Question Time: Where do I put house sale money? Consumer rights wrong righted! How to talk to my partner about money?

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1:44Martin Lewis:Question Time podcast is intimate. We all know each other in this podcast. It is quite complicated and it can be a bit convoluted. You do not get punished for poor signal. You will still definitely get your badge. You've asked at a very fortuitous time. Thank you so much for calling. Obrigado. Thank you for having me. If no one else is doing it, the Question Time crew were. Hello and welcome to the cunningly named The Martin Lewis Podcast. I do wonder what that's going to be about. And this is our Question Time edition, where you get to ask me your questions on absolutely anything and everything, open brackets within reason, close brackets.

2:15Martin Lewis:This week you asked me, can I ditch my new fix to move to a new provider if I'm still within the 14-day calling off period? Where do I put a big lump sum after a house sale? I had a financial light bulb moment, but my partner isn't seeing it. What do I do? And finally, we write a consumer rights wrong. Play the theme tune. I got bills. I gotta pay. So I'm gonna work for the world every day. I got miles. I gotta feed. So I'm gonna make sure everybody eats. Hello and welcome to the Question Time edition of our podcast. It's lovely to have you on board. This is the bit where you can ask me anything and everything you like, open brackets, within reason, close brackets.

3:02Martin Lewis:And as regular listeners will know, I do not do this by myself. Oh no, heaven forbid, tish tosh. I am joined by the curator of questions himself, our venerable producer, Professor Sir Dr. Matthew Burnham Esquire. Hello. I don't know why that was funny. It was your hello. Hello. Hello, Matt. And as I always do need to say, all of those titles are absolutely official within the canon of the podcast, but completely made up outside the canon of our podcast. Now, I wanted to tell you something that will excite you, Matt. Oh, OK, go on. You will like this a lot. Ooh. So, my wonderful 13-year-old daughter, Safa, has started listening to the Question Time podcast because I played her some bits from it and she liked it and she now listens off her own bat.

3:54Martin Lewis:Oh, really? She does. And on Friday, I think I can tell people, we record Question Time on a Thursday. We do. Matt Additz on a Friday morning, sends me a copy to listen just in case there's anything in it. that I just want to go, oh, I might have suddenly realised I said that wrong or something like that. And then I give him a little couple of notes and then it's done and we put it up on the Monday, which you will all know because you listen to. Well, on the Friday, I had listened to the podcast and I called Matt to do a bit of feedback and I had you on speaker. I was sitting in the kitchen and Sapphire had walked in and we had a little tap and I put it down and she looked up and we went, was that Matt?

4:34Martin Lewis:Was that Matt? And she was quite excited that that was Matt from the podcast who was on the phone. So within, I think Matt, within the canon of the podcast, maybe I should start calling you the one and only celebrity professor, Sir Dr. Matthew Burnham Esquire. I'll take anything, to be fair. You can give me any titles and I'll gladly have them. That's so sweet. Yeah. Isn't it nice? Yeah. I hope you don't mind me saying that, darling, because you're probably listening now. Anyway, let's get on with the... Thanks, Duffer. I'm calling to my daughter, obviously not to you, Matt. Yes. Shall we do a question?

5:08Yeah, let's. We'll start with one from Ross. He's emailed it in to martinlewispodcast at bbc.co.uk. He starts, Dear Martin and Matt.

5:16Martin Lewis:Great. Love it. You see? No, it's good. No, no, it's good. That's standard format now. Could have been Matt and Martin. I've won that battle. It's Martin and Matt, not Matt and Martin. I've won it. It's over. It's done. And I think that's the right format. He says, I have a question about switching energy during the cooling off period of a previous energy switch. We have an electric only and have been with Home Energy because even though it's a variable tariff, they price under the price cap. So it's always been cheaper than the cheapest fix when I've checked on a comparison site. Quick interruption from me.

5:43Martin Lewis:Absolutely right. Now, we always talk about getting off the price cap. A price cap tariff is any standard variable tariff, the bog standard default tariff that an energy provider has. But Home Energy is a different player because what it does is its standard variable tariff is actually much cheaper than the price cap. So it's variable, the price can move, but it has tended so far to be a lot cheaper than the price cap. So it's sort of the one anomaly under the price cap, but you have to accept that it is variable. Now, I have to say there are quite a number of times when there have been cheaper fixed tariffs than home energy available.

