Callum Mason

MoneySavingExpert.com • 24th March 2021

Couple gets 'severe mental impairment' council tax discount backdated TEN years after appeal - how to fight for a backdated payment

By law, someone who has been medically certified as having a permanent condition that affects their intelligence and social functioning (eg, Alzheimer's or severe learning difficulties, but many other conditions may apply) is 'disregarded for council tax purposes' in England, Scotland and Wales. It means you can claim:
• A 25% discount – if you live with someone with a severe mental impairment and no other adults, or only adults who have also been disregarded for council tax purposes.
• A 100% d

MoneySavingExpert.com • 23rd February 2021

Beware extra charges on online orders (as they may be arriving from the EU)

Beware extra charges on online orders (as they may be arriving from the EU)

Beware – the rules on online orders have changed post-Brexit and shoppers may now be charged to receive goods from the EU. We've been bombarded with questions from MoneySavers who've been hit with extra costs – so here we explain what and when you'll need to pay, plus your rights if you're overcharged or want to return an item.

Warning – this is the first incarnation of this guide... This is a new guide covering a deve

MoneySavingExpert.com • 16th February 2021

Tesco double-charges shoppers due to 'technical error' – full help

Update Thursday 18 February: Tesco now says the issue has been fixed. See our Tesco fixes technical error MSE News story for full details.

The supermarket's promised to automatically refund customers within a day, though if you have been charged twice it may take a few days for your bank or card provider to actually return the money. If you shop in-store at Tesco, check your account to see if you've been double-charged – particularly as the supermarket hasn't yet been able to confirm it's fixed

MoneySavingExpert.com • 19th December 2020

Lastminute.com, Teletext Holidays and Ryanair named and shamed after hideous results in major new MSE Covid travel refunds survey – action's needed

The survey – our third this year looking at refunds for those unable to travel due to coronavirus – ran between 19 November and 4 December and had 42,653 individual responses. It found:
• Lastminute.com, Teletext Holidays, Loveholidays and Ryanair are among the big names that were rated worst for giving full refunds for trips they'd cancelled. Just 8% of Lastminute.com customers told us they'd had a full refund. See firm-by-firm refund rates.
• One in seven of all those who'd had a trip cancelle

MoneySavingExpert.com • 10th July 2020

Coronavirus Travel Rights

Unlike some firms which have been reluctant to pay out refunds at all instead of vouchers, Virgin insists it WILL give cash back if you ask – you just may face a long wait for it. Here's what to try if your trip's been cancelled:


1) Weigh up first whether you definitely want a cash refund. With many travel firms struggling, we always say it's worth considering whether you're in a position to show forbearance. If you choose to accept a voucher or credit rather than demand a refund, you won't n

MoneySavingExpert.com • 17th June 2020

Passport renewal delays leave some travellers with holidays booked fearing they could lose £1,000s

The Passport Office has warned on its website since late March that it is taking longer than the usual three weeks to process applications, because of "changed working practices designed to keep both staff and customers safe" during the pandemic. But with most flights grounded and the Foreign Office warning against all but essential travel, delays to passport renewals haven't been a problem for many so far.

Yet with many airlines now planning to resume flights in the coming weeks and speculatio

MoneySavingExpert.com • 21st May 2020

Ryanair staff wrongly tell customers chargeback is 'fraudulent activity' and could mean they are put on a 'blacklist'

Angry Ryanair passengers have been complaining for weeks about their difficulties trying to claim cash back from the budget airline for flights that have been cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic – with many having already requested refunds and been sent vouchers instead.

Ryanair said last month that those who receive a voucher but don't redeem it within a year may still apply for and get a refund after this period. However, many customers have been unhappy to wait this long and have inste

MoneySavingExpert.com • 1st March 2020

PayPal warning: Paying someone you don't know? DON'T use 'friends and family'

PayPal's system allows users to select between making a payment for 'goods and services' – which comes with its 'Buyer Protection' should something go wrong – or 'friends and family', which is essentially a money transfer and comes with no protection.

In the last two weeks alone, we've spoken to several MoneySavers who have been encouraged by sellers to make payments using the 'friends and family' option – in some cases by online scammers.

