Your weekly money saving deals and news from money expert Andy Webb

My top content this week

BLOG & ARTICLES

When Direct Debits are a bad idea

Last week the energy regulator announced plans to force gas and electricity companies to automatically refund overpayments built up by Direct Debits bigger than your actualy energy use. Good news!

But this isn't the only example where Direct Debits might be costing you money rather than saving you cash.

READ: Are you paying too much?

How to quickly clear your credit card debt

Hopefully those of you using credit cards manage to pay off the complete balance each month. But I know not everyone can do this, so to mark Debt Awareness Week I've shared the ways you can reduce the cost of credit card debts and then clear them.

READ: Beat credit card debts

Ask Andy #5: Your questions answered – savings special

More of my responses to your questions, this week focusing on savings including

- How much should I save in cash?

- Where should I save my £15,000?

- Do we need the tax-free benefits with ISAs?

READ: Your questions answered

YOUTUBE

Lifetime ISA explained: Is it worth it?

I've had a lot of questions about "LISAs" - both when it comes to saving for your first home or as an alternative to a pension. Here's how they work and when they're good and when they're bad.

WATCH: Lifetimes ISAs explained

CASH CHATS PODCAST

As always, there are two episodes for you this week.

#179: My top cashback credit card hacks

One of my favourite ways to make a little extra every year with very little effort is to do most of my spending on cashback and reward credit cards. In this week's main episode of the pod I've shared the tricks you can use to boost your returns!

#178: Your Money, This Week

This look back at the top money news stories from the week covers changes to the inflation shopping basket, Netflix's password clampdown, the Football Index crash, a post-lockdown spending spree and more. My guest on this episode is money YouTuber MamaFurFur.

You can listen to both via all the normal podcasting routes or over on the blog.

Listen on the blog

Listen on Apple Podcasts

Listen on Google Podcasts

Listen on Spotify

WEEKLY LIVE Q&A:

THURSDAY 25th MARCH @ 6pm-6.30pm

If you want to ask me questions about the content in today's newsletter I'll be live in the Be Clever With Your Cash Facebook community and on Instagram this evening at 6pm - that's Thursday 25th March.

And this week you'll also be able to watch and ask questions over on my YouTube channel.

Join the Facebook group

Follow me on YouTube

Follow me on Instagram

AWARDS NEWS

I quickly wanted to share with you that Be Clever With Your Cash triumphed in two categories at the UK Money Bloggers awards, picking up Best Money Saving Blog and Best Personal Finance Blog! And Cash Chats got second place in the Best Podcast category.

It's great to be recognised by my blogging and podcasting peers - it was just a shame we couldn't meet in person as usual for the ceremony which happened on Zoom instead. You can check out the other winners here.

COMPETITION

Win a £25 John Lewis voucher

It's your last chance to complete my short annual reader survey and if you do I'm giving away either a £25 John Lewis voucher or an hour-long video chat with me (the winner can choose) to one entry selected at random.

Tell me what you think

THIS WEEK'S DEALS

I only share deals and special offers on the blog which I think are really good value. Click the titles or links for more information.

I've also set up an extra Instagram account dedicated to the deals and offers I spot throughout the week. Do follow me there so you don't miss out on offers that are already finished by the time this email goes out on a Thursday.

1. Curve: Free £10 welcome bonus

I've managed to secure double the standard welcome offer for anyone new to smart "super" card Curve.

You'll get £10 if you sign up and then use your card to make a payment within 7 days. Here's more information on the offer and how Curve works in my review.

2. Cashback: Investment ISA bonuses

There are a number of investment firms with offers to entice you to open a Stocks & Shares ISA with them, and if you're looking to invest then they're worth checking out, along with other considerations such as fees.

But if you don't plan to actively invest, you could use this to stack some offers to get some decent cashback.

Quidco is offering a £30 bonus on top of the cashback offered by a handful of providers until the end of Thursday. Use this with Scottish Friendly and you could potentially make £180 in cashback on £600 invested over 12 months.

But obviously, any money invested is at risk so make sure you read all the Ts&Cs!

3. Uber Eats: £10 off first two orders

If you're new to Uber Eats you can get £10 off two takeaways rather than the normal one order. Ends 31st March.

4. Morrisons: 20% off deal stack

Morrisons is back on cashback app Airtime Rewards meaning you can get 10% back on spending over £30 with a connected Visa or Mastercard. You'll get the money back as credit towards your mobile contract.

And potentially you can stack this with offers from your bank. For example my Natwest Rewards account is offering another 10% back when you spend £40. If I connected my Natwest debit card to Airtime Rewards both these offers should apply, giving 20% back.

5. Wine: 25% off 6 or more bottles

Head to Asda or Tesco to get this multibuy discount on wine. It's worth trying to combing it with other discounts on bottles to save even more. Sadly it's not on offer in Scotland.

6. Echo & Kindle: Price matching on Amazon discounts

Amazon has reduced prices on a load of its devices, including smart speakers and Kindles. And if you're trying to reduce spending at Amazon you can get them for the same price at a number of retailers including AO and John Lewis.

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Quick deals

Banking offers

Top bank switch: £125 cash bonus or free wine & charity donation
The best cash savings accounts - inc up to 3% interest
Student bank accounts: 0% overdrafts & freebies
Best business bank accounts: Free accounts

Cards and bills deals

Shopping vouchers and other deals

Amazon: Up to £10 off for some
Free £5 credit when you trade in old CDs, books, DVDs or game
0% finance deals on new Samsung or Apple phones
Holland & Barrett: Free £3
Lidl: Coupon Plus promo
Flowers: £10 off Bloom & Wild
Emma Bridgewater: Free 1/2 pint mug with £40 spend

Entertainment deals

Food and drink offers

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Recent content you might have missed

I know it can be tricky to read, watch and listen to everything I create each week, so here are some articles, videos and podcasts from the last few weeks you might have missed.

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Please do tell any friends you think would find it useful too. Thanks!