Get travel insurance ASAP or it can be disastrous: when to get it, how to choose, pre-existing conditions & more
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January 09, 2025
TLDR: Martin discusses travel insurance, legality of cats vs dogs, energy bill increases, LISAs for retirement, no-fault car insurance claims, and car hire abroad.

In the latest episode of the Martin Lewis Podcast, Martin delved into the critical topic of travel insurance, especially as January marks a peak time for holiday bookings. He emphasized the importance of securing travel insurance immediately after booking your holiday to avoid potentially disastrous situations.
Importance of Early Travel Insurance
- Book ASAP (A-S-A-B): Once you secure your holiday, immediately obtain travel insurance. Waiting too long can limit your coverage, especially regarding unforeseen medical issues.
- Case Studies: Martin shared experiences from listeners who faced dire circumstances, such as being diagnosed with serious illnesses shortly before their trips, resulting in financial loss due to non-refundable bookings.
Choosing the Right Insurance Policy
Single Trip vs. Annual Policies
- Single Trip Insurance: Best for those traveling once in a year. This covers the specific dates of travel and anything that might prevent you from going.
- Annual Travel Insurance: Ideal for frequent travelers, offering coverage for multiple trips within a year, saving both time and money.
When to Buy
- For both policy types, the coverage begins as soon as you purchase the insurance, protecting you against cancellations due to medical emergencies or other unforeseen events, even before the trip date.
Dealing with Pre-Existing Conditions
Martin addressed the challenges many face when obtaining travel insurance with pre-existing medical conditions:
- Step-by-Step Guide:
- Compare Policies: Use online comparison tools to get an initial sense of available options.
- Specialist Medical Sites: If standard policies yield high quotes, consult sites specializing in medical travel insurance.
- Charities and Support Groups: Engage with organizations related to your condition; they might recommend favorable insurers.
- Insurance Brokers: As a last resort, seek out brokers who can tailor policies suited to your circumstances.
Travel Insurance Coverage Parameters
Key Aspects to Consider
- Exclusions: Many travelers assume that all situations are covered, but it's crucial to understand the specific exclusions related to mental health or chronic conditions.
- Cancelation Policies: If your trip gets canceled due to illness, it’s vital to know whether your insurance covers such scenarios, as not all policies do.
Additional Insurance Considerations
Car Rental Insurance
- Standalone Policies: Martin advises securing car rental insurance independently rather than purchasing at the rental desk, where prices can be inflated.
- Credit Card Requirements: Ensure you have a credit card for any deposit required at the rental desk, as most companies won’t accept debit cards.
Tips for Financial Resolution
Martin shared insights into managing finances effectively:
- Balance Transfer Cards: Utilize balance transfer options to consolidate debts at lower interest rates. Compare offers considering fees and duration to maximize savings.
- Reporting Decay: Emphasize checking your tax obligations and completing pending returns to avoid fines and interests.
Conclusion
Travel insurance is an essential, yet often overlooked aspect of holiday planning. By booking as soon as you make your travel arrangements, understanding different policy types, and knowing how to navigate pre-existing condition challenges, you can safeguard your financial investment and enjoy peace of mind during your travels. These proactive steps not only protect against unexpected health issues but also enhance overall travel safety.
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This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. Hello, I'm Martin Lewis. This is the cunningly named the Martin Lewis podcast. I do wonder what that's going to be about. It's the first one of the year, happy new year to you all. Now, usually much of it comes from a BBC Radio 5 live show with Adrian Charles, but don't worry, there's bonus money saving tips just for you lucky, lucky podcast listeners.
In today's pod, the big subject is travel insurance. January is the month most people book holidays and last Saturday is generally the biggest single day for holiday booking. So if you booked or about to book your holiday, my crucial rule for you is
get your travel insurance, A-S-A-B, as soon as you book, leaving it late can be disastrous. I'll be explaining why, plus answering your questions on when to get your annual travel insurance, when to get a single trip, how you choose. What about pre-existing conditions for both physical and mental health and lots more? It's a travel insurance clinic.
We'll also do more of your big things about finance. I just don't understand questions, including ones on credit card protection, the basics of pension credit, why energy bills are constantly rising and will it stop, how to get car hire abroad, can you lose lifetime ISAs for retirement and no fault claims on car insurance and why you pay more.
Then I've got tips for you on cutting the cost of credit card debts. If you're paying interest on your credit card debts, you can't afford to miss that. And finally, the money mastermind is all about. Whether there's a difference between cats. And dogs. Play the thing, Jim. I've got meals. I've got to pay. So long, don't worry, don't worry.
Now, I know we're talking about traveling tunes, before we get started properly on that. We've got a bit of music, it won't play it yet. They say there was a bit of music to introduce us. Might as well, when I first started in television, I produced a little package about something to do with holidays. I can't remember. I thought I'd put a bit of music on it, being clever, trying to check how clever I was. So I started off with Holiday by Madonna. And finished it with Summer Holiday by Cliff Richard.
And I thought I'd done well, and I got hauled over the coals by my then-edity. He said, look, you've got to think harder about this son. You can't just see the word holiday and have a think what's got holiday in it and put it in. So you've got to be more than bleak. You've got to be cleverer. So let's see what they've chosen for us, shall we? Oh, you haven't pulled podcast Jesus Simon, P.P. I'm on your side, mate. OK, let's have a listen. Come fly with me. That's all right. That's a bleak. He hasn't got the word traveling or the word in children. It's all the word holiday.
No, and it's a nice old school evocative tune that brings us on to travel insurance. So this is the big travel booking month. January and February, but January, especially at the start of the year, it's cold, it's damp, it's miserable. People want to actually know I'm going to get some sun at some point so they're booking their holidays right now. It happens every year. And I have this incredibly important warning.
which is always get your travel insurance ASAP. Remember that as soon as you book. And this is why.
every year without fail, whether it's on my TV show or on this podcast or in my email bag, someone contacts me and the conversation tends to go a bit like this. I've just been diagnosed with leukemia or breast cancer or kidney dialysis. I'm going to need treatment over the summer. They're normally contacting me in about, let's say April May for a holiday booked in August,
I'm not going to be able to go on my holiday. I've contacted the hotel or the flight and they say they won't give me a refund. What are my legal rights? Now the first thing I always do is I say, look, what you have to understand is unless you've got a flexible booking policy, the fact that you can't fly
doesn't mean you have any consumer rights. It is all property. The best analogy I would give you is if you bought a tennis racket and broke your arm, you don't have a right to return the tennis racket because you've broken your arm. So while some firms and it's always work out, worth asking may allow you or may have flexible policies, especially if you tell them the circumstances, you don't have any legal rights. So my point is,
Well, this is what travel insurance is there to cover. This is exactly one of the big core remits of travel insurance to which the reply from probably over 50% of people, because it's the reason they're asking me, is, but I haven't got my travel insurance yet.
