With all that’s happened during the past three weeks, you would be easily forgiven for losing sight of your personal and family finances.
But it’s one area of life where you can exercise some control.
Finance guru, Martin Lewis of ‘Money saving expert’, has been a trusted voice for years, and his knowledge and expertise is being called on even more during the Coronavirus outbreak.
Here are six tips (plus one from us) he has shared with people in Tamworth. For a full list, see the link at the bottom of this article.
1) Council Tax – Speak to your local authority if you are struggling to pay your council tax.
2) Credit card debt – Act now to shift credit card debt to 0% interest while offers are still available in the financial markets.
3) Sports on hold – Sky Sports customers can pause their subscription while sport is suspended.
4) Returns – Many shops are extending their returns policies. If you’ve bought something and want to send it back, it’s worth checking with the retailer what its policy is.
5) Low life scum – There’s no other way of describing those scammers who are targeting people during this time. Be particularly mindful of unsolicited text messages, calls or emails from your bank, HMRC, phone providers or anyone else asking for your bank details.
6) Good advice - Sign up for ‘Money saving experts’ free money tips email. It’s always filled with ideas, offers and sound advice – which we could all benefit from now perhaps more than ever.
Support Local Businesses
And a final idea from us. We all still need to eat and buy essentials so wherever possible perhaps try to support independent local businesses in Tamworth.
Many are now offering delivery services and keeping these businesses alive during this time will benefit us all when this is all over, and life returns to normal.
Do you have any money-saving tips you’d like to share with our community? If so, please let us know or comment below.
Thanks, and remember: Stay at Home, Protect the NHS and Save Lives. We’re in this together, and we will get through it together.
Below is the link to more tips from Martin Lewis and his MSE team.
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/latesttip/