We don't know for certain why scammers do this, but we

MoneySavingExpert.com • 18th February 2020

'I got the council tax band for me and 29 of my neighbours lowered, saving us £10,000s'

How did Jake challenge his council tax band?

Jake, who works as a data manager at a bank, purchased his apartment in March 2019 for just under £70,000. He gets MSE's weekly email, and says our Council Tax Bands guide prompted him to question if his band was correct, as many are not, due to issues with how they were originally set.

For more than a decade we've urged the 400,000 homes in England and Scotland in too high a council tax band to check if they're owed £1,000s each, as many have overp

MoneySavingExpert.com • 12th December 2019

Warning – some hotel comparison sites highlight 'deals' costing 20% more than the cheapest

Analysis of 100 hotel listings across Trivago and Kayak has revealed that the most prominently displayed deals – those shown in the biggest font and isolated from the others – could often be found cheaper in the very same search results.

We discovered that the booking site highlighted for each hotel quoted a price that on average was 3.2% more expensive than the cheapest. In one case, a hotel deal being shown in the top position was over 20% more expensive than the best available.

With Trivago

MoneySavingExpert.com • 22nd October 2019

Warning – the booking sites that may rank hotels higher if they get commission

When you search for a hotel via a hotel broker or comparison site, the default results usually show 'recommended' or 'top pick' hotels, chosen according to the site's algorithms. Price, location, reviews and other factors relevant to customers usually feed in to this.

But a MoneySavingExpert.com investigation has found that about half of the big hotel-booking sites also factor in the commission they receive for bookings when ranking accommodation – in other words, a hotel may be ranked higher t

MoneySavingExpert.com • 26th August 2019

Revealed: Cabin luggage sold as 'fitting Ryanair' can't be taken on board for free

Under Ryanair's super-strict cabin baggage policy, which was last updated in November 2018, passengers can only take one bag measuring up to 40cm x 20cm x 25cm - such as a laptop bag or handbag - into the cabin with them for free. You're also allowed to take a larger bag measuring up to 55cm x 40cm x 20cm - such as a small wheely suitcase - on board, but only if you pay for Priority boarding or to put it in the hold.

However we've found at least four big high street names plus sellers on Amazon

MoneySavingExpert.com • 26th July 2019

Revealed: Over a million could have saved on prescriptions with a 'season ticket' last year

Figures disclosed by the NHS under the Freedom of Information Act show that 1,042,008 people paid for at least 12 prescription items in the 2018/19 financial year. Each prescription item in England cost £8.80 over this period, meaning each patient shelled out a minimum of £105.60.

Yet an NHS prescription prepayment certificate (PPC), which is basically a season ticket for prescriptions and means you pay once and then get free prescriptions for the period covered, costs £104 for 12 months. And o

MoneySavingExpert.com • 26th July 2019

Santander customers caught out by Spanish branch ATMs which DO charge for withdrawals

Santander bought Spanish bank Banco Popular in 2017 and recently rebranded its branches as part of Santander. But MoneySavingExpert.com can reveal that about 500 ATMs at these branches are still being run by a third party, and so are charging UK current account customers to withdraw cash over the peak holiday season.

Holidaymakers are being hit with a 2.75% foreign exchange fee and a 1.5% cash-handling fee (a minimum of £1.99), even though Santander usually waives these charges for its current

MoneySavingExpert.com • 23rd July 2019

'I was hounded by bailiffs and turned down for a mortgage – because of my credit file doppelganger'

'This could even deny me a job'

Andy (pictured right), who used to be head of media relations at a major bank and now works at a communications firm, said the issue with his credit file affected him in some way for about 13 years.

He said: "I first noticed something was odd in 2006, when I got letters from a solicitor's about debt I had, but I was sure I didn't have any debt. I bought a house in 2007, and remortgaged twice no problems.

"The problem resurfaced in 2015 when I got a letter from

MoneySavingExpert.com • 15th July 2019

'Defnydd heddiw': Smart meter displays in England turn Welsh in bizarre language glitch

'I don't live in Wales and don't know Welsh'

Several Bulb customers have noticed their smart meters turning 'Cymraeg', seemingly without any obvious cause.

We've seen some complaints dating back several months, and have asked Bulb when the issue first started – we'll update this story when we hear back.