Traven insurance is not just there to cover you for things that happen while you are away. One of the big books of it is to cover you for things that may happen before you go away that stop you going away.
If you wait and get your travel insurance in a week or two before your holiday having booked it in January, you have effectively got very poor value because you have given away the majority, or not the majority, but a huge chunk of what the cover is for.
That is why I say A-S-A-B and I say it with a level of militancy to everybody listening. If you booked your holiday, you booked your travel insurance then. If you booked your holiday already and you haven't booked your travel insurance yet, you booked your travel insurance now, having heard me. You do not leave this. Honestly, it's the most depressing and debilitating thing. I get that. I mean, these terribly ill people get in touch with me and I can't help, so I wanna preempt prevention. That points to,
really going for annual travel insurance, though, doesn't it? Well, let's say I book a holiday now, two weeks in Alicante in May, and I book the insurance for that holiday, only for those two weeks, whatever. So a single trip policy? A single trip policy. Am I covered? Yes. Okay. So let's go through these days. Let's split it by single trip and annual it. You've absolutely homed in on the right point.
So if you book a single trip policy, if you've got, if you're going away from the first to the seventh of August to Spain, right, and you're buying, it's the only time you're going away in the year, you get your single trip policy now, and the dates you will give are the first to the seventh of August, because that's when you're going on holiday, but you now have that policy in place. And that would now cover you, if anything happened from now on, to prevent you going on that single trip.
With an annual trip policy, an annual trip policies tend to be better for anyone who will go away two or more times in a year. That's even if you're just going away for a weekend. They will cover all the trips you make in a year up to normally a set number of days, say 30 days away. If you travel more than that, you're going to need a more specific type of policy. So think about it. If you go away for two lots of three weeks, an annual policy may not be best for you, but for everybody else, you're going away. One main one week or two week holiday, you might have another couple of weekends, you might have another week away. An annual travel policy covers everything
for the year. If you're getting that, then if your holiday is in August and you don't have travel insurance yet in place, you would want to get your annual travel insurance today so that then again, you're covered. So with single trip, you just book it for the dates, but you book it now for the dates. You don't wait. With annual trip, you need to have it starting today. The policy date, even if you're not going away to August the first time, if you've booked that holiday, your start date is now. Will you pay extra if your holiday is nine months away?
or one month away, because it's a different level of risk for them. If I was in Europe, I'd charge more. On a single trip, generally not. Generally not. Interesting. We've got plenty of questions on this, you imagine. Hannah says, I've got an insurance expires in April, but I've already booked for November. If something were to happen to me before April, would that cover me for November? I will renew my annual policy after April. Fascinate it.
It is a policy by policy issue.
Generally, if you're going away going away in November and something happened and you booked and something happens to you before April, most annual travel insurance policies would cover you for the November issue if something happened in March that stopped you most. But I had I remember I'm doing it from memory. I had a woman who contacted me on my show for one of the live questions and she had been told she wasn't covered and we checked and she was one of the few policies. So most
But not all, so... This points to the fact that mistakes often make, I think, with insurance, don't know whether you'd agree. We treat it as though it's commoditized, where one policy is the same as the... There's why or difference. I don't know what to look like. How is she supposed to spot that? Was she not? But what she's meant to do now, having booked a holiday and the end date, is here's what I'd suggest she does. What's her name? This is Hannah. Hannah, this is what I suggest you do. First of all, check your policy. Right, it'll be in there. You should be able to find it. And just a quick tip for everybody.
If you're struggling to read your policy, these days, you can take, because the policy documents are 700 pages of legal ease or not 720 page of legal ease, take the link to the PDF from their website and put it in an AI PDF reader and then ask it the question. Brilliant. Right. So the first thing I would do is I'd check. I would generally assume that you would be covered.
But there may also be a clause that says you're only covered if you have a policy after that point as well. So you may need to now get yourself an annual policy starting in April, which you can do, which you can do to go on for the following year. And more so, I have a friction here between my wanting to show people how to do it right and show people how to do it cheapest. More so.
The way that this becomes easier is if you get an annual policy with the same firm that you're covered with now. Because then there's no jurisdictional issues. Now, that is sort of anti-shopping around if you like. You don't have to do that, but it can make it easier if you're with the same policy. Because then if you can't go in November, it doesn't matter whether it's your policy up to the 1st of April, your policy from the 2nd of April onwards, it's still the same company, it's still the same issue, it's still what you're talking about.
Well, you could always make a phone call to them. I mean, which is another variable. You could get hold of anyone on the phone. Me being too new school, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah. If you can get them on the phone, if they have a phone service, ask them that question. OK. But generally, yes. Generally, yes. Alison, if you travel insurance runs out on the day you fly home and the plane is delayed, are you required to contact the insurer to extend? Or is there some leeway when it comes to official delays or cancellations?
So if it's a single trip policy, you will be fine because you booked for those dates and it's a delay that works there. If it were an annual trip policy, I would suggest that you were fine because the dates that you booked are the right dates, but that may be one that you would need to check the individual policy for. It wouldn't be a problem on single trip. There is a chance, you know, if you timed it, so the last day of your holiday was the last day of your annual policy.
No, because your flight is booked for the day. It's a delay of a flight on that day. I'm going to give it a 98% confidence level that you would be fine. This is another one, I think. It's worth checking when you book it, whether there's somebody going to be on the end of a phone line to actually answer your question. Look, the greatest problem we have with insurance, all types of insurance, but especially travel insurance, is we are trying to book to protect us from an unknown eventuality.
Now, there is only so much you can do on that. And it's worth talking about what you do, what you can do. So you can, you know, when we had the Icelandic volcano and I was around to remember it.
nobody had ever checked for a volcano to disrupt travel for three weeks, and no one had ever checked whether they'd be covered on their travel insurance. And so many people weren't covered, but no one could have had the foresight to say, oh, have I got Icelandic volcano cover? You wouldn't. Now you might check, but we don't know about the ex-issue that may well happen in the future. And so you have two real options, and this is how...
you either go and say, as they are, at the cheap end, they're all much of a much, and it's not one of the pretty good, but belt embraces, I should have it. So I'm going to pay 10 quid for a week in Spain per person, right? And it gives me the basic cover that I need and cross my fingers. Because, so when I, on the site, we have two levels of, we have the,
What we call the no-frills value policies, where we were very plain to state there is no feedback base. These are based on minimum cover levels and they must be FCA regulated, which means if you get turned down, you can go to the Ombudsman. You have a legal right to go to the Ombudsman and remember with all insurance, if they say they won't pay out, you can go to the Ombudsman. And what you're looking for, what's the kite mark you're looking for?
Oh, well, window, we just have minimum cover levels that we set for all the different things. OK, but you said they're regulated by the FCA, the financial regulator, the FCA. So properly by the UK FCA. And then we have what we call, sorry, they were the cheap policies, no frills. And then we have the value policies, which are the cheapest where we have a decent record of feedback and payout. So what we then do is we look at eventualities, you know, a spot test that say we take the volcano test as an example, but mention it.
