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00:01oil and gas prices are surging due to the Middle East conflict pumping up petrol diesel heating
00:08oil and LPG costs and piling pressure on energy bills mortgages and more so today it's all about
00:17how to protect your pockets on all of those this is about the practicals not the politics or the
00:23policy plus the government has unveiled new heating oil help I'll be putting your questions
00:29on that to energy secretary Ed Miliband and in my news you can use a warning for anyone who's moved
00:36from tax credits to universal credit a big tip for existing nationwide customers cheap cinema tickets
00:42free wet wipes and more let's do it
00:52wave your wallets everybody
00:56okay and tonight as always we'd like to hear from you so please do get in touch with your questions
01:01all the usual ways are on the screen right now but first up we have Patricia Patricia's new audience
01:08hi what can I do for you hi Martin um how will the conflict in the Middle East affect cost
01:15of living
01:15in the UK and my second question is how will it affect um energy prices and food prices as well
01:22so energy prices I'm going to come to later with energy prices there's a time lag so it won't affect
01:27them now it will affect them later food prices and everything else look the first thing this is direct
01:32costs oil is the thing that's gone up the most petrol diesel heating oil LPG they have gone up and
01:39I'm talking about that in this part uh natural gas has gone up that's pushing into energy but of course
01:44you know all those goods that are transported like food all those goods that need refrigeration
01:49like food all of those their underlying costs the input factors to firms are going up which means
01:55their prices will go up but the most important thing to understand about this while the rise is
01:59quite severe the real question it's the length more than the severity if this were to end in a couple
02:05of weeks there would be a small impact we'd notice it but you know things would hopefully get back
02:10to normal if this is still going on in months or years time then I think it will have a
02:15much more
02:15substantial hit so the question is all about the length of this and we're going to go into this now
02:20let me let me start off with my big briefing I think this will help you understand
02:25so let's just have a look at this in the context this is the last five years of Brent crude
02:29oil so
02:30oil is one of the big causes here and this as compared to natural gas which is about electricity
02:34this has gone up more you'll see the the oil price at the end of today is over a hundred
02:38dollars a
02:39barrel so that's the long term we're still not quite to Ukraine and certainly not with the length of
02:43what happened in Ukraine but it's all about how long it continues as we just said let's have a look
02:48at that in a little bit more condensed just over the last month so after the crisis started and the
02:55Straits of Hormuz were blocked and you'll read about that in the see about that in the news I'm not
02:58going to go into that we saw these huge spikes in the oil price then they came down on the
03:03back of
03:04President Trump saying he didn't think this would last that long since then well it's carried on and
03:10therefore the markets have started to get more jittery and prices have started to push back up
03:14again and that's where we are right now and this feeds into petrol prices and diesel prices and LPG
03:21prices and heating oil prices I'm going to go through those and what you can do to help yourselves on
03:24those
03:24in a sec okay well we've had this question that's coming for you from Abbas he Abbas is asking how
03:29can
03:29we counteract the prices we're seeing at the pump is there any way to shop around or view prices
03:34digitally absolutely let's move on to that now I've got four main tips for you on petrol and diesel
03:40none of these are rocket science season there's just a checklist and a reminder you will know most
03:44of them the government talks about its fuel finder that isn't actually a product what that is is telling
03:48all the forecourts garage forecourts that they now have to feed in what their prices are to a
03:54database that third parties can then access but I'm going to go with petrolprices.com because it's
03:59been doing this for years even before that happened so you can find the cheapest filling station near
04:03you using petrolprices.com it's what Abbas is asking about and it's important to understand that prices
04:09can vary enormously even within a small area so earlier today I checked Newbury within five miles
04:16of Newbury the price range was 30 pence a litre so it really is worth even if you're having to
04:22drive
04:22three or four miles to go and fill up it's well worth doing to fill up your tank if you're
04:26near a
04:26Costco well it's often the very cheapest in the area by a couple of pence membership's 42 quid a year
04:32it's a wholesaler more people qualified than you think it's only really worth doing if you're going
04:36to buy and spend other things there and going to use it as a wholesaler but if you're near one
04:39it is
04:40worth checking them out but use petrolprices.com generally to find your cheapest next tip on petrol
04:45get paid to pay for your fuel and lots of other things too by using a top cashback card
04:51so the sort of all-round one of the winner at the moment is the Lloyd's Ultra credit card you
04:56get
04:57one percent cash back for a year on all spending on it in the UK and abroad and it has
05:02near perfect
