A wallet workout to gain pounds! Earn £100s in minutes perusing your purse or (digital) wallet

24:09Like all other overdrafts, it's 40 % AER above that. So, for example, if you had£375 overdrawn, you'd get£175 of free cash. That would leave you£200 overdrawn. That overdraft would be 0%. Now, I have to be honest, this can get slightly complicated because when you switch bank account and you have to switch to get the£175, they don't move your overdraft for you. Your old account stays open. You have to clear that overdraft. But you would then have the facility on First Direct, so you'd have two bank accounts, and you could take the money from First Direct and use that to pay off your old bank account and then close your old bank account.

24:41If your overdrafts are bigger, well, Starling is probably the cheapest standard overdraft, but it still isn't that cheap. You could look at what's called a 0 % money transfer credit card, which is a special card. Do some reading on that. Most cards don't allow this. don't pay this in cash. But a 0 % money transfer credit card is where you get a new credit card and you can ask it to pay money into your bank account for you. So you now owe the credit card at 0 % and the money is in your bank account that you can use to pay off your overdraft. There'll normally be a fee of 3 % or 4 % and you could use that as effectively a way to shift a bigger overdraft onto 0 % credit.

25:19And also the other thing, if you've got overdrafts, treat it as a debt. It is a debt. And often it's more expensive than the credit card. So, you know, try and reduce it by 50 quid a month, like you're repaying 50 quid a month on it. And other things like moving your payment dates to just before you get paid so that you're in overdraft for the minimum amount of time will cost you less too. That's the quick overdraft tip. Shall we do a couple of telluses? Yes, absolutely. Go on then. Can I start us off then? Yes, One says, at wrote no doc, says, I've got a blockbuster card from 2003. Still waiting for the comeback.

25:57I've got Wendy Macaroonie. I carry a snippet from my mum's very old Barrow cooking book, which says, I love you on it. And learn the art of a fabulous Victoria Sponges. It's daft, really, but to me, it's priceless. It's not remotely daft, and I sort of get a bit just choked reading it. Timbo Tiptoe says, my paper driving licence. As Rick Astley might sing, I'm never going to give it up. Ooh. Can we just do... Have you got a driving licence in your wallet, Adrian? I've got a... Not a paper one. Not a paper one, yes, I have, yes. All right, get your driving licence out. Mm-hm. OK. Tell us about the picture for a second.

26:38It's not bad for me, considering it is me on the picture. OK. What I'm really interested in is your 4B. Can you look at your 4B? and everybody else who isn't driving, if you're listening to this right now, get your driving licence out, look at your 4B on your normal driving licence, please. What does yours say, Adrian? 14 05 2031. OK, so you're good. That means your driving licence because our photo driving licences, while we are valid to drive for decades, they have a limited shelf life and they need renewing because the photo has to be up to date. Now, ultimately, you could risk a fine of up to£1 ,000.

27:18I mean, you'd have to do quite a lot for it to get£1 ,000 fine. If you don't, if your driving licence is not up to date. And there are 2 million people out there whose photo driving licence has expired. Now, look, if it's expired, don't panic. You're not going to be fine because you haven't been stopped. But just go and get it renewed now. You won't get in trouble for renewing it if you were driving with it out of date. But you need to go and get it updated. Someone listening out there now will have checked their 4B and found that it's out of date. Do get in touch if you have done. So while we're doing a wallet workout, 4B on your driving licence.

27:51Just check you're still in date. And it's worth having a look. You're 2031. That's plenty of time, Adrian. What's mine? I'm mine. I'm also 2031. Oh, we're driving licence date twins. Oh, isn't that sweet? Let's make a date. So we'll both renew in 2031. OK. Look forward to it. Dave Healy says, I buy a lot from the US and European companies. Is there a card I can use that won't drain my pocket due to currency conversion fees? I see there are cards you can use when you're abroad that don't have currency conversion fees. But does it work the same if you're in the UK and purchasing abroad? Yeah, it works exactly the same.

28:27It isn't your location. It's the currency that you're paying in that matters. So, look, the reason you have a specialist card is there are normally two choices when you buy anything. whether in the UK if it's not in pounds or whether you're abroad if it's not in pounds. And that is you can do the conversion and get your card company to do the conversion or the overseas store or the transaction method you're doing will do the conversion. So what you want, the problem when you're abroad, in most places, times when you go into a shop abroad or you buy on an overseas website and they offer to do the conversion for you, they add a load to the exchange rate.

29:01They could take the spot rate, which is the perfect exchange rate on the day, and they could add 3%, 4%, 5%, 6 % to it. They often do that without telling you or you're unaware because that spot rate is moving. And that's typically what will happen if you say, this is why I always say when you're abroad, if you're in Europe, paying euros, if you're in America, paying dollars, because that way it isn't the place you're spending at that is doing the conversion, it's your plastic. Even the worst UK plastic only has a foreign exchange rate load of 3%. So, and generally it's worse if you're doing the transaction abroad.

