You can now apply for Insure Car Insurance on compareandsave.com and get a 10% online discount.

With Insure Car Insurance, you will receive up to £50,000 legal expenses to cover the cost of recovering losses resulting from an uninsured party in the event of you being involved in an accident that wasn’t your fault.

Plus, if you take out a comprehensive car insurance policy, you will be eligible for a courtesy car (subject to availability).

All policy holders will have access to a claims helpline open 24 hours a day and can add optional extras including breakdown cover, legal protection and key cover.

This offer is current as of 28th NOVEMBER 2008. Terms and Conditions apply. For more offers please refer to the Offers section of compareandsave.com’s ‘Your money matters blog’.

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You can now get a 10% online discount, plus an extra discount of 7.5% if you are a female, with Insurepink Car Insurance.

Plus, when you buy your policy, Insurepink will donate £10 to breast cancer charity, the Pink Ribbon Foundation.

What’s more, Insurepink comprehensive car insurance policies offer a courtesy car should you need one when your car is in for repairs after an accident (subject to availability).

You will also have access to a 24 hour helpline and will have the chance to add additional extras to your policy, including breakdown cover, legal protection and key cover.

Click the link for more information about Insurepink Car Insurance
 

This offer is current as of 28th NOVEMBER 2008. Terms and Conditions apply. For more offers please refer to the Offers section of compareandsave.com’s ‘Your money matters blog’.
 

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Compareandsave.com now features Insurepink Home Insurance, which offers customers a 10% discount when a policy is applied for online.

Plus, the company will donate £10 to the Pink Ribbon Foundation, the breast cancer charity, when you take out a home insurance policy.

With Insurepink home insurance you can pay by flexible direct debit payment, and will have access to UK-based call centres and a 24 hour claims helpline.

What’s more, the company offers lock replacement should your keys get lost or stolen and all claims will be dealt with on a ‘new-for-old’ basis.

Click the link for more information about Insurepink Home Insurance

This offer is current as of 28th NOVEMBER 2008. Terms and Conditions apply. For more offers please refer to the Offers section of compareandsave.com’s ‘Your money matters blog’.

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New customers can now enjoy 12 months 0% on balance transfers (subject to a 2.98% admin fee) with the Post Office Credit Card.

Plus, customers will also receive a further 0% on balance transfers for 5 months on the month of your 1st and 2nd anniversary (subject to an admin fee of 2.98% each time).

What’s more, the Post Office Credit Card comes with 0% on purchases for 3 months, a low typical APR of 16.9% and free purchase protection, which will insure almost everything bought on the card against accidental damage, loss and theft for up to 90 days from the date of purchase.

The card is also great if you like to travel abroad because the Post Office will charge 0% commission on purchases made overseas.

The account can be managed online and there is access to help via the 24/7 helpline.

Balance transfers must be made within 3 months of the date the account was opened.

This card is only available to people aged at least 18, with a minimum income of £8,000, subject to passing credit checks.

Click the link for more information about the Post Office Credit Card

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Did you know that one energy-saving light bulb could save you up to £7 a year?

The price of energy saving light bulbs has dropped dramatically in recent months. Some stores are now offering three for £1 in some cases.

What’s really great is that many stores have now extended their range of own-brand energy saving bulbs to cover spotlight, screw cap and dimmer fittings. What’s more, bulbs for other types of light fitting have dropped in price considerably.

Energy saving light bulbs use 80% less electric than standard light bulbs which means you will have lower bills and be more environmentally friendly.

Plus, you will find that energy efficient bulbs last around 10 times longer than standard bulbs and they produce the same amount of light as a standard bulb.

When buying energy savings light bulbs, look for the ‘Energy Saving Recommended’ logo so that you know the bulb has met stringent energy efficiency criteria as laid out by the Energy Saving Trust. This is especially important if you choose to buy the cheaper energy saving light bulbs.

Click the link to compare gas and electric and see if you could save up to £503 on your energy bills.
 

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Did you know that, according to energywatch, the average household could save £37 a year by switching electrical appliances off instead of leaving them on standby?

Electrical goods actually use a fair amount of energy when left on standby so you can really knock down your energy bills by simply turning them off at the unit or at the wall.

You can optimise your savings if you remember to turn off obscure items such as computers (including peripherals like printers, monitors and scanners); freeview boxes, and all sorts of chargers (including mobile phone chargers). Any plug that uses a transformer will be using energy even if the article it charges is not attached (the transformer will be warm if it is using energy). This is why it’s important to turn the charger off at the wall when not in use.

You could also save a bit more by turning your microwave off at the wall when not in use (if accessible) because the clock will use energy.

Click the link to compare gas and electric and see if you could save up to £503 on your energy bills.

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With the credit crunch hitting hard, you could benefit from taking some basic measures around your home to improve its energy efficiency.

For example, did you know that you could save around £20 a year just by insulating your hot water tank?

Insulating jackets can be picked up from as little as a few pounds and will last for longer than a year, so you are set to save a lot more than you spend out on the jacket.

It’s not just your water tank that can be insulated – you can too. Before you turn the heating up, try wearing a few more layers to see if that will do enough to stave off the cold.

