As an existing Santander 123 Current Account customer, I received a letter from Santander informing me that I was guaranteed to be accepted for a 123 Credit Card, as soon as I returned the enclosed form.

I can’t help but feel that Santander timed their 123 Credit Card mailing to coincide with the time that most people are thinking about doing their Christmas shopping.

I was initially offered a Santander 123 Credit Card when I completed the online application for the 123 Current Account early this year. I declined, as the Santander 123 Credit Card pays no cashback on some types of spending, e.g. hotels. The highest 3% cashback from Santander is paid on purchases such as fuel and national rail or Transport for London. As we don’t spend much on fuel or trains, I thought that I’d stick to my two existing cashback credit cards which both pay cashback on any category of purchases: the Aqua Reward Credit Card which offers 3%, up to a maximum of £100 per year and the Halifax Clarity Credit Card which offers £5 cashback on a monthly spend of £300.

However, as the Aqua Reward Credit Card is being withdrawn in January 2014, I may re-consider the Santander 123 Credit Card at that time.

You can get one hour’s free BT WiFi, with no data limit, by signing up here.  After sign up, you’ll be emailed a code to use to claim your free WiFi. You need to redeem the code by 15 December 2013.

With more than 5 million hotspots throughout the UK,  there’s a good chance of there being a hotspot in the vicinity when you are out and about and want to get online.

I prefer to connect to WiFi whenever possible, as I only have a 500 MB monthly data allowance on my Vodafone mobile phone contract.  Once I start uploading photos or videos, my mobile broadband data allowance is very quickly used up.

If, like me, you are currently a BT broadband customer, you can access unlimited free WiFi through the FON network.

The easiest way to access BT WiFi on your mobile phone is to download the app, which will automatically connect as soon as a signal is available.

I’ve finally downloaded the app, which I’d been meaning to do for ages. Once you install the app, you need to enter your BT login details and select the ‘BTWiFi-with-FON’ or ‘BT Openzone’ network and you are ready to go.

Santander continue to offer uncompetitive exclusive savings products to customers who hold a 123 Current Account or Credit Card. Their latest exclusively awful product is a three-year fixed rate account paying 2.1% on balances between £500 – £20,000. What makes it all the more perverse is that you can earn  3% (variable rate) on balances between £3,000 – £20,000 in the Santander 123 Current Account.

You can earn 2.65% on Shawbrook Bank’s three-year fixed rate savings account, but it does require an opening balance of £5,000. Vanquis Bank pays 2.6% on their three-year fixed rate account , with an opening balance of £1,000.

As a 123 Current Account customer, I find it rather insulting that Santander think I won’t bother doing some research to find the highest paying saving account, but I’ll just assume that Santander is offering existing customers a higher rate of interest than they can find with another provider.

The sad thing is that Santander probably wouldn’t keep up these pitiful offerings if some customers didn’t go for  them.

Interest rates correct on 4 December 2013.

The My Money Podcast #60 summaries the articles below:

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• Credit Card Benefits: Cashback versus Reward Points - Looking at the pros and cons of cashback versus reward points,
• The Best Ways to Save for a Deposit - A look at how to save up for a deposit to buy a home.
• Why Do Currys Bother Having Shops? – ~If Currys don’t keep stock in-store for customers to see the product or pick up locally, why don’t they just operate as an online store?
• Avoiding the Savings Snakes – My tips on avoiding financial banana skins based on a Finance Snakes and Ladders infographic.
• All Cash ISAs Should Accept Transfers - It’s frustrating that many of the best paying fixed rate Cash Isa Accounts don’t accept transfers, only new subscriptions for the current tax year.

When I was looking for a new home for a maturing fixed rate Cash ISA, I was annoyed that some of the best paying accounts didn’t accept transfers, only new subscriptions for the current tax year.

I’d considered putting the maturing Cash ISA into an instant access  Nationwide Flexclusive Cash ISA, which at the time was paying 2%, made up of a 0.6% fixed rate bonus paid until 31 December 2014 and an underlying variable rate of 1.4%. However, Nationwide restricts this account to new Cash ISA subscriptions for the current tax year. (The current Issue 6 of the Nationwide Flexclusive pays a fixed introductory bonus of 0.75% until 31 January 2015, plus an underlying variable rate of 1%, equating to a total interest rate of 1.75%,)

I think that the UK Government should ban financial institutions from  refusing to accept Cash ISA transfers. Any Cash ISA account should be available for both new and existing Cash ISA savings.

The Government should also equalise the annual limit for Cash ISAs and Stocks & Shares ISAs. At present, you can put double the amount of money into the Stocks and Shares ISA that you can put into a Cash ISA.

I’d also like to see all savings account available as Cash ISAs. Some financial institutions offer higher interest rates on standard savings accounts than they do on Cash ISA accounts.

The Savings Snakes and Ladders from Zopa highlights some slithery financial pitfalls.

I’ve listed some of these snakes below, along with my tips on how to steer clear of them.

• Not paying for a structural survey when you by a new home and then having to fork out to rewire the house. We paid for a full survey on our current home which gave us the justification to offer less than the asking price for the property. We saved more money than we spent on the survey.
• Leaving planning your retirement until you are in your 50s when you’d have to put one-third of your earnings into a pension to end up with a decent boost to you state pension. My personal pension is based on the stock market so the value is variable. Being self-employed, there have only been my own contributions going into the pension pot, it’s much better if your employer is also contributing.  If your employer offers a defined benefit workplace pension, where you are guaranteed a certain pension based on contributions, your pay and number of years in the job, it’s probably a good idea to join and pay in as much as possible.
  