Did it pay out when the volcano happened? Because that's attitudinal because you just don't know. And therefore, but they're a lot more expensive. So that's your choice. Are you going for the really cheap? I'm just going to go for value and cross my fingers. It gives me a bit of cover and hopefully it will work. Or are you going to go for it? I'm going to pay a lot more because this one tends to pay out in more eventualities, although nothing is ever certain. Marilina says my son's trouble getting travelling shoes due to a brain tumour under control, but still there, even though he's content to have the issue excluded.
the cost without covering it is still astronomical, beyond being affordable. Why? Why? Because, listen, there are lots of problems in travel insurance. Now, bizarrely, while I do cover with my day job hat on pre-existing conditions and how to get through it, I'm not so good on the whys on that. But with my other hat on as Chair of the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute, we have done a lot of research that says,
For relatively minor mental health conditions, there is a disproportionate increase in the amount that you have to pay on travel insurance. For someone who's had a depressive episode four years ago, you may well be paying where we think the risk might be increased by 50%, you might be paying 20 fold. And we think that certainly on the research I've done on that, on mental health, I believe there is a real problem in pricing of mental health pre-existing conditions in travel insurance. It's something that we are working on. I've already met with a minister on it.
to ask that an investigation and more details is looked at. You can't get the proper details because you can't get their underwriting. Only government can do that, which is why it's a start. I can't do the wise. I can do that. I get it really frustrating. Now, what I would suggest, look, let's just do the what you do if you've got pre-existing conditions. Let's just do the step-by-step. Step one, go on to the normal travel insurance comparison sites and see what you're going to be priced at. It gives you a benchmark. Most people, it won't be cheap because your pre-existing conditions are backing it off.
Step two, you go into the special... But the excluding pre-existing conditions. I'm coming to that. We get there towards the end because we don't want to do that. Right. Step number two, if you have a serious condition, try specialist medical sites. Medical travel compared and paying too much would be the two I would pick out. So go online, give them your details. If that's not working, step three,
Contact the charity that represents people with your conditions that may well know of a travel insurer who's more favorable to those conditions, or at least it may have a forum where you can discuss it with other people who may have fared better. Step number four is
If all else fails is try and get a broker to give you a bespoke policy that excludes your specific past condition. I've heard of it being done. I've also heard of it not being done. I mean, and actually one of the things I'm just working on at the moment, weather.
They used to be in a policy called EHIC Plus. Now, for those who don't know, the EHIC Card, European Health Insurance Card, now the Global Health Insurance Card, even though it covers the same number of countries, there's a spin for you, is a card that gives you
If you go to a state-run EU and a few other countries, hospital or state-run GP, you pay the same as a local. So if it's free for them, it's free for you. So it's very useful to have one of these. Everyone should have these check yours is in date, millions of them are out of date. If you're going to go away this summer, you've got an e-hit or a g-hit.
It's very useful to have now, there used to be an EHSIHIC plus policy, which meant that if you had an E-HIC, it would cover you for non-medical issues on top of that, but you'd rely on your E-HIC for medical issues. That has gone, and we're just in the middle of some research to see if anyone else is offering something similar, so that
The one thing that does give you a little bit of peace of mind, check country by country where you're going, what the exact level of cover and how much you would pay depending on what your condition was, if you were to go within the European Union on holiday, an e-hic or a g-hic. It is not a replacement for travel insurance, but in extremists, it could give you some medical cover if your travel insurance wouldn't.
Jenny says she may or may not be getting surgery this year, so should she declare it when she buys the travel insurance? Yes, I've just prepared something on that. I just want to check. Here's my line. Right.
If you have seen a doctor about your medical treatment or issues that you have had, then generally you should declare it. So I think it would be quite difficult for you to be having surgery if you had not consulted a doctor about it.
Therefore, the general ruling is you should declare it. You should declare the condition. The fact that you're having surgery or not, if the surgery is after the date of your holiday is irrelevant, whatever the condition you're having surgery for is declarable. Maybe that is cosmetic surgery, I don't know. But if that's after the holiday, that seems to be irrelevant. But if it is a medical issue, physical or mental health issue, you should declare it. I still don't get what
And if you don't put in a, you're not going to claim related to that and you get your wallet nicked or something and you want, I'm not getting into the wise, which I don't know. No, no, but then there was a case in law recently where it certainly, if they excluded you from
coverage for theft because you didn't fully declare your pre-existing condition. I would argue that that was challengeable under fair treatment. But if you had a back problem and you had a knee problem and your back went, well, there's an arguable causality between the two. So therefore, I mean, I'm not saying you would lose, but I'm saying it'd be a much tougher fight to argue that the fact that you didn't declare your knee shouldn't be noted.
We get travel insurance to protect us. If we don't declare our pre-existing conditions, you may effectively be invalidating some medical elements of your policy that you're paying for. So what's the point? So you are better to declare even though that will put the cost up. And there's this sort of strange logic that people have that, well, I'm not going to say because it keeps the cost down. Yeah, but then you might not be covered if you've kept the cost down because you haven't declared it.
I'll take my chances on medical stuff. I'll just, if somebody pinches my camera, I want to be able to claim for it. Well, then you'll probably be fair because they wouldn't send a medical, I mean, in practical terms, they wouldn't send a medical investigator later, would they? No. Generally. OK. But presumably you're infringing the law if on the general level. I can only tell you that one should always, when asked on a form that you're filling in, it could be fraudulent if you did not fill it in accurately. Cancellation. Sorry. If a holiday is from Adrian, if a holiday is canceled by you or the company, you'd go with you and you with you.
and cancel the travel insurance without using it. Do you get full refund for of the travel insurance for a percentage of the full amount of you paid? So I get it. So what he's saying is, I've got a holiday booked. I've got travel insurance. I've now canceled the holiday. I'm not going there. Can I get a refund on the travel insurance I've paid? My answer is maybe. I know some cases where people have got pro rata refunds.
I know people who haven't. It needs to be remembered. Insurance is just a really weird policy that we pay for in the hopes we'll never use it. So let's just think about this in a philosophical way. I've booked a holiday to go in August.
I book it in January. I cancel it in April. The idea, therefore, due a full refund. Well, no, you did have cover in place from January to April. So it's quite difficult to argue that you do a full refund. I mean, just like you can't argue, give me a refund on the travel insurance because nothing happened and I'm not claiming on it. I mean, that isn't an argument for not having a refund. But you may get a pro-rata refund. I wouldn't fight. I would get in touch. I politely asked them if you don't get it.
I probably wouldn't bother fighting on it. Let's do a couple more of the travel insurance ones. I'm finding it really, it's so interesting because everyone goes and does it and I'm just embarrassed to realize how much I don't understand. There's one on travel insurance provided by banks. Is that the same as buying travel insurance sort of independently?
