It Pays to Watch, Wednesday 7:30 It Pays to Watch on Five

This Week's Show

Wed 21st May 2008

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Overhaul Your Finances

Wed 9th April 2008

We’ve had all sorts of MoneySavers on our show since the start of the year and, totting up between them, they could save around £25,000 a year. This week, we’re looking back at some of the best bits from previous shows. But can you save as much as our MoneySaving guinea pigs have?

Here are some of the topics we’ve covered so far. And don’t forget to keep saving by tuning into five every Wednesday at 7.30pm.

Reclaim Mortgage Exit Administration Fees (MEAFs)

Lenders have been charging borrowers a higher admin fee than initially agreed in their contracts come the time they switch mortgage or pay it off . The regulator's since clamped down on this practice and ordered lenders to repay the difference between the fee agreed and that charged.

For our first show in January we invited three volunteers into the studio who had all recently switched mortgage. During the show's break they each called their past lenders to reclaim the fee as they’d been overcharged. They did fantastically well and, between them, got over £300 back.

For full information on how to reclaim these fees, including lenders' contact details, read Martin's full Mortgage Exit Fees guide.

Massive Gym Loophole

One of the cleverest loopholes around can slash your gym costs by hundreds. If you take out PruHealth’s medical insurance, it offers free or heavily subsidised gym membership at posh gyms Virgin Active, LA Fitness and Cannons. When you consider normal membership can cost up to £90 a month at these places, but medical insurance for a healthy 30-year-old is likely to be around £30, the savings are massive.

Even if you don’t need the insurance but use the gym you’ll save yourself a small fortune, and get fit too.

Two would-be gym enthusiasts took up our challenge and, between them, found they could save £700 a year by joining their preferred gym via the Pru scheme rather than signing up by usual methods.

Complete details on how to save money when getting fit are included in Martin’s Cheap Gym Membership article.

Slash childcare costs

Childcare can be hugely expensive but a little-known scheme can save £1,000s on nursery fees or childminder costs every year. The trick is to ask your employer to deduct the amount of vouchers you need from your wages. You still get your full salary as you get the vouchers on top, but the beauty is you're not taxed on them.

Our three studio guests with childcare needs knew little or nothing about the voucher scheme before coming on the show. Yet they went home knowing they could be saving £3,000 a year between them.

For full information on cutting the cost of childcare, read Martin’s detailed guide to Childcare Vouchers.

Cut your mobile phone costs

Millions of us with mobile phones are on the wrong tariff, meaning we're paying for free calls and texts we never use or have too small an allowance so pay expensive charges when going over our limit. But it’s easy to batter down your mobile bill when you’re at the end of your contract just by threatening to leave.

Again, we invited three volunteers onto the show. The trio all called their mobile provider during the programme as they were all close to renewal and the savings they were offered were huge: a cool £950 a year between them.

For details, reviews of comparison services and the best deals, read Martin’s full Cheapest Mobiles guide.

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