29:37The best plastic, we've already mentioned some, you've got two, Halifax Clarity, Barclay Card Reward, or my top pick at the moment, the Lloyds Ultra Card. They give you the spot rate. They give you the same near-perfect rate that the banks get. And in Lloyds' case, you get cash back. So you want it to do the conversion because it's giving you a perfect exchange rate. that applies whether you're spending abroad, but it equally applies if you are buying in dollars or euros or whatever other currency in the world from the UK. As long as your card is doing the conversion, which means you're paying in dollars, you're paying in euros, you're not paying in pounds, you're not letting the site do the conversion, then it gives you the same near-perfect exchange rate and could easily save you 5 % or 6 % per transaction.

30:22Just make sure you pay it off. Inful! Inful. Since this is a workout, we had workout-themed music, we had Eye of the Tiger, you mentioned Olivia Newton-John, and I'm just here to make your dreams come true, Martin. Take it away, Olivia. Have a great night, Olivia Newton-John. Let's get physical, physical. I want to get physical. Let's get into physical, Olivia. Oh, beautiful. It is beautiful. It does move us away from the wallet theme, though, doesn't it, really, getting physical? It does. I mean, you could take your wallet. I mean, this is in the old days, before digital wallets, You could have taken your wallet, you could have done a bicep curl with it.

30:57But these days, they're lighter. Well, that's why you have two wallets. But they're getting less physical. One for each hand. They're getting less physical wallets. They are. They are indeed. So that's our tenuous link back to a living. Let's get digital. Digital. That's right. We could do that together, couldn't we? Where were we? Yes. I mean, there's a question. Interest me. Bronwyn Taylor. So I try to pay cash in small shops so that they don't have to pay a percentage to the bank or card companies. Now, that's an interesting one, that. I was always dimly at the back of my mind when I pay for something in a small shop.

31:31Am I helping them if I pay in cash? I don't know, because it depends. This is a really interesting one. Bronwyn, you're trying to do something nice for your local stores, and that I'm sure is appreciated, but it may not actually be nice. I did some polls recently, some social media polls, on whether shops should be forced to take cash payments. And they also did a poll on force to take card payments. And what a lot of small business owners said to me is, don't assume that cash is cheaper for us. In some places, and especially in some more rural environments, you have to pay a charge for depositing cash at the bank.

32:07And the charge for depositing cash for some stores is more expensive than the card fee that they pay for taking your payment on a card. so it isn't as simple as cash is much better for them it doesn't because there's a fee either way now that isn't me saying cash is worse for them it's me saying it depends and i'm sure there are probably some retailers and small shop owners who are listening now tell us not what you prefer but which is cheaper for you to take payments in cash or to take payment in card i'd love to hear from you. Okay. Just going to do a couple of telluses. Yeah, go on. Okay. Tim, Tim Calder in Dalydale says, Oldest sign in my wallet is a business card from our honeyman in 1997.

32:54The honeyman? That presumably is somebody who supplies you with honey. From the Sierra View Motel in Mariposa, California, visited on our way to Yosemite National Park. This was at the end of the last century. And Martin in Bristol says, Of a 1931 John, play a cigarette card for poultry that I found a few years ago. It's number 35, Black Plymouth Rocks. I found it in the gutter one day, thought it strange it had just turned off after all that time. Image shows a hen and a cockerel. Bit grubby, been around a bit, but I like it. I like the sound of it too, Martin. Daniel Clarke. A handwritten note from my mum before she passed away when I was 22.

33:38I'm 63 now. Yeah. I think we all get that one, don't we? Yeah. Yes, absolutely. Shall I tell you what? I've got my wallet. The only possible thing, I have a toothpick, Adrian, that's hidden in the note slap in my wallet because I have a food trap in one of my... So I have a little toothpick in. That is the only possibly interesting thing I have in my wallet. It's not that interesting. You were talking my language then when I thought it was one with particular sentimental value for you. No, I mean, and when I use it, I have to remember to replace it, which I sometimes don't do. and I also, even as someone who is a digital native and spends in cards all the time, I carry cash with me which is generally for homeless people because if someone's in desperate need, I hate the idea that you can't help When you say you don't replace it, when is it used?

34:23You just use it once and throw it away or sometimes does it go back in? It's one of the plastic with the string across ones, it's not something that you're going to reuse but the problem is I'll use it and go, oh I'm so glad I got that in there and then I tend to spend because I'm a slightly obsessive person. I spend most of the rest of the day going, I must remember to put a toothpick back in. I must remember to put a toothpick back in. I must remember to put a toothpick in. And my whole day is basically lost to repeating a mantra. Although ultimately I then send myself an email, which I do a lot.