Yeah, so it depends what we're talking about. Just be very careful to ensure it's travel insurance, not travel accident insurance. Travel accident insurance is literally something that covers you if you're having an accident while traveling as in the physical process and going from one place to another. So travel insurance by banks generally given us packaged bank accounts, which are where you're paying 13, 15, 17 pounds a month for their silver or gold account, where it includes all types of insurance. I'm a big fan, right?
if they're right for you. And we're very anti them if they're wrong for you. Many people were upsold them unnecessarily given these accounts when they're not suitable for them when they won't use the features and have run miss selling campaigns about package bank accounts for years. But, you know, the big ones out there say nationwide, you can get
annual travel insurance for the family, you get family mobile phone cover, you get family breakdown cover, and you're paying about 180 quid a year. Whereas if you bought those independently, it could cost you 300, 400 pounds a year. So as long as you want all those things, those package bank accounts can be very good. And some of them go up to the age of 75. So they're quite good for older people as well, because as long as you don't have pre-existing conditions, which you should always declare there as well, they will work. So when you're getting the account, if you've got pre-existing conditions, just
just make sure because they won't necessarily ask you declare or you might be invalid when you get there. And they have pretty good levels of cover. So actually, I'm quite a fan of most of the package bank accounts travel insurance cover. It's pretty good travel insurance. So just the travel insurance alone, it generally isn't worth it for most apart from a few older people getting very near to the maximum age limits on the policies because prices rocket up once you're over 65.
But if you do want mobile phone cover for you and you're a couple, by the way, if you're a couple on the package bank account, even if it only covers all account holders, so even if only one of you will actually use the bank account. So let's marry again as we often do Adrian. So we're married again. You get the package bank account. It's your bank account. It's not my bank account.
But as long as we have a trusting relationship, you could put me on it and I would also get the mobile phone cover. So even though I wouldn't use the bank account, we'd put me on it as another name on it. So package bank account cover generally a fan as long as you want all the insurance and you do the numbers compared to buying it standalone. On older people rose, we've got a question on that. You must get this a lot. And your traveling insurance for a near 90 year old in good help bar high blood pressure. The insurance is costing more than the holiday. Yeah.
Over 90 is really tough. It starts to get pretty particularly tricky once you're in your 80s. 90 is really tough. You're going to be going, forget annual policies generally. You're going to be looking at a bespoke single-trip policy. There are information lists of over 65 policies out there. It depends where you're going, what you're doing, the high blood pressure. It's going to get very costly once you go there.
Germany sticking in Europe will be easier because you'll also have your G-Hick or your E-Hick, which can then, you know, the travel insurance know that you've got that, and therefore that could defer some of the potential medical risk costs for them, but it gets tricky. There are guides out there to all the different policies. I can't run through them all on there. It feels booking a cruise, but it's more than a year away. So what's the best way to cover that trip? It's such a big question. I get a lot, right? So I have got research on that, and pleased to tell you.
There are a number of insurers who will allow you to book for a holiday more than 12 months away on an annual or a single trip policy. Aviva, single trip up to 24 months out. Evanti up to 18 months out. Stay short up to 18 months out. Churchill and direct line up to 12 months out.
So if you're booking a cruise in 18 months time, you're going to have a limited choice of insurers, or you're booking any holiday in 18 months time, you're going to have a limited choice of insurers, but there are some insurers. But many people, they try their regular insurer, their regular insurer seasons. No, they try one another, they say no, and they think they can't be done. It can be done, but you have to look at the insurers who are specific about those things.
Let's move on to the telus, which is any financial New Year's resolutions. Yeah, so on this, I actually did a poll as part of it, an exclusive poll just for this podcast.
Yeah. On X. So here we go. And I asked, are you doing financial resolutions? I split it by age. I won't bother with that. Effectively, the answer was of 28,303 people who voted 28.8% have done a financial new year's resolution and 71.2% haven't. So actually, that's still quite a substantial number of people. I have only one financial resolution this year. It is semi-financial. It relates to the podcast. I should tell it to you. I have put it out there. My resolution this year
is to say the Spanish-owned UK subsidiary of the major bank to try and pronounce it correctly as Santander, and not Santander, as lots of people tell me I get it wrong. I have it wrong in my head. I'm going to try and say Santander this year, not Santander. But rest assured, I will be still be saying year as year. It's 10 years. That's how I say it. But Santander, I am aware I say it wrong, and that's my resolution to try and teach myself to say it right.
OK, I'll be monitoring that. But they've probably got some more interest in financial research. And from witness centers this. Hi, Martin. I just wanted to share my little game plan for Frugal 2025.
Essentially, when I started the year, I went into it looking at fees increasing to $330 a month from $280, so nearly a £50 rise per month for TV and streaming, mobile, doorbell, subscription fees, gyms, et cetera, and now looking to end the year around the $180 mark, so a reduction of nearly £100 a month just by canceling and changing services down.
Yeah, let's not give too much away. Some of them make a living telling people those tips, please, you know. Not all absolutely sensible, mobile and broadband, most people are massively overpaying. You can just switch this in very easily for £5 a month. Many people get all the data that they need. Check your direct debits and standing orders on your all your online banking to check that you're not paying for things that you don't need, want or use anymore.
go through every single thing that you are spending money on and say, can I do it cheaper? Can I do it better? I mean, people always, when I have to do newspapers, they say, what's your one money tip? And I'm like, I don't do it like that. It's about bespoke specific detail. But the one tip, if I have to, my answer is,
Never assume that you can't save money on something without checking it. That's my one. You know, I've had to bring it down into one thing. Right, shall I do one? Yeah. Argo. I'm a shopaholic and impulse bar, so imagine me now during big sales everywhere. I've decided this year I will buy nothing. I'm going to use all my perfume cosmetics, and once it's finished, only will I buy new.
Perfect. Lots of people do no spend the days, by the way, which is a big New Year's resolution. You could take two days in a week and say you won't spend. It becomes habit forming and people spend less if you want to cut back. But so much using your stock, whether it's your stock in your kitchen cupboard, it's your stock of make-up or cosmetics, so many people buy new when they've got lots of bottles around. I like that one. Bitcoin Vlad says the goal this year is to shift as much of my banking structures to the Bitcoin standard.
funds we can save away for four years minimum will go into the set and forget BTC wallets. I understand about 80% of the words in that. I mean, what I was just saying is I'm going to move more of my assets into Bitcoin. Now, look, I'm always very careful on this. I don't cover investments. I don't cover speculation. I don't cover currency trading. And that means I do not cover Bitcoin. Bitcoin, for those people who've had it, has done very well over the past few years. And many people have made lots of money out of it.
It is a highly volatile place to put your money. You may make a fortune from it. You may lose a fortune from it. You have to decide what's right for you. What the regulator would always say is do not put more money in than you can afford to lose. So it's a perfectly legitimate resolution. There were many Bitcoin resolutions that came out there because you got onto social media. It's full of Bitcoin evangelists and they're trying to get the point of glass. I'm glad we've read one, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to leave that one for other programs.