If you find your house is getting too hot, don’t open a window with the heating on. First, try turning the temperature of your heating down on the thermostat or turn your heating off altogether.

You will also find long-term benefits from making sure your home is properly insulated through measures such as cavity wall insulation and loft insulation. If you are claiming benefits or are a member of the elderly community, you can get an allowance for this even if you don’t own the house you are living in.

You can also prevent heat escaping by checking for draughts around your home and using items to block them. You can get draught excluders for your doors and can use old newspaper or cardboard to temporarily fill/block unused cat flaps or old tumble dryer outlets in your walls.

Click the link to compare gas and electric and see how much you could save on your energy bills
 

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Our recent poll has revealed that consumers are looking for the safest place to put their money in the current economic climate.

In this month’s poll we asked our readers to tell us where they would rather put their money.

The majority of respondents said that they felt money was safest in National Savings & Investments, with 27% (59 people) saying this is where they would choose to put their money.

The second most popular response was ‘Northern Rock’ with 24% (51 people) saying they would choose to put their cash in a Northern Rock savings account.

However, if you consider these two together, because they are both government-owned and therefore all deposits are guaranteed, a massive 51% (110 people) voted for this unlimited protection.

Consumer confidence in other high street banks seems to be low at the moment with only 21% of respondents saying they would put their money in a high street bank other than Northern Rock.

Worryingly, 20% said that they would rather keep their money under their mattress or elsewhere in their homes. This is not only risky in terms of theft but will also result in the loss in value of your money because of inflation, which is currently at 5.2%. This means, ideally, your money should be in a savings account earning at least 5.2% interest just to keep it at the same value today as in the future.

Surprisingly, 8% of respondents (18) said they would choose to invest their money in property.

Lastly, thank you to all the compareandsave.com readers who took part in last month’s poll.

Click the link to compare savings accounts

Click the link to see the results in more detail

Take part in our NEW poll on credit cards here.
 

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Recent news has been awash with stories of the troubles being faced by UK banks, which has resulted in consumers worrying about where to put their savings.

In the recent poll we conducted, 20.4% (44 people) said they would feel their money was safest under their mattresses or elsewhere in their home, showing that consumer confidence in banks really is under question.

Before the credit crunch it was always assumed that savings were best off in a bank. Indeed, there are many reasons why this is the case. Firstly, money kept in a bank will be a lot harder for thieves to steal and, secondly, keeping your money out of the bank will cause it to lose value over time because of inflation.

However, there are ways of keeping your money in savings accounts while at the same time keeping it protected.

How much can I put in each bank? (Excel document 12.5 KB)

How is my money protected?

All UK banks are registered with the Financial Services Authority (FSA) which runs the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS).

The FSCS protects the first £50,000 you have in savings, but this is per person, so a joint account would be covered up to £100,000.

However, the protection offered by the FSCS is per institution and not per account so if you have more than £50,000 in one bank it is probably best to split it between several different providers.

Some banks own lots of brands but sometimes only the parent bank has a licence with the FSA and is therefore able to run additional brands, but the brands do not each get the protection under the FSCS – you would only get £50,000 of protection split between the parent bank and its brands.

For example, Nationwide runs savings accounts offered by the brands Cheshire Building Society and Derbyshire Building Society but it only has a single licence with the FSA. This means, f you had £50,000 in Nationwide and £50,000 in Cheshire Building Society only £50,000 in total would be covered and you stand to lose the other £50,000.

In contrast, the Royal Bank of Scotland and NatWest are part of the same group but each has a separate licence with the FSA, so you could have £50,000 in each and be covered for both deposits of £50,000.

Where is my money safest if I have savings worth over £50,000?

There are also some institutions that are owned and run by the Government and so any amount of money you put in these banks will be fully protected. The two Government-run banks in the UK are National Savings and Investments (NS&I) and Northern Rock. Your deposits will also be fully protected in the Bank of Ireland, the Post Office and Bristol & West because the Irish Government have guaranteed all deposits until September 28 2010.

How will I know how much I can put into each bank?

In order to spread your money around, you will first need to know who owns who. At the bottom of this article you will find a document which lists all of the major savings providers and how much can be safely deposited in each. If the ‘Maximum amount protected’ box says ‘£50,000 (in total)’ this means you can only have £50,000 between the banks and not per bank.

If you find you have more than £50,000 per licensed provider, why not compare savings accounts and try to spread your money around?

How much can I put in each bank? (Excel Document 12.5 KB)

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Back in the middle of October we reported on a story containing research that claimed over one million homeowners have taken money out on their credit cards to pay their mortgage or other essential bills.

Our recent poll, ‘Are you currently using your credit card more than usual to pay for essential bills?’, is looking at whether or not this is still the case and if more people are falling back on their credit cards to pay for essential bills, especially with Christmas around the corner.

Essential bills could be classed as anything from rent or mortgage payments to gas and electricity bills or even payments on other credit cards. It will basically include anything that you are contractually or lawfully obliged to pay each month, or items you need in order to maintain a basic standard of living, including food and other groceries.

Using your credit card to pay for essential bills will include both paying for items on your card and taking cash out of a cash machine on your credit card to pay for bills.

To have your say, check out our NEW Poll

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