34:50About over 50 % of the emails stored in my inbox right now are from me. Okay. And can I just ask a question? Yeah. If you send yourself an email, what is the etiquette over politeness? Do I have to say please if I'm asking myself to do something? or can I just be blunt with myself because it's me? And sometimes when I read it and I've been blunt, I go, that's a bit rude. I'm blunt with myself. And also ask AI something. I mean, my daughter's always very polite to AI because she thinks it will count in her favour when the robot apocalypse lands, that they'll be a bit nicer to her. Oh, I have to say, so ChatGPT has used a lot in my household.

35:27Mrs Emacy, of course, is a tech journalist and I sometimes get slightly jealous of the conversations with Arba, who's her favourite voice on there. But I don't like, it's all jolly. I mean, and I had something the other day, I asked it, and it was a really morbid, quite a serious answer. And it went, oh, yeah, oh, yes, you're right. I did get that wrong. And it was like about death duties and something like that. I was just asking some phrasing. I was like, tonally, stop being, this is, we need an English. I mean, they have an English accent, but we need an actual English attitude. Sensibility.

36:00AI that isn't always, hey, literally, oh, your parents have died. oh that does happen I'm so sorry hey and we actually want you know we want someone who goes and when you say to it when you say to it that was the most ridiculous answer I've ever heard you've totally misunderstood me oh I have haven't I no I want you to go yeah alright okay I'll do another answer I've never used the audio we need a proper British AI anyway we're doing wallet work out okay let's just speak to Dane in Eastbourne who's called in Dane tell us what you have in your wallet hello How are you both today? Hi, all good, thanks.

36:36Go on. Yeah, hiya. So what I have in my wallet, I mean, I generally use digital payments my day-to-day, so I've got lots of space in my wallet for a collection of unusual foreign banknotes. Okay. I like going on charity shops. You're starting to increase the gig threshold here. We like it. Go on, talk us through what you've got there. So I started a collection, and every time I come, So I've got Lira, I've got some from countries that don't exist anymore, like Yugoslavia. Probably the most interesting one I have is one where the denomination is five billion dollars. So I often like to joke to my friends and say that I'm a billionaire and I can just whip that out and say, I'm not lying.

37:24What's that, the Liberian dollar or something? What is it? Zimbabwe, isn't it, Dan? It was from Zimbabwe when they were going through a period of awful hyperinflation, I believe. Oh, wow. You're carrying$5 billion with you. Some of them were even more crazy than a nation. Can you imagine if you got pickpocketed, the excitement of the pickpocketer when they found a$5 billion note and then the crashing disappointment when they realised it was, you know, it was basically not, well, I assume what you've got in there isn't worth much. I wouldn't wish this upon you, by the way, Dan. Whereas the scenario I was looking at, Adrian, is getting in a London black taxi cab and saying, I've only got$5 billion, do you have change?

38:19Yes, you should try that. So, I mean, how thick's your wallet? I mean, you've got to limit what you've got in there, Dan. Well,£5 billion. I mean, yeah, I'm going up to London on Sunday, so I may well just try that, actually. OK, give it a try, Dane. Thank you very much for getting in touch. We've got a question from... Cheers, Dane. Thank you. Cheers, Dane, mate. We've got a question from... Don't spend it all at once. We've got a question from Sonia. Spends a lot grocery shopping. What's the best way to pay for it at the till so I'll get some money back? Well, it's generally the same cashback cards as I was mentioning earlier.

38:53The only difference is if you're always shopping at the same supermarket, many supermarkets have their own credit cards that gives you a higher percentage of reward for specific in-store spending at their store. So if you have not all of them do this, but if so, if you're very loyal to the same supermarket each time, check out its credit card. I should note I'm talking credit cards, not store cards. The difference, a credit card is a card that can be spent anywhere. A store card is a card that can only be spent at the store. They tend not to be that usable. They tend to have higher interest rates.

39:24You generally don't want a store card unless you're manipulating its introductory offer just to get yourself a discount. But many of the supermarkets have credit cards. So check out what your supermarket is offering. And if it's offering you more than 1 % effective equivalent in reward points on your spending in that supermarket and you spend all the time, then that can be a good option, of course, paid off in full each month. Now, a quick interruption on loyalty cards. You may well spot the loyalty cards in your wallet. though almost all of them these days allow you to do it digitally, that is much easier.

39:53My view on loyalty cards is very simple. You should never choose where you shop due to a loyalty card. All it is is an effective afterwards discount if you choose to use it. So people often used to say to me in the old days, you know, Superdrug was giving one point per pound of spending, but Boots is giving four points per pound of spending. Therefore, the Boots loyalty scheme is better and you should go in Boots. Nonsense. I mean, if we think of it as a discount, If Superdrug was selling something for£1.10p and you get 1p off because you're just over 1p, 1.1p off, because you're using your loyalty points, that's costing you£1.09.