6:16Martin Lewis:Obviously not the time that Ross has been checking, but yeah, quite right. Normally I talk about the price cap being a pants cap. The home energy price cap currently, and they could change it, currently is not a pants cap because it's basically just a cheap variable tariff. Do carry on with the question. Sorry for interrupting. That's OK. He goes on to say, however, following the predicted big rise to the price cap in July and that some firms... Currently 13 % predicted. OK. I'm interrupting you a lot. You are, I know, yeah. It's not normal style, but I'm going to do it just for this. Keep going.

6:48And that some firms have recently released some cheaper fixes. I checked again and found that Eon had a 13-month fix that was slightly cheaper than what we're currently paying. So I went with this. My question is, if an even cheaper fix came out while I'm still within the 14-day cooling-off period, could I switch again directly with Eon without having to pay an early exit fee? Or would I have to cancel with Eon, go back to Home Energy, then start a new switch from Home Energy to avoid paying the early exit fee with Eon? And if I can switch directly from Eon, would the new switch just have to be started within the 14-day cooling-off period to avoid the early exit fee, or would it have to complete within the cooling-off period?

7:27Martin Lewis:No, the first thing is you can cancel within a cooling-off period. So if you're within the cooling-off period, it's the point of cancellation that matters, not the point of switch that matters. So once they've told them that you're cancelling, that's how it works. Now, it is quite complicated, and it can be a bit convoluted. But the basic answer, first of all if you're in your cooling off period the big thing that counts is have they actually switched you or not yet if they haven't switched you yet you can choose to either switch it or move the cancelling period or just cancel it and you'll stay where you are you haven't switched you're basically you're within the cooling off period you're just cancelling the switch back to where you were and then so in your case you'd move from home energy to the new one if you have switched and you're still in your cooling off period, you tell your new supplier that you want to cancel and they should give you your options and you'll have 15 working days from that point when they explain your options to either agree a new contract with your new supplier, agree a new contract with your old supplier or agree a new contract with a different supplier.

8:35So basically, you say, if you have switched,

8:41Martin Lewis:you say, actually, I don't want to be with you. I want to cancel the switch, I'm going to move elsewhere. And then you've got 15 days to sort that out. 15 working days to sort that out is the honest answer. Now, just a bigger picture on that question. And I'm going to be honest here, Matt. This has been one of my biggest panics over the last few weeks, right? Why? So, we went for quite a long period after the start of the Middle East conflict where there were no fixes cheaper than the current price cap. and the price cap, which 60 % of the nation are on, and basically, unless you're on a special tariff, unless you're on a fix, unless you've chosen to be on a tariff, you're on the price cap if you're in England, Scotland and Wales, is likely to go up.

9:24Martin Lewis:It's currently predicted to go up 13 %-ish in July. It might be 11%, it might be 15%, but it's going to be somewhere around that order. And then much more crystal ball gazing once you get to the next price cap move in October, it's predicted to stay about the same as the July price cap and predicted to go up again in January. But those could change quite radically because the world was so volatile at the moment. But it currently looks like the price cap is going to get more expensive. So then we had this period where once the ceasefire was announced, because world wholesale rates dropped on the hopes that the Straits of Hormuz would open up, you were then able to get fixes below the energy price cap.

10:03So I came out and said, look, and I was very careful with my language, actually,

10:07Martin Lewis:I came out and said, look, if you're risk averse, if you don't want your prices to rise, you can currently fix. It's only 1%, 2 % cheaper than the current price cap. But that price cap is certainly going up in July and may stay high the rest of the year. So this is a way of guaranteeing you won't have any price hikes. I did even say, and because I'm careful, I said, but I can't promise with hindsight it will be the cheapest because of course prices could get cheaper. And then it did get about a percent or two cheaper. And I was, because I racked myself with guilt going, oh, no, I could have waited a week and people would have saved an extra one percent.

10:41Martin Lewis:Of course, I didn't know that because it was based on what Donald Trump does. And nobody knows the mind of Donald Trump. Some might argue not even Donald Trump himself, but I would never say such a thing. And so because of all that, I'm sitting there going, did I call too early? Did I call too early? And then, of course, of course, the ceasefire fell down somewhat. It's still there to an extent, but the negotiations haven't happened. Wholesale rates have gone back up and fixes have got more expensive again. So I was calling it a window of opportunity and it was a window of opportunity. But even though I'd done all the caveats and even though I talked about it in risk averse, you know, and saying, oh, if you're risk averse, this is better than the price cap because it stays.