05:03exchange rates overseas so it's really good for spending abroad it's a credit card though so make
05:07sure you pay it off that was so good I'm not going to repeat it I'll save my voice in
05:13full each month
05:13preferably direct by direct debit or the interest cost dwarfs the cash back cash back gain if you don't want
05:20a credit card or you feel you might not pass the credit check and there is one and it's a
05:24relatively
05:24strict one the chase debit card gives you one percent back up to fifteen pounds a month on petrol
05:29diesel groceries and UK transport bus and trains but not on everything so in nowhere near as wide
05:34ranging as the Lloyd's card it's easier to get as there's no hard credit check you don't have to
05:39switch banks to get it you can just get its app use it it's also got the top easy access
05:43savings rate
05:44at the moment at 4.5 percent so look if you're spending three thousand pounds a year on petrol
05:50and you put it on a one percent cash back card you're getting 30 quid back and you're also getting
05:54back on your other shopping that could be hundreds of pounds a year do any of you have a cash
05:57back
05:57credit card in here anyone yes does it work for you well and you get your cash back yeah you
06:04just
06:04spend on it and pay off in full and it's easy peasy lemon squeezy many you're missing a trick here
06:08when we spend on our cards the retailer has to pay the card company effectively what cash back does
06:14is say hey that puts it in your pocket rather than the card company's pocket just make sure you're
06:18paying it off in full if it's a credit card and you should be fine okay i'm going to carry
06:23off all
06:25right now these seem small but have a bigger impact than you think you should try and look to make
06:31your
06:31car as efficient as possible here is our car that has a few problems first of all it's got a
06:35roof rack
06:36on if that's empty get rid of it really inefficient you're having to push that through the wind on the
06:41motorway as you drive and you'll see problem in all walks of lightless junk in your trunk you want
06:46to get rid of junk in your trunk extra weight for every about 45 kilograms it makes your car one
06:51percent
06:51less fuel efficient so we get anything out of the boot that we're not using and heavy weight and look
06:55at those tires not pumped up again that can add three or four percent to your fuel bills when it's
07:00not
07:00more efficient so get your tires checked and pumped up properly finally aircon when you're going
07:06at low speeds your aircon can be really quite expensive proportionally make the car much less
07:11fuel efficient at high speeds if it's warm keep it on because opening your windows is again on a motorway
07:17will really add drag and make the car have to work much harder to go further so that's the next
07:22step
07:22make your car more efficient and you add that to this one how you drive matters too your accelerator
07:30is a money pump when you are pressing it you are spending the fuel that you have put into the
07:34car
07:35your brake isn't much better it's a money burner because when you're braking you are converting
07:41the energy stored into the car into heat and throwing it away now i'm not saying don't accelerate
07:46or brake because that's what driving is all about but you yeah obviously your road positioning safe
07:51distance from the car in front thinking ahead all enables you to speed up more slowly and slow down
07:58more gradually which is massively more fuel efficient to put another way if you're a
08:05that's bad if you're a
08:09that's good so it all sounds a bit silly on the back of that but when they do studies making
08:15your car
08:15more efficient at driving a better way can cut here we go hurry up
08:2410 to 30 percent off your petrol and diesel cost depending on where you start
08:28so it really is worth having a look at especially at the moment when prices
08:32are high not rocket science but worth knowing okay thank you okay um we're going to move on to
08:41heating oil now and i know this is the subject's causing quite a lot of distress for people we've
08:45had this coming from chris it's quite a sensitive one martin and chris is saying i write this at my
08:50computer with a blanket over my legs our living room thermometer indicates the room is 15.5 degrees celsius
08:56our bedroom is 14.5 degrees our village in cambridgeshire relies on heating oil i cannot pay
09:02this sort of money to heat my house and water both me and my wife are pensioners what can we
09:07do
09:07oh chris i'm so sorry and i wish you were the only person who had written to me with that
09:11situation i
09:11have been absolutely drowning with those type of messages on heating oil so let's get into it now
09:16but i have to manage your expectations i do not have many solutions here so heating oil and lpg
09:24is a wild west it is unregulated currently 1.7 million homes across the uk have seen their
09:30prices double in a week those who are off grid gas and is a nightmare because when you buy this
09:36you're buying a tank you know you're buying three four five six months at once you can't buy it in
09:41small quantities generally and so when the prices have doubled that means many people are getting in
09:45touch with me saying i've spent 500 quid more than i planned i've spent thousands in some cases more
09:50than i planned because their tank is running out at exactly the wrong moment which is right now
09:54so i asked people to submit submit feedback to me on social media and elsewhere in the last week i
10:00have literally thousands of pieces we've already done a provisional dossier that's gone to ed miliband