One customer, James Tombs, who lives well over 100 miles from the Welsh border, in West Sussex, told us: "I don't live in Wales and don't know Welsh. One day I saw my meter was in Welsh but ig

MoneySavingExpert.com • 5th July 2019

Over 75 and mistakenly paid for your TV licence? Reclaims may be stopped from next year

Currently anyone over 75 is eligible for a free TV licence, but many accidentally pay each year and then have to reclaim the cash - with almost £38 million being paid back in three years.

At the moment, you can reclaim as far back as 1 November 2000, but from next June, the BBC plans to end free TV licences for over-75s unless they get pension credit.

When asked if after this date pensioners will still be able to claim back cash mistakenly paid under the current rules, the corporation said it

MoneySavingExpert.com • 24th May 2019

10,000s risk wasting money by choosing to repay their student loan when they don't have to

Student loans only have to be repaid when you earn over a certain amount - what's known as the 'repayment threshold'. But figures we've obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show that in 2016-17 alone, more than 30,000 people chose to make student loan repayments when they were earning LESS than the repayment threshold.

In many cases, those who've made voluntary repayments will have paid money they would not have otherwise had to, because:
• If you started uni in/after 2012 and are from

MoneySavingExpert.com • 29th April 2019

EHIC renewals drop 23% in run-up to Brexit

Why have the figures changed?

It's not clear exactly how much of the drop in renewals is due to Brexit, and what could be linked to other factors. An NHS Business Services Authority spokesperson declined to comment on whether uncertainty over Brexit had contributed to the decline.

There may be some other causes too. The NHS Business Services Authority says as there's a five-year renewal cycle for EHICs and 2018/19 is year five, it would "expect this to be one of the lower years for renewal" -

MoneySavingExpert.com • 15th April 2019

Trustpilot warns energy firm over 'fabricated' reviews

Trustpilot has sent the small supplier what's known as a 'cease and desist' letter – usually used to warn that legal action could be taken. This followed its fraud detection software identifying and removing a number of "fabricated" reviews for the company from its site.

The action comes after MoneySavingExpert.com obtained a screenshot showing a senior employee at Toto Energy messaging other staff to ask them to "give a five-star rating" and linking them to the Trustpilot website.

Toto Energy

MoneySavingExpert.com • 29th March 2019

BT customer? Check if extra calls package costing up to £9/mth has been added to your bill

MoneySavingExpert.com can reveal BT has written to a number of landline customers - though it won't confirm how many - saying it's worked out they'll save by having its new My Anytime Calls bundle, which will be automatically added to their bill on 14 April.

The package usually costs £9/mth but BT says it is giving "tailored discounts" to customers, so the package costs less than they've currently been paying on average for calls. Some have been offered it for as little as £3.50/mth.

If you've

MoneySavingExpert.com • 5th March 2019

Reclaim overpaid council tax - there's at least £230m in overpaid tax sitting in council coffers

A spokesperson for the City of Edinburgh Council told us: "As a capital city, Edinburgh has a fairly transient population where residents move regularly from one property to the next. This can result in situations where council tax is under or over paid.

"We write to everyone who is due a rebate in the hope of settling payments. Because we place no time limit on collections, this means we have many cases in Edinburgh which are historic and these can still be claimed."

Councillor Rebecca Rennis

MoneySavingExpert.com • 25th February 2019

Pet owners planning trips to Europe forced to pay £100+ vet fees due to Brexit uncertainty

If there's a 'no-deal' Brexit, pets could be subject to more stringent checks and tests before they're taken abroad, including a rabies blood test, which would mean they would have to be taken to a vet at least four months before travel.

Given it's currently unknown whether or not the UK will leave the EU with a deal, pet owners are therefore having to get these extra checks done as a precaution now even if they're not planning to travel until the summer.

But if the UK does leave the EU with a

MoneySavingExpert.com • 15th February 2019

Seven package holiday firms could ask you to pay more after booking if Brexit increases costs

Under package holiday regulations, companies are allowed to hike prices after a customer has booked if they warn they may do so in their terms and conditions, and if the increase is to offset changes to exchange rates, fuel costs, taxes or fees. This is often called a 'surcharge' in the T&Cs. Firms can pass on increases of up to 8% without allowing you to cancel penalty-free, so families on more expensive holidays could have to pay £100s extra.

It's very unusual for package holidays to add surc