11:17Martin Lewis:I know. Well, let's just be blunt because this is, you know, Question Time podcast is intimate. We all know each other in this podcast. We do. You know, and the listeners as well. They get this is a sort of safe space to talk. I know that lots of people listen to me and do stuff because I tell them to, even if they don't necessarily understand it. It always petrifies me when someone says, I don't understand what you talk about, but I do everything you say. I mean, that's the worst thing because my whole point is you have to understand it. And I thought, oh, maybe they haven't read the caveats that this is if you're risk averse.

11:47Martin Lewis:And I'm not saying because, you know, then I'm not saying this is definitely the best thing to do. And now it's got 1 % cheaper. So I had a couple of days of going, I hope I've done the right thing. I hope I've done the right thing. There's a lot of pressure when you know, because a lot of people acted on the back of that cord out. Anyway, that's just a little side message. But as it happened, because unfortunately, sadly, what's gone on in the Middle East didn't get as much better as we thought it was going to, then wholesale rates have gone up, back up a little bit again, and some of those fixes have got more expenses again.

12:15Martin Lewis:So it was a window of opportunity. But you just don't know that. It's quite tough to make the call.

12:24Martin Lewis:so everybody we're about to move to the second question normally i predict what it's going to be regular listeners say to yourself what's it going to be now i can hear you all saying it's a caller martin it's got to be a caller matt always puts a caller second in the podcast matt is it a caller do you know what i might do i might just one week switch the order up completely throw you off and no it's not me throwing off it's all the listeners matt you I can't do that to them. Okay, I won't do it. You can't do it to them. It's a caller, Matt. It's a caller. It's a caller. David in Berkshire. Hi, David.

12:53Hello, how are we doing? Hello, David. Welcome to the podcast.

12:58Martin Lewis:Thank you. I feel very privileged. So my wife and I are just about to complete on the sale of a flat in London, and we'll have about a£400 ,000 lump sum. It's our only property, and we've been renting it out for the last 13 years. Due to the currently living in free job-related accommodation, My wife and I are not in a rush to buy and it may take a year or more to find the right property for us. As this money will be needed for that future purchase, I'm not looking to invest it or lock it in. OK, so we'll take the investment, pal, and we'll just throw that one away. If you're keeping it for the long term, obviously investment can outperform savings for long term money you don't need.

13:34Martin Lewis:But that's gone here. We don't have investment in all. But the cupboard has had investment removed from it. Carry on. Yes. So we want to be able to move on the property if we find that one. So my wife and I have already... Oh, no. Oh, no. You're in the middle of your question now and your line drops. So we've now moved you onto a phone because we've gone for old school technology. Do carry on where you were. So I was saying I'm a high rate taxpayer and my wife is near the top of the basic rate tax bracket. My current plan is to use 50 ,000 each in premium bonds alongside high interest accounts and perhaps regular saver accounts to maximise the interest.

14:09Martin Lewis:Have you used your IC? Yes. Yes. So I've used, both of us have used our ISA this year already. I have a couple of specific questions. Am I right in thinking we should put some money in my wife's name to gain interest, but not tip her into the higher rate as she would lose£500 of the interest allowance? And am I missing any sensible options for short term or stroke no low risk investment savings? OK, so David, you've asked at a very fortuitous time and I will come on to why in a moment. We'll go through the standard practice, though. First thing, let's talk about saving safety protection. Do you know how your money is protected in savings at the moment?

14:46Yes, so the SCS protection limits. And I guess this will come under the lifetime event clause of six months. Is that what you're asking?

14:54Martin Lewis:I was. I wanted to see if you knew about that. It does come under the lifetime event for six months. You're protected up to£1.4 million per person per financial institution. Because you've sold your house and inheritance would do the same thing, you get much bigger protection for the short term. In the unlikely event that the bank or building society you put your money in went bust, you'd be protected up to£1.4 million. The rule after that is the standard£120 ,000 per person per financial institution. But right now you'd have£1.4 million. Having said that, you're looking to keep money for the longer term.

15:26Martin Lewis:So there's a question. So the obvious things first is that you're going to be paying tax on the interest because, you know, you're a high rate taxpayer. you've used up your personal savings allowance and all the other allowances. You've done your ISAs. You've got money in premium bonds. Generally, I poo-poo premium bonds because the rate isn't that high. And for most people, unless you're maxing it out and you pay tax on your savings, with typical luck, you would beat it in normal savings. But you are maxing it out and you do pay tax on your savings. So therefore, it becomes quite a good deal for you.