10:05the secretary of state and the department for energy and the competition and markets authority
10:08just to tell you the type of things that are going out there which is why there is a real
10:11problem
10:11some people have been told i'm sorry we're cancelling your order at a cheap price you're now going
10:15to have to reorder at a more expensive trice even though we booked in earlier others are being told
10:19there's no stock others are being saying we'll only sell you a small container which is at five
10:24times the cost that you were paying and other people have been told you can have a delivery but
10:29we'll only tell you the price when we deliver so you can't compare or find out what's going on
10:34that does not seem to be a working market to me and that has left many people like chris under
10:39real
10:39financial and emotional strain if you're struggling in the short term there are not many great options
10:46speak to neighbours to see if they've got any better supply routes check for emergency support
10:51from your council or devolved government we're coming on to that in a bit more in a moment
10:56avoid running your tank down to empty because if you do so you may then need to pay for an
11:00engineer
11:00to get it restarted or for it to be bled and that is a problem in its own right so
11:04what do you do then
11:05well you could temporarily switch to heating a room in your home using an electrical heater or even
11:10and i hate saying this i don't want you to do this heat the human you know get a usb
11:16gilet that plugs in and it can be relatively cheap just make sure it's electrically safe that can keep
11:21you warm rather than having to heat the whole house it is not a solution it's a temporary stop gap
11:26that might help you preserve your oil for the hot water or limited heating now of course if you can
11:32increase your income and try and save on other bills and do a budget and these are focused
11:37particularly on that issue the government has put a provision in place 53 million to help people
11:43um i'm going to be after the break i'm going to be talking to ed miliband the secretary of state
11:48for energy and putting your questions to him about this so we'll come back in a moment i'll also be
11:52talking energy bills too hello welcome back we're talking the middle east conflict and the knock-on
12:04effect to your pocket we've done petrol we've done diesel this part we'll be doing energy we've got
12:09mortgages to come but just before the break we were talking home heating oil and lpg and a couple of
12:14hours ago i put your questions to the secretary of state for energy ed miliband on exactly that
12:19secretary of state thank you very much for joining us we're talking home heating oil and lpg and
12:24yesterday you announced 53 million pounds of funds to be allocated across england scotland
12:30wells and northern ireland to help people struggling with this hideous price rises who will get this
12:36money how will they get the money and when will they get the money so it's vulnerable people who are
12:41at the immediate risk of financial hardship they'll get the money by applying to their local authorities
12:47and they can apply now the reason we've done it this way is we wanted to make the money available
12:54immediately this money comes on top of an existing fund and so i would encourage people who are in those
13:02circumstances to apply to their local authority okay flat to the map tweeted can you define vulnerable
13:08will all pensioners with oil heating get it well that's going to be a matter for local authorities
13:14and look one of the things that we've thought about is how do we get the money out of the
13:17door
13:18quickly we've learned from the last crisis when russia invaded ukraine it took nearly 200 days
13:23to get a scheme up and running so local authorities tend to know their populations we've got the money
13:28at them it's not we haven't specified it's only people on means tested benefits for example so it's as
13:34wide a definition as we have we are going to leave it to the discretion of local authorities and i
13:40hope and
13:41believe they will look sympathetically at people because you you've drawn attention to this i've
13:46heard it myself so many people are facing real difficulties and we want to help i'm afraid cb on
13:51facebook disagrees with you uh they say i'm concerned that it's being delegated to local
13:56councils mine's already strapped for cash and their criteria for help is judged on means tested benefits
14:00and the requirement to be reserved by so referred by social services food banks or the like this will
14:06exclude a lot of people financially struggling and many like me with serious medical needs and just
14:12the proud elderly away please take it out of the hands of councils what are you going to do if
14:16council
14:17criteria are too strict well then we'll tell the council to make them less strict i mean look we will
14:22obviously have to judge this as it goes ahead and we will be looking to hear feedback from you and
14:27from others and from individuals about their circumstances and whether they've got the help we were we were
14:33rightly hearing the stories of people saying i'm facing a hardship now i need the help now and so
14:40we've acted swiftly to do this i would also say we want to look and indeed i believe in principle
14:46we
14:46should regulate this sector more because i think what we've seen over the last few weeks has illustrated
14:52that the sector doesn't have the regulation it needs and we're determined to change that well i agree
14:56i've been lobbying for regulation for this sector for probably a decade shs has tweeted