40:29If the same item was in boots and it's charging£1.20, well, it's still more expensive in boots even after your effective 4 % discount. So don't let them juice you in to that entire loyalty scheme that means you build up your loyalty points and because you've got loyalty points, to redeem your loyalty points, you have to go into that same store to redeem your loyalty points. what do you do when you're redeeming your loyalty points? You spend more in that same store, so they get another bite of your custom, and you build up more loyalty points, meaning you have to, that's why it's called loyalty.

40:54And loyalty doesn't necessarily pay. Having said all that, especially in the digital world that we now live in, if you're shopping somewhere that has a loyalty scheme, you may as well use it. Just don't let it dictate where you shop. Sharon says I'm a small business and was able to pay in free cash per month, up to a limit each month. so cash was always better for me to take rather than credit card payments or debit card. However, as the bank has now closed, I have to drive a 16-mile round trip to pay cash in, so now it's actually cheaper for us to take card payments. And that was the point I was making earlier.

41:30It is not as simple as cash is always better for retailers. And my advice, if you want to be a considerate to your local shops, which is important if you want them to stay open, then say to them, which is better for you, I pay in cash or I pay on card and let them decide. Hayley, best joint account for a couple. There's actually no such thing as a joint account, is there? Yes, there is. Well, OK, but it's not... OK, all right, go on. No, there is. There is. What there isn't is it doesn't make any difference whether it's a joint account or a single account for your choice. But there is absolutely under...

42:03There's no joint credit card. There's no such thing as a joint credit card. That's what I meant. Sorry, that's what I meant. But there are joint bank accounts. Yeah. Yeah, there's only a second card holder and a credit card. So look, at the moment, we are in a luxurious period where there are a lot of banks that are trying to pay you to switch to them. And most of that will get you cash in time for Christmas. I'm just going to tell you the free cash. I'm going to run through it super quick. We did a full programme on this about six weeks ago. And most of these allow you to open a joint account.

42:31If you're a high earner earning over 75 grand, Barclays Premier is giving you 400 quid for switches. All of these, unless I mention a fee free. There's the Santander Edge, which is probably the winner for joint accounts. Because if you're getting a joint account that's for bills, which many people do, that your joint account is to pay your joint bills from, Santander Edge pays£200 free for you switching. And it also gives you 1 % bills cash back on all the bills you pay from it by direct debit up to£10 a month. There's a£3 a month fee. But for most people with typical bills, the cash back will easily wipe the backside of the£3 a month fee and give you more on top.

43:10It's also got a good overseas debit card. Other free cash at the moment, Barclays switchers get 200 quid. Club Lloyd's get 200 quid. First Direct, top customer service, gets£175. And there are more out there too. So it is a very good time for switching bank. But if you're looking for a joint account, they all work. It's worth remembering, of course, if you had two individual accounts and you switched both of them, you would get, if it's a£200 account, you get£200 each. If you're switching a joint account, you only get one lot of joint account because it's only one lot of switching. So that's the only issue in terms of the financials.

43:47But many people like a joint account. And my top pick for bills is Santander Edge because you get the cash back, you get the£200 and that easily covers the£3 a month fee. OK, and Jackie says, best current account to have savings pockets for all my planned spending, please. Well, I talked about that on the Question Time podcast the other day, how to budget. I call it piggy banking, some call it jam jarring, some call it savings pockets. This is where you have, you siphon off money into different pots so your bank account no longer lies for you. You might have a bills account, you might have a holidays account, you might have a Christmas account.

44:21These days, a lot of banks do it. The original starter tend to be the challenger digital only app type banks like Monzo and Starling that are very good. But actually, it's becoming far, far more widespread a way of working it. and I would probably check whether the bank that you want has it and I would focus on getting the best financials from the bank because so many of them are doing it now, just as I've talked about. Here's a long question, hopefully with a shorter answer. Mitch, I use a cashback site called Jam Donut. Other ones are available. Do I have any protection when paying with a gift card or would it be better on big purchases to pay the majority via gift card than pay£1 via credit card to get to Section 75?

45:00Short answer, you have absolutely zero protection on a gift card and generally if the company that's offering the gift card has gone bust, you lose all your money. And some gift cards have dates on them that you need to use them by. Jamjar, I believe you buy your gift cards on there and you get some cash back for doing so, or you get a discounted gift card. It can be very good, but I would be spending very quickly. I wouldn't be holding the gift card. You should only be doing it for things you're about to spend. Yes, if you were to do for a transaction over£100, £1 on the credit card, the rest on the gift card, then the credit card company is liable for the entire amount.

45:33It will probably fight you, tell you it's not, and you'll have to go to the financial ombudsman. But the ombudsman has ruled many times that it's liable for the entire amount. So that would be a good strategy in those circumstances. And it's another one of Martin interrupting Martin here. Just to ask, do you have a digital donor card? In England, Scotland, Wales, and more recently changed in Northern Ireland, you are automatically considered willing to be an organ donor now unless you opt out. Yet it is worth letting loved ones know your wishes. So a donor card in your personal wallet or digitally registering your decision is useful.

