcast at the SHOMOS – the UK Moneybloggers annual awards.

Cash Chats episodes go live twice a week. At the start of the week Andy is often joined for friendly and accessible conversations by a friend from the UK Money Blogger community to cover topics as diverse as freebies and investments. Then on Thursday you can listen to a bonus “deals of the week” episode – a quick rundown of the hottest offers from the last seven days.

Andy also runs the award-winning website Be Clever With Your Cash, presents Channel 5’s Shop Smart Save Money and founded the community ukmoneybloggers.com. To contact Andy email [email protected]

ANDY & GUESTS ON SOCIAL

Andy’s handle is @AndyCleverCash and you can follow him over at:

twitter.com/AndyCleverCash

instagram.com/andyclevercash  

Ken is @TheHumblePenny

https://twitter.com/TheHumblePenny

 

September 23, 2019   |   Podcast

Cash Chats #92 Does it matter if cash is dying?

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Cash is no longer king. It’s dying. New figures show 80% of sales are with a debit or credit card. Debit cards are most popular – 57% of sales according to the British Retail Consortium, but this is the first time credit card use has overtaken cash.

Is this a good thing? Cards definitely come with lots of benefits, but so do cards. So should we be worried about a cashless society? in this episode of the award-winning Cash Chats podcast, Andy has taken a look at the pros and cons of both cards and cash.

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Further reading

Contactless payment declined? You might just need to enter your PIN

Credit card spending overtakes cash for the first time (The Guardian)

Poorest areas hit hardest by loss of free cash machine (Which?)

The Big Issue goes contactless (Big Issue)

September 18, 2019   |   Articles

Contactless payment declined? You might just need to enter your PIN

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New rules affecting all the banks are being introduced that should make our banking more secure. But the extra steps you’ll need to take could be a bit of a pain.

You might have had a letter or text from your bank about some new anti-fraud measures. It probably says there will be changes to how you log on (here’s my letter from First Direct). You might have glanced at it, but you probably didn’t think much of it. I’ll get on to what this could mean for you in a bit.

And it’s just one change coming your way. As part of the Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) measures you could also barriers to spending in shops and online – the biggest concerns contactless payments.

Contactless payment change

If you’re out shopping you could now find that your debit and credit cards are declined. And that’s not because you’re out of money.

One of the new rules limits how many times a card an be used without some kind of authorisation. Already we have to use our PIN for transactions over £30, but you could also now find that you are asked for a PIN when using contactless.

After five contactless payments have been made, or £135 (though some banks might lower this amount), you’ll need to insert your card and enter your PIN. Which is fine if you remember this. But if you don’t, you won’t get a nudge. Instead, you’ll simply see your purchase declined.

So if you don’t recall whether it’s use number five or six, then this could cause confusion and embarrassment. Of course once we get used to this, it’ll be like those GDPR pop-ups on websites and just be normal. But for now I can imagine it’ll cause all sorts of problems. So spread the word!

Not everything will be rejected though. For example, you’ll still be able to tap and pay on public transport, such as the London Underground and buses, and things like parking meters.

And there is a weird workaround for this. The limit doesn’t apply when using the digital wallet on your phone, and that’s because you’ll be using fingerprint or face approval.

Other changes

The SCA changes were all meant to come into play from the 14th September 2019 – but as so many banks weren’t ready the deadline has been moved until March 2021. Even so, some banks are implementing the extra security measures now.

In essence, every transaction needs to have two forms of authorisation from three choices. The first is your PIN or password. The second is a device, such as a card reader, and the third is using something like fingerprint or voice recognition.

In most cases it means you really should download and set up your banking app if you haven’t done this yet. Without it you might struggle to get into your accounts or make payments.

The exceptions include subscriptions, direct debits and standing orders, which only need authorisation once, and the first five contactless payments.

Here are some of the things to expect between now and March 2021.

Online transactions

You’ll no longer be able to just enter your card details and click pay online. An extra step will now be added by all banks. In most cases it’ll be in the form of a one-time passcode (OTP) that is texted to you when you try to use your card.

Some banks have been doing this for a while, and in my experience, it’s proven pretty quick and easy to complete a transaction. Of course, you do need some mobile phone signal, but if you’re online to shop, then you can connect your phone too.

Logging onto banking sites

There’s a good chance you’ll also need to use a code generated by a card reader, your mobile banking app or input a code you are texted in order to log into your bank account online.

If you already do this, then there’s no change. But other banks will start to ask you to do this. 

Since I’ve got so many different bank accounts, I’m used to different log in processes, and using the card reader has always frustrated me, but for the sake of security, it’s no doubt worth the hassle.

It’s not clear how this affects banking apps as not everyone will have a device that allows for fingerprint and face recognition. I assume a one-time password will be texted to your handset to get you in.