15:00why is it the government feels obliged to defend themselves using the price cap for lowering energy
15:06bills for all and yet when it comes to lpg and heating oil they accept that only means tested will
15:13get any forms of protection and this is the biggest question i've had on this why are you only helping
15:18a few not the many well we're not restricting this to just people on means tested benefits but it's not
15:25universal we've got the cma involved the competition markets authority uh we want they're looking
15:32intensively at what's happened in the sector you know i've been very clear we cannot have unfair
15:37practice cannot have price gouging and we are determined to act on those things in the longer
15:42term through regulation but also through the work of the cma it's akira my husband has terminal cancer
15:49given less than 12 months i am his and my son's carer and can only work part-time he's on
15:55sick pay at
15:56present we won't be entitled to the crisis and resilience fund yet i can't afford to pay 150 more
16:02for oil to heat our home we are in rural mid devon what would we be entitled to help with
16:08my husband
16:08being medically vulnerable our oil ran out last week initially no deliveries available for approximately
16:1410 days now it's too expensive to afford what would you suggest i'm so sorry to hear about isakira's
16:20circumstances and i would say absolutely she should qualify and she should apply to a local authority i
16:27say to i say to all of your viewers and listeners martin who who feel themselves to be in the
16:33those kind
16:34of circumstances or other circumstances of financial distress they should definitely apply to local
16:40authorities and if they're not getting the help i want to know about it being honest this is 53
16:45million pounds amongst 1.7 million people which is an average of 30 pounds each even if only a tenth
16:51claim that's 300 pounds which is still less than many people have seen their bills go up when they're
16:56having to to run at the moment i mean not everyone's going to be able to be helped are they
17:00well look
17:02i'm not saying this is a universal scheme but but just let let's see because this is 53 million
17:07on top of an existing scheme of a billion pounds because it's a billion pounds from from april 2026
17:13so so that's the crisis that's the crisis and resilience fund that's the crisis and resilience
17:18fund so that's not just for this is it no it's not just for this but we're not we're not
17:24limiting
17:24the amount of help that people get to just this money we want people to apply we want the help
17:30to
17:30get out the door i think i think most local authorities the vast majority will also want to help their
17:35populations and look it's not just that we're giving the money and then sort of letting local
17:40authorities get on with it we are going to be looking and seeing at people's experience in
17:44relation to this scheme secretary of state thank you so much for your time we've had thousands of
17:48questions for you maybe you'll come on live just before the next price cap and we'll do a whole
17:52program with you i think that'd be very useful thanks so much thanks so much thank you for your time
17:57thank you and thank you very much to ed milliband there just to to clarify currently in england the
18:02scheme is called the household support fund on the 1st of april the the name and some other things
18:06details do change the way it works to the crisis and resilience fund there are different names and
18:12different schemes in other nations in the uk if you're struggling get in touch with your local
18:18council or your devolved government and see what is available for you now on home heating and lpg oil
18:23janet okay we can move on to domestic electricity and gas now martin yeah let's carry on with this joy
18:29okay here we go so look this is the wholesale gas price you remember i showed you the oil price
18:34before and it was quite near the ukraine peaks this one's a bit more interesting now wholesale gas
18:38is basically what dictates the electricity price so this is about electricity bills even though it
18:43says gas at the top of it now you'll see we've had a real rise i mean it's getting on
18:47for nearly
18:47double what it was but if you contrast that to where we were during the ukraine situation
18:53we're not close so there's at least a little bit of relief there and if i put the price cap
18:58which is of course the price that dictates what two-thirds of homes in england and scotland and
19:03wales pay on uh that's always a bit time lagged you'll see that was due to go up massively to
19:08nearly
19:09four thousand pounds a person the liz trust government put this energy price uh what was it
19:14called the energy price guarantee in that meant it couldn't go above here i've had to actually
19:18refactor this due to typical use but you don't need to know about that so it's slightly lower than
19:21it used to look so that was the maximum ever got to we are now 26 below that so we're
19:28not at those
19:29levels not even at the energy price guarantee levels not where the price cap was now let's
19:33get on to the practicals of this so okay and i'm going to condense it oh sorry have i i
19:38got this from
19:39john just before you carry on here john's asking has the current disruption to oil prices already been
19:43baked into future energy price rises later in the year it's post-april reductions and if so
19:48is taking a fix now one that is effectively at the energy price cap a no-brainer so some of
19:55the bright