46:09Better still, discuss it with them because, I mean, in the terrible event that something happens to you when your loved ones are working out what the right or wrong thing to do is, letting them know, yeah, I would like to be a donor often takes a lot of pressure, stress, emotion and grief away. So that conversation's worth it. And while I'm at it, there are many ways to help while living too. You can be a blood and plasma donor. I'm literally, purely by coincidence, going to give blood straight after I do the podcast because apparently they're short of people giving blood at the moment and I got an email so I'm going in to do it.

46:39Bone marrow donation, stem cell donation if you're aged between 16 to 30 and also hair donation for young cancer patients.

46:55Now, in our Money Mastermind, the current score is Adrian has got 13 wrong and 13 right and 25 wrong. You've got the last one wrong and you are sniffling ever closer to not beating random chance. N-B-R-C. Very sweetly, you know, I turn over to a fresh page in my notebook. It makes no difference whatsoever. If I write anything down, it'll just be wrong anyway. But I'll just do it. And can I just make just a slight point here? I always talk about random chance. You'll hear it's 13 to 25. And there is someone who regularly writes in to say that I have this wrong because random chance would mean only getting a third right, not 50 % right.

47:37I have to say my maths here is right. If you have got 13 right and 25 wrong, yes, while 13 is just under 50 % of 25, of the total, which is 38 questions, 13 is just over a third. The maths is right. It's one in three. You're getting just over one. It's one in three, which means you would get one right and two wrong every three questions. I'm not having anybody telling you you're wrong, even if you are, which you never are. I'm 100 % right on this probability. OK, right. OK, so now, Adrian, the question. Adrian, often I do my impression of you with a Westminster accent. Today, Adrian, you get a chance to do an impression of me.

48:17Right. Because this question is one I was asked by a caller called Matt on the Question Time podcast, which you are not involved in, that we also put out and goes out on a Monday and you should subscribe, a fortnight ago. So I'm going to ask you exactly the question I was asked and see how you do. Except you get three multiple choice options. OK. I was told by a dad on the school run a tip to add my eight-year-old daughter to my credit card as a cardholder to help start build her credit score to get credit of her own. Does it work? Which of these was my answer? Which is also the correct answer.

48:55Naturally. A, yes, it will start to go in a foul and be a useful builder for when she's 18 and able to help her get credit. B, no, it doesn't work. C, no, it doesn't work because she's under 18. If she was over 18, it would work. I think it is C, on the assumption that what you do at the age of eight surely can't be held against you or even for you on your credit record. So I'll go... I'll go see. Final answer. Mm-hm. Play the uh-uh. Oh, not again. Adrian, I'm so disappointed that you're actually slightly angry here. About three minutes ago, we had a conversation where you mistakenly said that you can't have a joint current account.

49:48And I said, no, you're thinking of a credit card. You can't have a joint credit card. You can only have a second card holder. It isn't joint. And I was just, as I was asking that question, in my head I'm going, oh, shoot. I've just given the answer away three minutes ago. You've made the mistake. This is a default now and you've still got it wrong. I quite enjoy being berated by you. I find it comforting. It takes me back to school and relationships. Just carry on. Berate me a bit more. We've got another minute and a half. No, no, I need to explain. Look, so to everybody listening, although most of you will have got it because you were probably listening to the programme.

50:27The answer is you can't have a joint credit card. Now, the fact is no under 18, you're not going to get a credit file anyway because you can't have credit products. But you can't have a joint credit card. All that you can do is you can give someone else your card and they're spending on your account. It doesn't count as their card. It's not their card. It's not their credit. If they spend loads and don't pay it, it's still your debt. But what about if it was a joint bank account then? Well, on a joint bank account, yes, if it had an overdraft, still because there's no credit products under 18, it would be a struggle to get the overdraft and to work it in that particular way.

50:56But theoretically, you would be getting closer if we did it that way. But on a credit card system, the answer is a blunt no, it doesn't work, no way, no how. And it wouldn't work if she were 104 either because it's just a second cardholder. So I'm afraid it was dads on the schoolroom. Is Adrian Childs on your schoolroom, Matt? Because, you know, I was told by a dad on the school run, a tip to have my eight-year-old daughter. That tip does not work at all. A bit like Adrian does not work at all on the mastermind. All right, OK. But he's still AC, the coolest man on the radio. If only that were true.

51:31I apologise to you for not listening. I apologise for getting it wrong. I apologise to myself for revealing what a chump I am, AC or not. But always a pleasure, Martin. Thank you, mate. A dark pleasure, admittedly. A masochistic pleasure, but a pleasure nonetheless. OK, I'll calm down after my tirade at Adrian for not listening. Matt, did you get the answer right? Were you listening? The answer for the mastermind? Yeah. So you normally send over the question to me and you highlight the correct answer and you hadn't done it. But because of the podcast a couple of weeks ago, I was like, no, I know.