16:00Martin Lewis:So the next question that we would normally look at is we would normally look at what different routes are there for maximising your money in the short term and spreading the money into different accounts. Well, Matt, add a record screech here because just launched in the last week are new fixed rate savings from NS &I. NS &I is the state-owned financial institution. Now, the important thing about NS &I is normally when we talk about the financial services compensation scheme protection up to£120 ,000 per person per financial institution, ultimately that is backed up by the government. But with NS &I, all of it is backed up by the government.

16:44Martin Lewis:So effectively, all the money you put in there is government backed because it's state owned. And normally the rates aren't that great. But just now it's launched these fixed rate savings accounts. They're just fixed rate savings. It calls them bonds. they're still taxable just like any other fixed rate savings. But the rates, normally the rates in NS &I fixed rate savings are way below the best buys. The rates of these are only about 0.2 % below the best buys. You've got a one-year fix at 4.5%, a two-year fix at 4.48%, a three-year fix at 4.45%, a five-year fix at 4.4%. And with all of them, you can put up to a million pounds in there.

17:22Martin Lewis:So you could put£400 ,000 in there and it's absolutely backed by the government. so one option you have is you could take your 400 ,000 and you could put it in a one-year fix because I think you're sort of indicating you won't be buying within the next year David well no that's the point I do want to have that option oh okay move on a property we find the one and convincing is what five oh I got all excited can Matt can you no we'll still keep the record screech because it's important information for other people you i mean what do you have here you could e-count extra rates with no with notice accounts where you have to give notice to buy but the highest at the moment aren't really beating easy access you could be looking at six month fixes again the highest at the moment aren't beating the chase account you have a chase account no that's the one i looked at when i went onto a website very good very good um so yeah i mean you you and your wife could separately have money in chase up to 120 ,000 each and get that protection.

18:24Martin Lewis:Obviously, for the first six months, you get the full protection. That's paying you 4.5%. After that, you're starting to drop down the rate. There isn't really anything clever if you want access to it. Occasionally, we get fixed rate savings that pay, and you've used your ISA, so you can't use the fixed cash ISA that would give you access. Occasionally, there are fixed rate savings accounts that give you access within the term. If you close the account down for a small interest penalty, there aren't any of those available at the moment. So it's just easy access. If you don't want to use the NSNI one, it's just easy access.

18:57Okay, so what you're saying is put all the money into Chase initially, and then after six months, then I can move that over to then spread the protection into the different accounts?

19:07Martin Lewis:Absolutely. You might have a better idea of whether you could then lock money away in that time. And you could put it in yours and your wife's name. You asked about the tax. absolutely right spouses can move money between you so anyone who is in who's married or in a civil partnership can move money between them without any tax implications so putting money in your wife's name might be joint money anyway um is sensible i'm so sorry i couldn't come with anything extra clever um i do think the end for everybody else listening those nsni accounts if you've got a large lump sum you're sitting on that you're going to need access to so you're not going to invest it or put it elsewhere.

19:42Martin Lewis:Those are really useful because of the million pounds is effectively protected at only just below life events. OK, sorry about Signal. Hopefully, well, I was scared I wasn't going to get my badge. You're getting your badge. You do not get punished for poor Signal. You will still definitely get your badge. You will be the third recipient of badges once they are made. And thank you for your call. Thank you very much. Cheers.

20:11We've got Marcelo in Bournemouth. Hi, Marcelo. Hello. Hi, Marcelo. Welcome. What can we do for you? Thanks for having me. So just for a little bit of contact. So I'm 41 and I recently had a financial wake up, you can call it. A light bulb moment. My wife. And my wife kind of shut down when I tried to get her on board. So my question would be, how do I approach her without making her feel criticised? And what should I prioritise first?

20:46Martin Lewis:So I need sort of an idea of bigger picture. Is this you suddenly realised that your finances weren't organised and you didn't have the right products and you weren't budgeting? Is it that type of lightbulb moment you're talking about? Well, she always kept things very simple but very effective. So we always only had one account for everything. Yeah. And I now come to realize that, you know, if we move that money maybe to Akashaisa, you know, that money can give us a bit of extra money. Yeah. Budgeting, you know, or investing a little bit. So I went full on and maybe I came on a little bit too strong when I was trying to give my ideas to her.