19:55the rise that we've already had is baked in but it's not totally locked in because things could
19:59change taking a fix now if you're on the price cap is a no-brainer basically let's let me condense
20:06this
20:06for you and hopefully this will make sense so here we go so some of the scales have changed here
20:10on
20:10either side because they're not on the same scale these two things so look this is what's happened so far
20:14on the first of april if you're on the price cap your price will drop by 6.7 percent that
20:21is locked
20:21in that is not changing and that will stay until the end of june now the reason why the middle
20:28east
20:28conflict has not affected that it's because the price cap works on a time lag so the april price cap
20:34worked on prices between middle of november to middle of february which is before the middle east conflict
20:39started but let's have a look at the assessment period we're currently in there you go this is
20:44the one for the july price cap as you can see it's gone right up and that means if this
20:51continues
20:52we're expecting to see the july price cap rise here are the current predictions for the next couple of
20:59price caps there you go a 13 rise in july although if you look interestingly you know not that much
21:06more
21:07than we were a year ago and it's going up afterwards but there needs to be some massive caveats here
21:13because we're only a third of the way through that assessment period if the middle east conflict
21:18continues and the straits of hormuz continues to be blocked and everything happens well i think this
21:23will continue to rise the prediction will continue to rise if this conflict ends earlier this may not be
21:29as high and even more so in october because we're two months away from the assessment period for october
21:34starting if the conflict has ended by then this will probably come right back down if it hasn't
21:39well it could well go right up and you have to factor that in so there is a risk of
21:44prices being
21:44high but let's have a look your question john's question was about fixing let's put the cheapest
21:50current fix onto this there you go now it's a bit weird because you can currently fix at about four
21:59percent less than the current price cap but on the first of april because of policy changes that
22:04i've explained ad nauseam on the show before so i won't do it again now all prices are coming
22:08down the unit rates for gas and electricity are dropping so actually your fixed rate will get
22:14cheaper on the first of april and will then be five percent cheaper than the april price cap
22:18and that's locked in for a year so if you are worried about price rises you can guarantee yourself
22:23now a cheaper price isn't as cheap as it was if you fixed a few weeks ago but a cheaper
22:29price
22:29certainly compared to these price cap predictions as they are right now that's the risk of first
22:33thing to do you need to get yourself on a comparison site and when you do there's a little
22:37box that they'll put somewhere on most of them that says show all tariffs make sure you tick that
22:41because most of the cheapest ones don't pay them so they hide them unless you tick the box
22:44okay we're sticking with energy got this question that's coming for you from liam and liam's asking
22:50are people best to remain on the price cap now whilst it's cheaper and fix it just before july
22:55first when the predicted heavy hike is it's not cheaper okay it's more expensive look the only
23:00thing is if things got better and fixes were cheaper in july then fixing now you might have
23:05thought oh i should have waited and it would have got even cheaper but if you're worried about the risk
23:09of big price hikes as you can save now i think if you're on the price cap it is worth
23:14getting off it
23:16now while you can if you want to present those rises tiny little thought by the way if it were
23:21only to
23:21go up in this price period that's equivalent to about 100 pounds a year but it only lasts three
23:26months and actually because it's the period where we don't use that much energy in practice that's
23:30about 30 quid on a typical energy bill that's all it is so it's not saying it's good but it's
23:36not the
23:36ukraine type of horror that we were looking to see now many of you have questions on fixes we're going
23:41to
23:41cover those in the next part i think okay well thank you very much martin coming up in our final
23:45part
23:45more of your energy questions on those fixes and martin i've got a mortgage question i want to put to
23:50you
23:50so we'll see you after the break
23:59well welcome back martin i've got questions here on energy for you and some of them are on fixes as
24:05well but ruth has got in touch about energy and she's asking my energy provider said when my fix
24:10ends next month i have no choice but to be moved on to a variable tariff because due to an
24:16unexpected
24:16rise in wholesale energy costs like many other providers we've had to pause the sale of our fixed
24:21energy tariffs are all providers doing this no many providers have pulled their fixes but there are
24:28still some available there's the current cheapest fix on the market still cheaper there's about four
24:32fixes cheaper than the current energy price gap as i say you have to make sure that you find them
24:36most important thing to remember if you're in the last 50 days of your fix on your energy fix they
24:42can't charge you early exit penalties so if it ends next month you are free to leave without early
24:47exit penalties you can ditch that company and you can go on to one that will offer you a fix
24:52and that