Natasha said clear credit cards by the end of the month that I'm in super safe mode. My partner and I are 7 to buy a house, both 36. We set goals for all areas of our lives, including shared goals like this. Sounds sensible. I've got two lizards who were opposed to each other. First Liz with the double Z, save as much as possible, sell unwanted items on vinted, meal plan and try not to eat anything processed.
The other is spend as much as possible and enjoy every day. God be honest, I'm more on the first one because that is my job. Spending as much as possible and enjoy every day is good. But one also does have to hope for the best and plan for the worst. We need some money aside for our futures and for poor eventualities. So spending everything and as much as possible, I have struggled with that slightly.
More of the questions that we started on this before Christmas that we can actually do it all year. It's just a chance for people to say, look, I really don't understand how does this work? Okay. Susan, I really don't understand pension credit. If you're a couple getting old age pension, you do not qualify. So, who does? Well, the question is slightly wrong. If you are a couple or single,
and you get the full new state pension, you are right, because that's 221 quid, you will not qualify for pension credit, which is 218 quid, unless you have high housing costs, unless you have a disability. You still may qualify even on that income, but generally you won't. The pension credit is, it's quite a poor name. I mean, I would call it a state pension top up.
That's what it is. It's a top-up of your state pension income and other income if you do not have enough total income. The general rule is around 218 quid a week for a single pensioner. Now, one of the things I picked apart on the winter fuel payment, because of course it's the pension credit that gives you eligibility for winter fuel payment, now it's means tested, is, first of all, remember, I said two operative words there, the full
new state pension. Let's do full first. To get the full state pension, you need enough qualifying natural insurance years. They come from work or looking after children or being registered in other ways. As a very rough rule of thumb, you need 35 years. It's not 35. Many people have more and not get the full amount. But that's sort of a totem. Let's say 35 years.
lots of people don't have 35 years so they may get the new state pension but they don't get the full new state pension and if they don't have any other income that means their income will be less than the pension credit threshold and they will be entitled. The second operative word is new.
the new state pension came in in April 2016 for all people who retired after that point. For those who'd retired before, they are still on the old, also known as the basic state pension, which is a lot lower. So if you only get the basic state pension, even if you get the full state pension, then you would be entitled to pension credit if you didn't have any other income.
So your question is right, but I need to be technical. If I were on the full new state pension, did not have disabilities, did not have high housing costs, and did not qualify under a few of the other exemptions, you would not get pension credit. So the argument is, what it's there to do is to put everybody up to close to the full state pension if you don't have any other money.
I'm saying that's right or wrong, I'm just saying that's how it works. I said, it's quite dark this, I'm laughing. So at what point in the future does energy bills just become unaffordable? Continued rises year on year and more unable to pay. Is this the plan though? Make it unaffordable and that way people will leave this earth quicker. It is dark and I need to be straight. It's also, again, the question is wrong. I understand why people feel
the energy costs have gone up year on year. And certainly, if we compare where we are now to before the energy crisis started back in the winter of 2021, they are around 70% higher. But I've got in front of me the typical use price cap levels. I don't like using typical use, but it just helps me explain the point here. So this is what off-gem defines as a typical user. There isn't such a thing. How much they would have spent. Now, just to get this really complicated for people,
Of gems, typical use definitions have changed over the years because the energy crisis means people are using less energy. So what it defines as a typical user has gone less. So there was a point when the price cap under the energy price guarantee was £2,500. That's what the typical use was quoted. But because the typical use is now lower, my figures recalibrate that on today's typical use.
Right. So, winter 2020 went, won the price cap was 993. The next winter, it was 1,216. The next winter, the price cap was 4,000, but the energy price guarantee meant in practice it was 2,380. That was the high point.
Winter a year ago it was one nine two eight this year it's one seven one seven so the lack we are paying less than we did last winter and last winter was less than the winter before so while it may feel energy is constantly getting more expensive and energy is certainly absolutely more expensive than it should be
It is incorrect to say that it is continuing to get more expensive. We now start to have the point where we've got some moderately competitive tariffs. You know, the energy price cap went up 1% in January. It's currently predicted up to go up by 2% to 5% in April. But you can currently get a fix at 6% less than the current energy price cap. So you could bring the price down yourself if you go into a whole-of-market price comparison.
As for what's going to happen to the future of energy, as I always say, I look at consumer prices, I don't look at generation. Clearly, there are many different arguments. Hopefully, we're investing a lot in renewables. Some would argue that will bring the price down. Others would say, no, you need to stick with fossil fuels to bring the price down. I'm going to avoid all of that. What I would say
It is not by definition the case that energy will continue to get more expensive year on year. That hasn't been the past pattern. I think it is unlikely for it to ever go as cheap as it was before the energy crisis. But we are still now, I go back to the current cap on typical usages 1717.
On the same, if we hadn't had the energy price guarantee, which was the price protection, it would have been over 4,000, but in reality, it went to 2,380. So it has come down, although it's still horrible.
So, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Martin's Money Mastermind, which Adrian is going to play. He has done 12 of them so far, which he did in 2024. His record for that year, he finished off with four correct and eight wrong. Now, as this is generally three option multiple choice, that is exactly on random chance, random chance. If we attack... I'll settle for that.
If we had had a monkey choosing by which hairs it plucked out of its backside and dropped onto some random ABC selector, it has done about the Saedrin has done about as well. Congratulations. Let's hope this year you can beat random chance.
Adrian, and for those who don't know if you're new to the podcast or new to the Five Life section, there's always a nice warm setup where I compliment Adrian in many, many ways on the way that he works. Adrian, as you know, dogs like humans are pack animals. And clearly, off air, many people won't know this. You are the alpha of the Radio Five Life presenter pack.
Yes, folks, our Adrian is near feral with testosterone and competitiveness. I have seen Nicki Campbell quiver at the mere mention of your name. I've seen you quite Nagamunchetti with just a half-raised eyebrow. And listeners, when Adrian finishes his slot, new presenter Matt Chorley now comes into the studio holding out a treble express over Mr Charles before he starts giving him his rub down.
Yes, Adrian, the alpha male. That's true of everyone apart from Rachel Burden. She's not having it. She's not your wound except my authority. Really? We need to work on that. We can do some coaching. However, it's not just Rachel. It's not true of when Adrian goes home, his cat doesn't even acknowledge him. No. So that brings me on to today's question. It was very loose setup. But there we go. Today's question, if you've a cat and a dog,
Neither are well behaved, both go out separately and cause havoc, damaging the property of neighbours down your street, one down one end, one down the other end of the street.
Are you legally liable for the damage that they cause? Now, unfortunately, I had to do four options this week, so it does slightly break the normal three rule. A, yes, but only for the damage from the dog. B, yes, but only for the damage from the cat. C, yes, for the damage of both. D, no, you're not liable for your animal's behavior. I think.
