Millions of consumers are throwing away their hard-earned cash by staying loyal to their bank or by failing to pick a decent credit card.

And it’s just that inertia and apathy that the banks love as it helps fuel their bulging coffers while leaving their loyal customers short-changed. Having spent the series giving celebrities a wallet workout, now it's time for everyone to have a go.

Bank Accounts

If you’re with one of the big four High Street banks – Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds TSB or RBS/Natwest - then it's time to switch. None of them offer the best in-credit interest rate or best overdraft rate. Currently it's possible to get 0% overdrafts with Alliance and Leicester or 8% plus in-credit interest with the same bank or Abbey.

And if you pay a fee for an account, check what benefits it actually gets you. Remember £10/month doesn’t sound much but £120/year is worth having. If you’re paying for nowt… stop it.

External Link: Martin’s detailed Best Bank Accounts article includes a list of which banks to choose.

Cashback Credit Cards

If you’re debt-free and pay off your card in full each month, or currently just spend on a debit card; you’re throwing a fortune away. If you’ve got a decent credit score you can get a card that pays you every time you spend on it. This can turn out to be big money, many £100s a year, just for using a different piece of plastic.

So get a cashback credit card, set up a direct debit to pay it off in full each month so there’s no interest, and then use it for all your normal spending instead of cash, cheques or other cards.

External Link: Martin’s detailed Best Cashback Cards article includes a step-by-step updated guide.

Best Credit Cards If You’re In Debt

If you’ve got existing debts on credit cards, the key weapon is a balance transfer. This is when you get a new card that pays off the debts on the old cards for you, at a special offer interest rate.

More difficult is the choice of card. If you can clear all your debts within a year or so, then shift it to a 0% deal.

If not, unless you’ve got a good credit score and are prepared to continually shift cards each time a 0% deal ends go for a life of balance deal. This is where the cheap rate lasts until all the debt you’ve shifted has been repaid.

External Link: Martin’s detailed Best Balance Transfers article explains step-by-step how the process works.

Can’t Get New Cards?

The credit crunch is making card companies much more selective in who they lend to so you may not get the plastic you want if you have any blemishes on your credit record.

If you can’t get new credit and have more than one card with an outstanding balance then you may be able to shuffle those debts amongst your existing cards and get a better interest rate. Simply call up all your card providers and ask “will you allow me to shift debts from other cards to you at a special offer rate?”

External Link: Martin’s Credit Card Shuffle guide takes you through how to work out the cheapest route.

Remember if you’ve got debts, always try and repay as much as you can. Don’t rely on the minimum repayments or it’ll take many years to clear them.

The Top Savings Accounts

Don’t put up with the poor savings rate available on the High Street. You’ll find the best rates – up to 7.01% - on the web or from other banks such as Abbey, Kaupthing, Birmingham Midshires and Alliance & Leicester.

When it comes to tax-free cash ISAs the big banks fare a little better. It's important to remember to use up your annual ISA allowance of £3,600 before you deposit any other money into a normal saving account.

External Link: Martin’s Top Savings Accounts and Top Cash ISA guides take you through the current deals.

We invited two volunteers into the studio to help save them cash. One, who was not in debt, didn't have a cashback credit card and had a fee-paying current account that gave very little in-credit interest. By getting a cashback credit card and by switching his current account he could be around £500 a year better off.

The other volunteer, who had around £5,000 in overdraft and credit card debts, could save hundreds by doing the credit card shuffle without having to take on any new credit.