52:08See, I'm learning. Listening is a good skill in broadcasting. OK, so we had quite a lot more to do. I know we've got some questions and there's a few points I'd like to make. So let's do some of the questions first. What else has come in? OK, so at the start of the podcast, you mentioned the NS &I account. Yes. And a message came in while we were on air with Adrian from Mike. And he said, can you ask Martin if any interest accrued from savings within an NS &I are subject to tax in the same way they would be in a standard savings account? Really good question. Simple answer. The NS &I savings or the British Savings Bond specifically are taxable savings.

52:43So they would count towards your taxable interest. Now, of course, as we've said many times before, there are a number of tax-free allowances that allow you to earn interest without being taxed on them. You've got your normal earnings allowance up to£12 ,570 a year. And then if you're a basic rate taxpayer, you can earn£1 ,000 on the personal savings allowance. So of interest tax-free each year,£500 if you're a top rate taxpayer. So there are lots of different savings allowance, but it is taxable income. So it is subject to tax. I think the reason for this question is premium bonds, which are from MS &I, are not taxable.

53:15They are not subject to tax. And there's also the index linked savings that you can't get anymore. But if you have them, you can continue to renew them that are not taxable. That's because NS &I is the state backed savings institute. It is the vehicle that the government uses for special products like premium bonds, which can be tax free. but that doesn't mean all NS &I products are tax-free. In other ways, it tends to operate more like a normal financial institution, more like a normal bank, if you want, in common parlance. And it's offering tax-free savings. It does also have some cash ISAs, but these bonds I'm talking about, no, they're taxable.

53:51Through the magic of podcasting, this is Martin interrupting myself to give you a quick tip on rail cards. When you're looking through your wallet, do you have a rail card? Probably not, because most of them these days are digital, but we're talking digital wallets too so I'm just going to carry on regardless. If you travel by train, arguably even once a year, if it is a major journey, you may well save by having a rail card. They typically cost up to£35 for one year, though you can buy three-year versions too. And right now there are some codes online, which I can't give you a link to, but hopefully you'll find for yourself, where you can get 25 % off a rail card.

54:27Now that means for most journeys, not maybe a few PCAR excluded, you save a third on your journey. And there are more rail cards than most people think. You've got the obvious ones, all the rail cards for people aged under 31 or aged over 60. You've got the family and friends rail card, which means an adult travelling with up to three more adults, as long as you're with one child but up to four child, all the adults get a third off and all the children get two thirds off. The family and friend rail card. There's the disabled rail card. There's some network rail cards. one people often don't know about that's the two together rail card.

55:03That literally means two named people travelling together can get a third off. Now, I say named people, you would think he means couples, but I don't necessarily mean couple. Let's imagine you have a mate that you go to the football with every Saturday and you're always going on the train. Well, you two could get a two together card. You could also have one with your spouse. It doesn't matter. You can have as many two together cards with different people. You can, you know, yes, I am saying it. You can couple up with as many different people as you like, but only in a rail card sense. OK, another question that we didn't get to.

55:31Wendy Southgate on X. I've tried every bank to open a bank account and I've been rejected due to my credit score. No other bank will take me or even open a new bank account. What do I do? Well, that should not be happening. There was a voluntary agreement between the government and the banks. It must have been 12, 15 years ago now. I was involved in it at the time because there was a big problem and we still have a million unbanked in this country. And the voluntary agreement said that all major banks should offer a basic bank account. That is a non-overdraft bank account that will give you banking facilities, but you won't be able to be overdrawn.

56:07And because you're not overdrawn, there is no need for a credit check on it. And therefore, it should be universally acceptable. Now, therefore, it should be universally available. Now, there are some problems with it. The first one, which I think is the one that is hitting you, is that what happens is unless you ask for a specific basic bank account, they give you their main normal bank account and they credit score you for it because it has an overdraft and then you get rejected. Now, I've strongly said that when they reject you, they should be forced to tell you. But we do offer a basic bank account that you can get and you can open.

56:41So you need to go in. Co-op and Barclays anecdotally not research based. There's just no real way to research this, that I haven't got details of that number of people who don't have bank accounts. But Co-op and Barclays, anecdotally, are pretty good at this and that they tend to be more forgiving for people who want basic bank accounts. So if you haven't got a bank account, Co-op and Barclays, and you're looking, you know, you could also try and apply on Chase online, but you might not be online in that way. Then you could try Co-op and Barclays, but ask for their basic bank account. The second problem that happens, and this is a more difficult problem, is ID issues.