I feel like that may only fact. That's very good. Thank you. I've got a dog. My dog goes. Don't say I've got a cat because people have realised that I just completely make the set up up. No, I haven't. I'll get one. If you told me earlier when I got one this morning. If my dog tuddles off down the road and then chews up a deck chair in somebody's back garden, I mean, I... That they bought in an auction for £4,500.
No, I don't, I don't. I mean, I would pay because, oh my God. I don't think I'm legally obliged for either the damage or of a cat or a dog. So your answer is C. You... Although... No, that was D. Neither cat nor dog. Sorry, it's D. Neither cat nor dog. But on the other hand, if my dog sort of hurt somebody... Say, hurt, hurt, hurt goes in as well? Yeah, hurt somebody. Then I can't believe I'm not responsible as the owner of the dog.
So if it was hurting a person rather than property, so I'm changing my answer, I'm going for just dog, which is A. A, only the dog's damage. Well, you are correct that if your dog damaged an individual or their property, you would be liable. Right. And you have legal liability for the behaviour of your dog. But if you had a cat, you would not be liable, so play the hallelujah.
You're properly happy about that, aren't you? It's a lie. I need to explain this a bit more. Under the law, cats are free spirits. Dogs are not free spirits. So you cannot be responsible for the behaviour of your cat. That's why cats are allowed to go running out. But dogs are not deemed. You're deemed legally responsible. The difference in the behaviour between the two things you keep your dog on the lead, you take it out, you decide whether it goes out of the house or not. You can't control a cat that much.
Now, this is quite important because it means that you should have third party liability for your dog. Now, if you have a pet insurance, it will generally check, but it will generally have third party liability. If not, you can buy a standalone third party liability policy from the dog's trust. And most dog owners should have that policy in case it damages another individual or somebody else's property, but you don't need it for a cat.
Excellent. I even got it right. So I'm doing better than the monkey picking hair. Well, no, ahead of them. So I'm actually made up. I might just talk about myself and my brilliance or my better than mediocrity for the remaining two and a half minutes we have. No, you won't, Adrian. You may be able to do that when we're on five live, but not on this podcast. I think it's time to move on to something else.
Now we still have a whole stock of your questions that you've sent in about what's the stuff about finance that you just don't understand and would like to. So I've got podcast producer Simon with me. Simon, what's coming? Yeah, we've got loads of extra questions actually still to do. Craig sent this one in. Car insurance should be investigated while you have a non-fall accident. Are they now jacking your premiums up? Surely this is wrong. The government says you have to have insurance to almost bear some responsibility for what I can only describe as legalized robbery.
Okay, I'm going to explain rather than justify why that happens. I think one thing I would pick up is you're saying, now, this has longer been the case. This is not a new thing. Insurance pricing is based on actuarial risk. So that's very clever people sitting in rooms, working out the risk of things happening in different situations.
So it's one of the reasons why bizarrely some people may be able to pay less for comprehensive insurance than they do just for third party insurance, even though comprehensive insurance covers you for many, many more things. The reason for that's quite simple.
In some cases, they look at the actuarial risk of the fact that you've selected comprehensive insurance means that you're likely to be a lower risk than had you selected third party insurance. And therefore, the fact that you're a lower risk on pricing outweighs the fact that you're getting more cover. I mean, it really can work like that. It's rare, but it happens. A similar example is the fact that I often tell people that you want to be
getting quotes for your new insurance around 21 to 26 days before your current policy lapses. Why should that make a difference? Well, actuarally, the type of people who get policy quotes at that time tend to be a lower risk than the people who leave it till the last minute. So once you start to see what I'm talking about in risk tables, you will understand that even if it is a no fault accident, actuarally,
The fact that you've been in a no fault accident increases the perspective future risk that you may be in a no fault accident again. Because you put yourself in situations where in no fault or you're in an area where no fault accident happens, then it can increase the risk tables based on ensuring you.
It is incredibly frustrating that that happens, but that is why it is happening and it has long happened by that. Now, we have had some rules and regulations about what is allowed in actuarial risk and what isn't allowed. So we had gender equalization. You know, car insurance used to be a lot cheaper for young women than for young men because there were more boy racers who were boys than there were boy racers who were girls.
So it used to be cheaper, but now you have to charge everybody the same for insurance based on gender. You can't discriminate over gender. So whether it's allowed or not, you're right. You might want to argue that shouldn't happen, but that is currently allowed to happen and why the pricing differs. Good stuff. Paul wants to know if you pay part by credit card and part by other payment methods, does section 75 protect full purchase price or just the part you pay by credit card?
Section 75 states that if you pay for an item and the item cost between £100 and £30,000 and you pay on a credit card, the credit card company is jointly liable with the retailer for the purchase. So if the retailer were to go bust, you have exactly the same rights with the credit card companies you did with the retailer. Even if the retailer doesn't go bust, you can go to the credit card company. It is huge financial jujitsu and extra protection. Now, the rule specifically states,
that if you pay for any amount on a credit card, the credit card company is liable for the whole amount. So I always tell this anecdotal story because it happened and a lady got in touch. She had bought a kitchen cost. I can't remember the exact amount. Let's call it 12 grand. She had put a 200 quid deposit on her credit card. She had paid the rest by bank transfer. The kitchen company went bust. So she went to the credit card company wanting all the 16 grand back. She went to the credit card company and the credit card company said, no.
No surprise there. So following my information on my site, she then went on to the financial ombudsman, took it to the financial ombudsman, and the financial ombudsman said, yes, you are entitled to all the money for the entire amount and got some compensation on the back on the way it had been treated. So under the law,
Under section 75, even if you were to put one penny on the credit card for something costing £10,000, then it would have section 75 coverage. Now, there are other things that break section 75. So if you're buying for an agency and bizarrely some payment mechanisms, count as an agency,
If you're not buying, if somebody's using a second card on the credit card and they're not buying something that you benefit from, all of those things can stop section 75 working. But big picture, you do not have to pay for all the item on the credit card and the credit card company's still liable for the entire item. So one way of protecting yourself even if you don't want to pay on credit card is put a little bit on the credit card. Alfie's asked us a question that I actually linked back to the main program. Please educate us about car hire when we're on holiday, specifically about insurance. How do we get the best deal, please?
So one of those real hard cells that many people will experience is you get your car high, you've booked it, you've been on a comparison site, you've done it early to bring the price down. When you arrive at the desk, they say, oh, hold on, hold on. First of all, they'll talk about the fuel you're going to have to fill it yourself or you'll pay a lot.
And then they say, have you got insurance? You say, no, I thought it's covered. And they say, well, if you have a scratch, if you have a damage, it's very expensive. It commonly happens. You won't be covered by the breakdown policy. And it could cost you hundreds of pounds. But if you get this insurance policy, you won't need to. And they give you a really hard sell on getting car hire insurance. And I've watched many people at car hire deaths over the years.
pushed in and get scared into it. So what is the solution? The solution is before you go, get yourself a standalone car hire insurance policy. There's a website Money Maxim that gives a comparison site for these. You could also, if you get car hire regularly, get an annual policy, a bit like we talked about with travel insurance. What happens then is when you go and if you were to get the car hire, if you were to have a problem, you would have to pay the excess, but you could claim it back from one of these standalone policies.
