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The 10 most useful sections of MoneySavingExpert.com
Stepchange colleagues celebrating MSE’s 10th birthday
As regular contributors on the MoneySavingExpert.com forums, it’s safe to say we’re big fans of this essential site run by Martin Lewis.While it’s hard to imagine anyone hasn’t heard of the site, very few people will have seen everything that the site has to offer.
To try and put that right we’ve put together a list of 10 useful places on Money Saving Expert that can help save you money – one for each year they’ve been going!
1. “The Quick! MSE Grabbit while you can” board
The MSE forum community are a great bunch and they’re brilliant at sniffing out the latest deals. The MSE Grabbit board features all the latest offers and deals from all over the place and for all manner of things.
If it’s a bargain then the chances are someone will have posted it up here – the MSE Grabbit team are the SAS of bargain hunters.
2. mobilevaluer.com
There are loads of places that’ll offer you cash for your old mobile phones but it’s hard to know if you’re getting the best price or not.
This simple tool will take the details of your old phone and tell you all the prices you’re likely to get and will give you tips and tricks to make sure you get the best deal.
Whether you’re looking for an upgrade or a downgrade to make paying your mobile phone bills more affordable, this is the tool for you.
3. The minimum payment calculator
This one will save you money by shocking you out of only paying the minimums on your credit card. A typical credit card with £5,000 on it would take over 30 years to repay with just minimum payments every month.
If you’re not able to pay any more than the minimum payments or are struggling to manage even them, then it’s probably a sign that you need debt help and should contact us for more advice.
Do you need some help dealing with mounting costs for your credit card? Read our article about what to do when credit card minimum payments increase.
4. The Freebies (no spend required) board
The best things in life are free! Or at least, that’s what the thrifty posters on this page believe. Some of the offers go really quickly though, so it’s important to be quick off the mark. Bookmark it today!
5. Discount Vouchers page
Do you ever find that your friends always seem to get the best bargains and you feel left out? You should keep an eye on this page of the Money Saving Expert site then. It summarises the best deals available and talks you through all the hidden catches.
6. Reclaim PPI for free
Over the years MoneyAware and Martin Lewis have spoken a lot about claiming back PPI for free but it’s still worth repeating! MSE has a great selection of template letters, practical advice and answers to almost every conceivable question about PPI reclaiming.
7. Debt-Free Wannabe board
Being in debt can be a very hard and lonely experience. The debt-free wannabe board is a great community of people at various different stages on the journey to being debt-free. It’s a great place to talk about how you’re doing and get some moral support from other people in a similar situation. It’s a really friendly corner of the Money Saving Expert forum.
“How does it save you money?” I hear you ask. Well, the community on there are experts at advising posters on how to save money on their living costs (if you’re brave enough to post up your statement of affairs, or “SOA” as they refer to it as). Not only that, there are also regular challenges that the community set each other to save money and pay their debts down. An excellent support network.
8. Cheap car insurance
We’ve all seen the adverts on the telly with the meerkats and the opera singer, so you’d have to have been living under a rock to not know about car insurance comparison sites. However, not everyone will know that these comparison sites don’t actually search the whole of the insurance market.
This plainly written page of MSE will talk you through how to utilities the various comparison sites together to make sure you check every possible insurer and make the most of any special offers that are available.
9. The weekly email
The world of finance is changing all the time and it’s hard to know what’s important and what’s not worth bothering about. The weekly email that Martin and his team send out will round up all the important news, latest offers, MSE Grabbit bargains and money saving tips. It’s not the world’s most beautiful email but by gum it’s saved us all a ton of money!
10. @MoneySavingExp on Twitter
I’ve just said that the weekly email is a good way to keep up to date. However, if you want to be on the very cutting edge then following MSE on Twitter can pay dividends. A good example is the recent warnings they tweeted about the impending administration at HMV to encourage people to spend their vouchers while they still could.
So that’s our ten but there’s hundreds of other ways the site can save you money, so feel free to add your suggestions to the comments section below.