57:14and say for some people who are homeless. Having ID issues and proofs of address and all of that can stop you getting a bank account, which is one of those things that needs to be fixed. Because in our growing digital world, the disenfranchisement of not having a bank account is hideous. And it's just making people who are already in vulnerable situations even worse off. But I suspect that the questioner's issue, if they don't have a bank account, it's a basic bank account. And it could often happen to people moving from abroad, but most people should be able to get a basic bank account, no problem.

57:44And we've got a final question from Rachel. She is asking, I had a credit card whilst I was working and in a relationship. Now I'm alone. I'm unable to work and struggling with credit card debt. But because of not working, I can't get a 0 % balance transfer. So I find myself stuck in the circle of debt I never intended to be in. Are there any 0 % balance transfer deals to those of us on benefits, please? The benefits is a bit of a red herring here. This is about income. So the fact you're on benefits, clearly you're on a low income. And it's the fact you're on a low income which will tend to cause the issue, not that you're on benefits.

58:20So when we apply for credit, a number of different things are happening. There's fraud scoring to check that you're legitimate. There's credit scoring to check whether you've got a history of being a good credit citizen or not. And each lender scores you differently. And then there's also affordability scoring. So just to put this in perspective, everybody focuses on the credit score because the credit reference agencies sell them and make you think they'll be all and end all, where they're just a loose illustration of how a typical lender would see you. And they miss the biggest single fact that lenders look at when you apply for credit.

58:47How much money do you earn? How much money do you have? And that is not on your credit score, which is one of the reasons people with perfect credit scores get rejected. To make this very simple, I'll give you two examples. And I'm going to come and answer the specifics, but just just as a general point for everyone. if you've got the best credit history in the world and you've always paid off in time and it's always been perfect and you never missed a payment and you were previously earning£50 ,000 and you have no savings and you've just lost your job and you have no earnings your credit score will not have changed but you'll still probably be rejected because you've got no way to repay and they want you to have a way to repay I mean it's all very logical a second example that just portrays this is if you apply for a loan and with one lender for £3 ,000 you may be accepted but you apply with the same lender for£10 ,000 you may be rejected your credit score has not changed your affordability score is what's knocking you out they're going well you can't afford to repay the£10 ,000 loan so we'll give you one at£3 ,000 That's what's going on.

59:50Now, in this case, you asked me about, aren't there any credit cards for people on benefits? No, but there are poor credit credit scorers cards, some of which require just a minimum income of£5 ,000. And these are balance transfer cards. There's a big warning about poor credit balance transfer cards I'll come to in a moment. I'm saying that more for myself to remember to say it. So what I would do is you need to go onto an eligibility calculator. That is a tool and you need to go on on a comparison site. There are some good ones out there, but I can't name them and hopefully you'll work out where you go.

1:00:18that include poor credit balance transfer deals. So then what you do is you put your details in. It does a soft search, and that's important, because normally when we apply, that adds a hard search to our file, and too many hard searches, especially in the short space of time, can be negative for our credit worthiness and may mean we get rejected, so you need to protect yourself from unnecessary applications. With the soft search, that's one that you would see on your credit file, but lenders wouldn't be able to take into account, so it doesn't have any impact and therefore it's better for you.

1:00:48So you go into an eligibility calculator, they lose soft searches and they will indicate which cards you're most likely to be accepted for. Now from what you've said, I suspect it will be one of the poorer credit cards for balance transfer deals. Some of them are up to 20 months, some of them are only nine months. You'll normally pay a fee of around 3%. My main warning with them is the go-to rate on poor credit balance transfers is significantly higher than on normal balance transfers. The go-to rate is the rate that you pay once your 0 % ends. So you need to look at the go-to rate. Let's imagine it's 34.9 % on the card that you're most likely to be accepted for.

1:01:27Contrast that to your existing credit cards which may well be at 24.9%. In which case if your existing credit card standard APR is lower than the go-to rate once the 0 % ends. You should only move debt you are definitely going to be able to repay within the 0 % period so that you'll be able to clear that card before the 0 % ends and when it shoots up to the go-to rate. If your current credit card interest rate is roughly the same or higher than the go-to rate then just shift all you can and get the interest 0 % on as much as possible in the meantime. But there are cards out there. Still not everyone will be accepted for them, but there are cards out there for poor balance transfers.

1:02:10A couple of other tips. If you have multiple debt, list all your debts, including overdrafts, in order of interest rate, highest to lowest. Focus all your spare cash on clearing the card with the highest interest rate. And just pay the minimums. I normally say don't pay minimums, but on multiple debts, it's a different thing this is strategic just pay the minimums and everything else that way you're throwing all your spare money on the card that's most expensive and the debt is growing most quickly and that will help you clear it more quickly the other thing that you could do is if you've got existing debts and you've got any room on your credit limit they may allow you to shift debt from other cards at a cheap balance transfer rate it's called an existing customer balance transfer rate and that's possible too and my final thought all these are solutions to stay within the system if your debts are bigger than a year's after-tax income which in your case is benefits or you can't make the minimum repayments or you're not sleeping because of this then I would draw a line under all this and I would go and get help from one of the brilliant non-profit debt counselling agencies like National Debt Line, Citizens Advice or Step Change or Christians Against Poverty and go and talk to them and let them work through a debt management plan with you that should hopefully make things easier and can take some of the pressure off.