Now, when you do have one of those policies, you will say that. And many of the car have firms that say, oh, no, no, that's not good enough, and you still won't have ours, and it still won't work. And they'll say, and if you still say, no, I don't want your excess insurance policy, which is what they're offering you, because the basic collision damage waiver policy that you do get.
Then I'll say, right, well, you need to leave a deposit of 1200 euros. And on a credit card, and you say, here's my debit card. They say, no, a credit card. You say, I've only got a debit card. It has to be a credit card. So you need a credit card.
And then you say, okay, here's my wife's credit card. Well, no, you booked it and you're going, but no, you booked it has to be in your name. So sometimes I say it has to be in your name. Sometimes I say it has to be in the driver's name. So if you're going to do this, you need to make sure you've got a credit card. And generally, I would always have the person who booked it and the person who's driving being the same person and they should be the one with the credit card.
And that way, you're able to use your standalone policy that might cost you two quid a day as opposed to 20 quid a day. And you still have the same piece of mind, but it costs you a fraction of the price. Often these firms, you know, the insurance can be as much as the car hire if you're not careful if you've got a cheap policy.
Perfect. We've got a lifetime answer question from Mark. My sons have a first time buying a money box lyser. When buying their first home, can they leave say £1,000 in there and carry on saving for their pension while still receiving the max uplift?
Well, it won't be saving for a pension, it'll be saving for their old age. The lifetime ISA has two purposes. It gives you a bonus if you're a first time buying the property that costs under £450,000, you get a 25% bonus on top of everything you've saved in there. You also get that bonus at age 60, so it's a saving for your older age.
Now, so that's what you're talking about, the pension element. And yes, you can use it for both. So if you got a lifetime ISA, if you then used some or all of the money, and you could use all of the money in your lifetime ISA for a first-time property, you can continue to save in the lifetime ISA, and you can then never buy another property with it to get the bonus, but you could get the bonus at age 60. I would caution you, though, that the reason many mainstream providers do not offer
Lifetime Isis and interestingly the treasury committee is doing research on this at the moment and I'm just doing a submission and talking to them about it. The reason that many and doing on the whole of lifetime Isis is saying not just this element. Many major providers don't offer lifetime Isis is they're very worried that they will get done for miss selling on pensions because as a general rule of thumb.
a normal pension if you are an employee because of the auto enrollment and the fact that if you put in values company pension your employer has to put money into employees you will almost certainly be better off in a normal pension than you would putting a money in a lifetime.
as long as you're in auto enrollment, as long as it's contributing or matching contributions. If you're self-employed, if you are a top or higher rate taxpayer, 45 or 40% taxpayer, then the benefits, the tax benefits of putting money in a pension as the scheme currently looks, would easily outweigh the tax benefits of saving in the lifetime ISA. It is only for those who are self-employed,
And basic 20% rate taxpayers where you're starting to look at the benefits of a lifetime is being roughly akin to the benefits of putting money in a pension. So while you may be able to continue doing so, I would urge you to first look at whether you would be better in your scenario, just increasing the amount that you put in your workplace pension or
if you're self-employed saving more in a state pension rather than putting the extra money in a lifetime ISA. For some people, the lifetime ISA will work. Certainly, if you've maxed out your state pension, you can't do anything else, but not for everybody. They were really good questions. Maybe we'll keep doing a few more of those over the years, Simon. What do you reckon? Yeah, it sounds really good.
Now, before we started the show, Adrian and I were chatting about his panorama about e-bikes and rules and regulations on the road. And actually, there's a financial angle to this too, as I pointed out.
Now, just before we start, I saw your very interesting panorama, but I saw the last 10 minutes of it being honest on e-bikes and all those things the other day. There's a financial element of the behaviour of e-bikes. Do you get this? You like ordinary mortals. You do a story, and then it goes out. I did with this panorama about e-bikes.
It's only after it's gone out, you realise, oh my God, we should have said that, could have said that, that's an interesting angle. You learn more about it through doing it and you've just made an excellent point about eBikes. Well, I'll make my point and then I'll answer your question. Yeah. So my point about eBikes
is many of the e-bikes and the e-scooters which have very similar issues. We're talking about the city rental. The city rental ones, which are often the ones I tend to find when someone's running over a red light or pushing into you or not riding very well, they tend to be on a rented bike, because you know the brands. Is they incentivize people to break the law? Because the pricing is time-based.
The longer your journey takes, the more you pay. Therefore, if you're doing this on a budget, if you run the red light, if you go quickly, if you nip on the pavement to avoid the corner, you're going to save yourself money. So I think there's an issue for me in the pricing algorithms and the way that the pricing works.
because it incentivizes bad behavior. Now, that is, of course, not saying everybody who rents these will behave in that way, but it is a push factor towards behaving in a way that makes people on these rented bikes behave less well and stick to the rules of the road and the rules that keep other people safe less well. So I think I would suggest that we look at those algorithms. And on the other question, are you an ordinary mortal?
Yes and no. Not because of any superhuman genius, but because I think I'm probably allowed to talk about it in this context. Obviously, I have the website. So first of all, the website gives me huge amounts of data and I have big social media reach. My process when I'm doing something new is I will often be writing it
think of something, put a question out there on social media or on the website in the preliminary search phase. So I will be canvassing public opinion on something before I'm actually going out and coming out with my full, this is how it works. I always remember my counter-tax stories, this is even pre the internet. When I first came up with my counter-tax check and challenge system,
I came up with the system. I put it in my forum in a very small way and said, if anyone wants to experiment and have a go at this, and about 100 people tried, they came back to me, then they wrote a small article on the site that I didn't push that well. Again, I'm almost saying it's a beater, it's a test. Let me know. I mean, I haven't dotted every eye and crossed every T. By the time I then published it, and then four weeks later did the biggest show I've ever done, which was a tonight with Trevor McDonald, six and a half million people on why hundreds of thousands of homes are in the wrong counter-tax bans and can get money back. By then, I'd already
done all the feedback. So I work in reverse, which is my advantage because of the different reach I have, not because of genius.
Okay, you lucky lucky podcast listeners. It's that time of the show where I give you tips that are just for you. I know how exciting. I'm going to do two today. First of all, there are two new longest 0% balance transfer cards, both give you 31 month interest free on debt that you shift to them. That's the longest that we've seen available since the middle of 2023.
So what's a balance transfer? It's where you get a new credit card to pay off debts on your existing credit card, so you owe the new credit card instead, but at no interest. That means more of your repayments reduce the actual debt rather than just covering the interest, so you get debt-free quicker. And January is debt-month, it's when people are sorting out their finances, so lenders are pumping out the strongest suite of deals right now, so it is a very good time to be doing a balance transfer.
