Finance

21 links • Finance

Money Saving Expert is always my starting point when looking up something new. They have excellent guides and are about as impartial as you can find (because UK finance regulations force them to be).

Use cashback sites if you can. They might seem like a hassle but it builds up quickly. In the first 12 months of using one (I use one through my partners employer) we saved over £400.

Use CamelCamelCamel to see historic pricing for items on Amazon. Setup alerts to get notified when a product hits a price point you want.

Hot UK Deals is useful if you're looking for a deal on a product. The app has alerts you can setup.

I never use cash unless I absolutey have to.

Credit Scores #

Credit scores are bullshit. The score is a marketing tool to make you pay for additional services. Sign up for these sites to see your credit "scores" and keep an eye on who's searching/new accounts:

Credit Card Protection #

Section 75 is an important UK consumer protection law made in the 1970s that means your credit provider must take the same responsibility as the retailer if things go wrong with a purchase.

Using a credit card for a purchase over £100 gives you Section 75 protection which means you can go direct to your credit card company if something goes wrong (assuming you've tried to sort it with the retailer already). The process varies between credit cards but is generally pretty easy to do.

Budgeting #

I use a spreadsheet to track my money every month (I use the built-in template in Numbers). Every penny is tracked; I give myself a budget for "fun" stuff and I try to stick to it.

I use a Monzo Bill Pot to pay my direct debits directly from there so the money is already allocated as soon as I get paid.

Banking #

Always have more than one bank account in case your account gets locked because of fraud detection or if the bank's network goes down.

I use Monzo for my banking. The traditional high street banks are catching up but I still prefer to use a more "modern" bank. They only do cheques by post, so I keep a traditional account open on the off chance I get given a cheque.

Credit Cards #

Most credit cards in the UK offer terrible rewards and are barely worth worrying about. Money Saving Expert's best rewards credit card page has a good overview of finding the least-bad one.

Always pay them off in full.