• Changing holiday money at the airport where you generally get a poor exchange rate. I mainly use my Halifax Clarity Card abroad, which has no fees for transactions or cash machine withdrawals. You do have to pay interest on cash which you withdraw, but as long as you pay the full balance each month, that equates to around 1% of the amount withdrawn.
  
• Signing up for finance at a car dealers without shopping around for the best deal. We usually pay cash for our cars. I set aside so much a month towards a replacement in a savings account. We did once take out a zero percent finance offer which had no fees, so was a good deal. When we bought our current car, the dealer tried to get us to sign up for some finance which offered three years free servicing. We were told we could cancel the agreement after a few months, but I didn’t see how we could still claim the free servicing perk when we were no longer on the finance deal. There was also a fee to apply for the loan and an early redemption fee.
• Not claiming childcare tax credits. Our twin sons are grown up now. We didn’t need to pay for much childcare when they were young, as we managed to arrange our working hours so that one of us was able to look after our sons the majority of the time.

It appears that people are most motivated to save for holidays. Personally, I don’t think of that as savings, as you are going to spend the cash soon on the holiday. I set aside so much in our monthly budget for travel and leisure.

For me, savings are divided into two categories, short-term and long-term. Short term covers things like replacing the central heating boiler and topping up our spend if my income as a self-employed person is lower than anticipated. Long term is for things like supplementing my state and personal pension in retirement and moving home.. I don’t think the money in my pension pot as savings, as I don’t have access to it until I am 55 and I intend to use it to buy an annuity, i.e. an income for the rest of my life.

When one of the keys on my Samsung laptop fell apart on a Saturday afternoon, I decided to buy a new keyboard. I went online to check which keyboards were sold by Argos and Currys, the two most likely local retailers.

I didn’t go for the cheapest option costing £5.99 at Argos, but for a Logitech K120 which had excellent reviews.  The local Argos had one in stock, which I reserved for pick up. Currys had the Logitech at the reduced price of £7.50. However, when I selected the pick up in store option, the keyboard wasn’t going to be available until after 5pm on the Sunday. I assumed this meant that Currys didn’t have the keyboard in stock, but it would be delivered to the store the following day. Now as the store is only open 10.30am to 4.30pm on Sundays, I assumed that meant Monday morning. Why not say pick up from opening time on Monday then?

Now what is the point in Currys having a store in Berwick upon Tweed if they don’t keep any stock, they’d be as well just offering an online catalogue service.

If you are thinking of buying your own home, then you should start saving for a deposit right now. Personally, I’d go for the biggest deposit I could save. This would mean that I’d pay a lot less in interest over the term of the mortgage.

At the same time, if house prices are rising fast, it could make more sense to buy sooner with a lower deposit, if your earnings will allow you to take out a large enough mortgage.

I know that a lot of people say that they can’t afford to save for a deposit, when they pay such a high proportion of their take home pay in rent. However, unless you get on the housing ladder soon, you are going to keep paying rent for the rest of your life. While it may mean some sacrifices now,  I reckon that it will pay dividends in the long term.

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Choosing the right reward credit card can be a difficult task – there are so many different ones, each with their own advantages and disadvantages. Traditional reward credit cards fall into two main categories: cashback and reward points.

The former offers cardholders a percentage of their purchases back to their account, whereas reward cards allow you to earn points for spending. This quick guide will help you learn about the advantages of each type of card.

Comparing the Two

Cashback credit cards credit a certain amount to your account based on each purchase you make. The rate will vary from card to card, but is usually upwards of 0.5% – with bonuses often available during an introductory period. The money you earn will be paid into your account on either a monthly or yearly basis, effectively allowing you to earn as you spend.

Traditional reward credit cards give you points, which can be redeemed for various things, such as shopping vouchers, entertainment and experience days.

Benefits of Reward Cards

Reward credit cards may benefit consumers who do a large portion of their spending at one retailer.

This is because some reward credit card providers offer a higher reward percentage for in-store spending compared to spending elsewhere.

Depending on the provider, some reward credit cards also offer you the chance to redeem reward points for vouchers, when points hit a certain level, allowing consumers to put this towards any future purchases they may make.

Benefits of Cashback Credit Cards

So, with all that in mind, why choose cashback credit cards? While cashback rates generally start at 0.5%, some providers offer as much as 5% cashback on purchases.

This means that if you always pay off the balance in full, you can earn cashback, for spending in exactly the same as you always have.

However, it is important to note that larger cashback offers often only apply for an introductory period, and may revert to a flat cashback rate once this period is over.

This article is published in association with Asda Money.

Sources:

1. http://www.which.co.uk/money/credit-cards-and-loans/reviews-ns/credit-cards/reward-credit-cards/

2. http://money.aol.co.uk/2013/08/28/the-top-cashback-credit-cards/

The My Money Podcast #59 includes the following recent articles.

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• Buying Second Hand Items for Your Baby - I believe that many new parents feel under pressure to buy fancy, new items for their baby, when they could save money by buying second-hand.
• Why Do Pension Funds Use Forward Pricing – I don’t understand why pension funds can’t use the price of the fund on the day of the transaction, instead of the price in two working days.
• Halfax Cashback Extras – Halifax customers can earn cashback by using their debit or credit card to make purchases on participating sites.
• Save Money By Switching to Electronic Cigarettes - If you smoke 20 cigarettes you could save more than £2,000 a year by switching to the electronic version.
• Confusing Financial Services Compensation Scheme for Pensions – The Financial Services Compensation Scheme don’t even seem to understand the cover which they offer on pensions.