Don't wait for your credit card statements for this one. Each day, if you're paying interest on your credit card, you are accumulating more interest the sooner that you do this, the better. And as I always say, if you can't afford to clear the debt on your credit cards and you're paying interest, then you can't afford not to check if you can shift it to 0%.
I'd strongly recommend you use an eligibility calculator on a comparison site, which will show you which of the top cards you're most likely to get without affecting your credit file, because you want to minimize application, so knowing which one you're more likely to be accepted for is worthwhile. I'd also suggest you go for the lowest fee card, because most balanced transfer cards are charged with one-off fee of the amount of debt you've shifted. So if it's a 1% fee and you shift a grand, it's an extra 10 pounds that you pay on top.
you want the lowest fee in the time you're sure that you'll be able to clear off the debt. So if you can clear it in 20 months, you're looking for the lowest fee card that will give you 20 months or more. If you're not sure how long it'll take you just go long because the fee, it's not worth trying to cut the fee.
If you're going to need longer, you're better to just keep the 0% period. So what are the cards out there? I'll run through them quickly. I won't dot all the highs and tees just to give you an idea of what you need to look up. These are all newbie balance transfers, 0% balance transfers. You have MBNA, which depending on where you get it, is up to 31 months 0%, with a 3.2% fee.
Though it is an up-to-card, which means some who get accepted will get a shorter 0%. You've got Barclaycard, which is up to 31 months 0% with a 3.45% fee. Depending where you get it, you also get cashback of 20 or 25 quid if you're shifting over £2,500.
So, I would suggest, if you're shifting over two and a half grand and you're likely to get that credit limit, Barclaycard beats MB&A for the longest, if you're not MB&A beats Barclaycard for the longest. Tesco Bank is a couple of months shorter, at 29 months, 0%, but the fees lower at 2.95%, and it's a definite 29 months. In other words, unlike Barclaycard and MB&A, which are up two cards, with this card,
If you're accepted, you'll definitely get the 29 months 0%. So if an eligibility calculator is telling you that you've got a high chance and you're not pre-approved for the other cards, this is the safer bet because if you do get accepted, you will get the 29 months.
As I shift down, for much shorter, Tesco has another card also definite 18 months, 0% here, so a lot shorter than the 29 months, but the fee is just 1%. So if you can pay much quicker, that would work. And if you can pay really quickly, Barclay Card has an up to 14 months, 0% card, which is the longest no fee balance transfer on the market.
If you are going to get a balanced transfer card, I have a few golden rules for you. I'm going to talk about these in more detail in future because we will do a program on debt where I go in a lot more detail. But just quickly, first of all, never miss your minimum monthly repayment. If you do, you can lose the 0% and start having to pay the 25% standard representative APR.
Clear the debt before the 0% ends too. Or again, after that, it'll jump to the standard 25% representative APR. Do not spend. Do not withdraw cash on these cards because it's not normally at the cheap 0% rate. And make sure you do the transfer at the application.
If not, you've generally between 60 and 90 days to get it done or you lose that option. And I should say, if you have a poor credit score, then the eligibility calculator, there are some poor credit score as balance transfers, depending on your situation, whether you can get 16 months, 0% with a higher fee or 9 months, 0% that are available at the moment. So go back to what I said at the beginning. If you can't afford to clear your debt and you're paying interest on it, then you can't afford not to check if you may be able to get a 0% balance transfer credit card.
And tip number two, 5.4 million people have not filed their 2023 tax return yet. Do it as soon as possible, or you're risking 100 quid fine and interest of 7.25% on top if you don't pay the amount that you owe. So who needs to do this? Well, the simple answer is if you've been told to file a self-assessment tax return, you have to file a self-assessment tax return. It's as simple as that. There's no, I shouldn't have been told. Well, maybe you shouldn't have been told. Maybe you can suggest next year you don't get one, but if you've been told, you have to do it.
Plus, you may need to do it voluntarily if you are self-employed, earned over 150 grand, earned over 50 grand, and get child benefit, or you have over 10,000 pounds in savings interest. The deadline is the 31st of January, so there's still a little bit of time, but I would strongly urge you to get on with it now. If you need to call HMRC the nearer you get to the deadline, the more clogged up their phone lines will be, the sooner you do it, the sooner you are helping yourself. And a final tip,
Even if you haven't done the tax return and you haven't got everything right, right? I'd buy the deadline and you have to pay the hundred pound fine Pay them roughly the tax use that you think you were just make the payment of the tax you think you owe because that way once it is all sorted later that will reduce Let's say let's make it very simple you pay them eight grand and your total tax you should pay is ten grand well then
Ultimately, you would only pay the 7.25 late payment interest on the two grand you haven't paid, even if you haven't done your tax return. So just get it done. Get it done. I know it's a pain in the, but get it done.
That's it for this week. If you've enjoyed it, please tell your friends you've been listening to the Martin Lewis podcast and that they should have a listen to and you should all subscribe so you don't miss it and your pockets will be pleased with you. If you've not enjoyed it, then just tell them you've been listening to Sophie Ellis Bexta's kitchen disco on BBC Sounds. I was going to have a disco in my kitchen, but we haven't put all the utensils away. I decided it just wasn't worth the whisk. See you soon. Sorry.
Martin Lewis is the founder of moneysavingexpert.com. But of course, other consumer and price comparison websites are available. You can get in touch with Martin's podcast production team by emailing Martin Lewis Podcast at bbc.co.uk. The offers and rates mentioned in the podcast are correct at the time of recording. However, if you are listening on demand, it's worth double checking as details can date. Remember to subscribe on BBC Sounds and leave us a review, however you listen.
BBC sounds, music, radio, podcasts. Yoga is more than just exercise. It's the spiritual practice that millions swear by. And in 2017, Miranda, a university tutor from London, joins a yoga school that promises profound transformation. It felt a really safe and welcoming space. After the yoga classes, I felt amazing.
But soon, that calm, welcoming atmosphere leads to something far darker, a journey that leads to allegations of grooming, trafficking and exploitation across international borders. I don't have my passport, I don't have my phone, I don't have my bank cards, I have nothing. The passport being taken, being in a house and not feeling like they can leave.
World of Secrets is where untold stories are unveiled and hidden realities are exposed. In this new series, we're confronting the dark side of the wellness industry with the hope of a spiritual breakthrough gives way to disturbing accusations. You just get sucked in so gradually.
and it's done so skillfully that you don't realise. And it's like this, the secret that's there. I wanted to believe that, you know, that
Whatever they were doing, even if it seemed gross to me, was for some spiritual reason that I couldn't yet understand. Revealing the hidden secrets of a global yoga network, I feel that I have no other choice. The only thing I can do is to speak about this and to put my reputation and everything else on the line. I want truth and justice.
and further people to not be hurt for things to be different in the future. To bring it into the light and almost alchemise some of that evil stuff that went on and take back the power. World of Secrets Season 6, the Bad Guru. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.
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