1:03:33It's a big answer to a small question, but I hope it helps. Now, Martin, we have a success from the O2 story. Was it last week, a couple of weeks ago? Well, I've been doing it quite a lot. I've been on the warpath about O2. O2 increased its price hike. So it hiked its price hike. The rules that Ofcom brought in in January said that mobile phone companies and broadband firms should tell you in advance of your contract how much they will hike prices mid-contract in pounds and pence. O2 did that, but then notified customers that it was going to increase them by even more than it originally said. Now, the key message I'm getting out there, and just to put this in context, I've spoken to Liz Kendall, who's the Department of Science and Industry, who oversees this about this.

1:04:20I spoke to the Chancellor about this yesterday and I had a meeting with the head of Ofcom on it because I am properly on the warpath. O2 has hiked its hike. And the thing you have to understand is when it does that, the reason it's allowed to hike its hike is it has to allow you to leave penalty-free within 30 days of notification. Now, I have a problem with that because most people notice the price hike once the price goes up, not once they're notified of it. And the letter I don't think was clear enough. And it's also telling people they still need to pay their handset in full because this is an airtime price increase.

1:04:49But what pay in full means is you can keep paying it by the month. But it sort of feels like you have to pay it all up front again. I believe Ofcom are going to intervene on that after we've pointed it out. So there's a lot going on here. Big key message take home for any O2 customers. You're getting that notification now. You need to decide whether you will simply ditch O2. Or you could ditch O2 and keep its signal by moving to Gifgaf or Tesco or Sky, who all piggyback on the O2 signal. or you could utilise it to haggle with O2, which I've had successes on. Normally you haggle at the end of the contract, but this 30-day period when you can leave is effectively a bit like the end of the contract.

1:05:28Lots of successes on that too. I will be honest, my aim is to increase the attrition rate at O2 so that so many people are leaving that we have crowd regulation and we stop it from ever thinking that this is a good idea again. But I'm also trying to put pressure on the regulator and politicians to stop this happening in the first place. And you have a success story. I got in touch with Jill after she sent in her success. We had a chat and here's what she said. So I got that last Monday, the email, but I just, I kind of just skimmed through it. I didn't, well, I did read it properly. I just saw that the prices were going up.

1:06:00I just assumed that I couldn't do anything about it because the phones were included in the deal. And then obviously days later when my son mentioned it, we sort of started together to look into it with more detail and then obviously heard the Martin Lewis podcast and realised that actually, yes, I could do something about it. I rang O2, explained I wanted to keep the phone package going, so the device plan, keep that going. So basically I did that. They didn't even try and argue with me. They just said, yeah, that's fine. Gave me the pack codes I needed for their phone numbers so that the kids get to keep their phone numbers.

1:06:42and then I just looked on other package deals and I actually ended up getting better deals for the airtime plan as in more data with a lot less money which was really easy to switch over. So now I've got a fairly reasonable device plan still with O2 but the airtime plan is a lot cheaper and I'm saving, I think, altogether just short of£40 a month. I kind of thought it would be way past me. Do you know what I mean? That would be way beyond me to be able to do something like this. But actually, it was very easy. Oh, that's really good to hear. I'm so glad it was so easy. And£40 a month, let's macro it to the year.

1:07:28£480 a year, this is not a small issue. And sort of my point is, this price hike on a price hike is a clarion call because many people are already paying too much anyway. So this is a perfect time to check whether you are paying far too much. Some may want to stay with O2 because it does have links with Virgin that can give you, you know, double time and this type of stuff. But equally use it as an opportunity to haggle and I am being swamped with successes on that. It's lovely to hear that. Thanks for putting that together, Matt. And thank you so much, Jill, for getting in touch. That seems a good place to end.

1:08:01And that is it for this week. If you've enjoyed it, do please tell your friends you've been listening to the Martin Lewis podcast and why not subscribe, then your pockets will be pleased with you. We tend to put out a new episode every Thursday and on Mondays too in the form of our Question Time podcast, where you can ask me absolutely anything and everything. And if you haven't enjoyed it, it's your own fault for listening this far. Why should I care?

1:08:35I got to feed, so I'm going to make sure everybody eats. Martin Lewis is the founder of MoneySavingExpert.com. But of course, other consumer and price comparison websites are available. You can get in touch with Martin's podcast production team by emailing martinlewispodcast at bbc.co.uk. The offers and rates mentioned in the podcast are correct at the time of recording. However, if you are listening on demand, it's worth double checking as details can date. Remember to subscribe on BBC Sounds and leave us a review however you listen.