Top Moneysaving Tips - April Update!

I had the pleasure of talking to the Caversham 41 group this week - a great bunch of individuals who obviously enjoyed each others company - on the vexed subject of 'Moneysaving'.

I  ran through a few of the biggest areas of savings we were seeing when reviewing customers expenses, and thought it might be worth just jotting these down, as a few appeared to come as a bolt out the blue to some of those present!

Gas and Electricity - constant review is essential - even if you checked you were on the right tariff six months ago things may well have changed since. If your utilities deal has been 'rolled over' and you are still with the same company you are pretty much certain of making a saving - as you will if you are on a standard tariff - run a check through our gas and electricity comparison service - switching online takes minutes, and if the recommended company is set with a review status give us a call - we can easily help there as well!

If all this seems like too much hassle register for our EnergyMonitor service and we will do the checking for you!

Insurance - always compare - insurance prices are rocketing for renewals, but deals for 'new customers' are very attractive - visit our insurance pages whenever a renewal is up for grabs or better still register for our renewals reminder programme and we drop you a line a few weeks before the date to make sure you are fully prepared for it dropping on your doormat.

Insurance - Do you pay your premium monthly - our belief is that the monthly payment option is fast becoming a revenue generator for insurance companies - some are charging over 30% APR! If you are paying monthly check the details carefully! Read our latest article on the subject.

Mobile phones - do you have a monthly contract - do you know if its competitive? Following our advice one of our customers has just signed up for her new contract - 5 hours of free calls, internet access, 1500 free texts - all for £5 a month - her mobile provider had wanted £35!! And do you know what a competitive deal looks like? Check them out on our mobile phone comparison service - the deal above is around £1 a month at present with a free basic phone thrown in!

Tied products - whether its mobile phone or PC insurance being packaged in at your phone shop or superstore, or your car hire insurance being sold at the car rental desk you will probably being paying at least twice what you need to. I am well aware that the big brands frequently demand commission of 50% when 'cross selling' in such products - and guess who is footing that bill!

We have developed the first UK Car Hire and Car Hire Excess Insurance comparison service - which gives you total clarity on your options, and will speedily show if you are about to pay too much, and our gadget insurance service was one of the reasons we won 'Best Niche Insurance Aggregator' earlier this year.

Savings: Did you buy a new ISA last spring ? If so there is a good bet that the interest rate fell off a cliff recently when it reached its first anniversary. As well as checking out your current options when you do find a new deal set a reminder using our PromptMe service which will make sure you get a text or email before the rate drops again in a years time.

Life Insurance: If you have Life assurance, and haven't reviewed it recently give us a call and ask us to! It takes a few minutes, and we normally find that there are big savings, or much better cover on offer. With longer life expectancy rates have fallen considerably. If you are male do it now - with new EU regulations coming into force next your life assurance will have to assume you will live longer than is likely - forcing up premiums, so calling us now on 0800 520 0699 is highly recommended.

They were the top topics I covered, and they generated a good deal of debate, concern and action - we are happy to review any customers personal situation so if you would like to talk though your options please feel free to call (if calling from a mobile 01183 218197 is likely to be most cost effective).

Pay for your insurance monthly? Watch out for the rising costs..

Over the past year car insurance premiums have rocketed - the AA have just reported that the average is now approaching £900, and for drivers under 23 its almost £2500!

Whilst we have in the main been able to cancel out any significant premium increases by helping customers shop around using our car insurance comparison service we have also been struck by the rising cost of paying premiums monthly rather than annually. Some insurers are now charging an APR of well over 30% for the privilege, and for a young driver that could mean an interest bill alone of £350+!

If you are faced with this do read our article on the the rising costs of monthly car insurance premiums, where we have come up with innovative ways of beating the insurance companies.

Moneymaxim in the news!

Well it was a little quiet running up to Christmas on the PR front - but its not now - this week alone we have been approached by the Sunday Times, The Times, a few Travel and Home Journals and tomorrow we are on BBC Radio Berkshire talking about how to reduce Gas and Electricity charges.

Surprisingly a subject we have not being asked to talk about is mobile phone insurance - since all the shiney gadgets were delivered at Christmas we have seen a big spike in visitors finding for cheaper mobile phone insurance - but clearly money saving generally is on the agenda!

It fun, its furious, and it shows that the subjects we are looking after have a real connection with peoples hearts - if you are at a loose end tomorrow do listen in - be great to have you with us on the Andrew Peach show.

New Years Resolutions

Well my first is - to blog more!

Being busy is great, but sometimes it squeezes out the things you really get pleasure from and blogging is fun - so I am starting the New Year as I mean to go on!

Secondly its not to let the pessimists win the day - someone I know who is involved in the media was telling me that they had been approached for bad news stories - bankruptcy, home repossessions etc etc - you get the drift - because the media have decided January is going to be depressing! Well I refuse.

Thirdly its to continue our mission to make sure our customers don't get ripped off. One thing we have seen time and time again last year was businesses relying on customer loyalty to make a mint. One example - Energy companies - apparently the average profit energy companies make from a customer is about £60 a year - since mid November the average saving our customers have been making when switching has been £270 - today one saved over £600 - and some have saved more than £800 - so basically those who don't switch are heavily subsidising those who do.

Fourthly its to be really proactive in helping customers realise the potential in bills they are paying more than they need to pay for - we have saved some of our customers upwards of £1000 just by being proactive!

So here is a starter for 10 - our top five money saving tips - we have saved our customers literally hundreds of thousands of pounds last year - do call us if you fancy a chat about what we could do for you- and here are our top five ways to trim your budget in 2011