24:53means as you're going to go to the price cap that is something you should definitely be considering
24:57doing okay what about this one then from sue sue's asking i want to fix until july 26th do i
25:04choose
25:04another fix before april 1st that's my nightmare question i cannot answer that sue because i do not
25:11have a crystal ball let me try and talk you through the choice let's take the two options
25:17if you're you're fixed until july if the middle east conflict gets better and uh natural gas prices
25:26come back when your fix ends in july there'll be fixes probably this cheap so if you waited you'd be
25:31better off because you'll be able to fix at a much cheaper rate if it hasn't ended and things have
25:36got even worse there might not be any cheap fixes they might be up here and the price cut might
25:41be
25:41even higher and therefore you'd be better to pay the early exit penalty and get yourself a cheap fix
25:47now a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush type thing my honest instinct if it were
25:52me i would
25:53probably cross my fingers and hold on and stick on my cheap rate because i'm almost sure your fix is
25:57cheaper than the cheapest fix now if you fixed nine ten months ago it'd be cheaper than the cheapest
26:01fix now because prices fixes have gone up so i'd probably wait till the 26th of july but with
26:06hindsight i may be wrong if this has continued and got worse till then impossible question to answer
26:11i'm afraid i'm sorry i just don't know okay what about this from wasp wasp is saying i'm on an
26:16octopus
26:17tracker should i be jumping ship so that's a time of use tariff the octopus tracker the price changes
26:22every day with wholesale rates over the last couple of weeks some days it's been more than the
26:26price cap some days it's been less similar is the octopus agile where the price changes every 30
26:31minutes and sometimes that's been really expensive and sometimes that's been costing you virtually
26:35nothing in the middle of the night to charge energy look if you don't like the volatility
26:41you might be thinking i want to get off it for now and wait until this all gets better the
26:44most
26:45important thing if you get off the tracker now you will not be allowed to get back on it for
26:48nine
26:49months if you get off agile you're not allowed to get back on it for 30 days so if you
26:53if it's not
26:54costing you that much more and you like the way it works you might want to stay on it because
26:57once
26:57you're gone you're gone for quite a time okay now jane where is jane jane is asking what happens to
27:04people on prepayment it's very difficult if you're on a smart prepayment tariff there are no cheap fixes
27:10but there is the edf simply tracker tariff which is basically a price cap of 50 pound cheaper standing
27:16charges so you're on a price cap you may as well have 50 pound cheaper a year standing charges for
27:20one year if you're on prepayment key or card meter there's virtually there are no good options as far
27:27as i'm aware so you're going to be on the price cap if this does rise massively you are the
27:32type of
27:32people the government is going to have to consider should we be protecting them or not because you do
27:36not have any choice you cannot play the market there will be no options for you and therefore we're
27:40going to have to wait so if you're on pre-payment meter at least prepayment is actually the cheapest
27:45firm of the price cap you can't switch but it is the cheapest form of the price cap it's slightly
27:49cheaper than monthly direct debit these days okay now i've got this question for you from david it's
27:54on mortgages david is saying i've got a mortgage fix of 1.14 ending in june i'm looking to get
28:01going to miss that david fix with rates rising and to get the full term out of my current deal
28:06when would be the best time to actually start the application for a new deal so quick economics 101
28:11one the middle east crisis is pumping prices up which means inflation will rise the bank of
28:16england has to target to keep inflation low the only way it can do that is by interest rates we
28:22were expecting before all this interest rates to come down this year now they're far less likely to
28:27come down the rate that new mortgage it fixes are set at massively oversimplifying depends on the
28:35city's prediction of interest rates well they're predicting they were higher than they would have
28:40otherwise been which is why mortgage rates and new mortgage fixes have gone up quite substantially in
28:44the past couple of weeks what would i do i would get in touch with a mortgage broker and also
28:48my
28:49current lender i would say what's the best fixed deal i can get at the moment but crucially i'd try
28:54and get myself a fix that i can look into now and you can do this up to six months
28:58ahead in some cases
28:59but without a big fee so that if things changed and mortgage rates went down again just before
29:05completion you could then just pay that fee which should hopefully well isn't too expensive and you
29:10have to factor that in and then you could get a cheaper fix before completion so it's a way an
29:14insurance policy i'll lock in a cheap deal now but if it gets cheaper i can get out of it
29:18and a
29:18good mortgage broker will talk you through how to do that they are worth their weight in gold when
29:22you're discussing this type of thing okay amazing we've got time for some quick news you can use
29:26quick everything okay so let's just do four of these uh a warning if you move from tax credit to
29:32universal credits do not assume you get free prescriptions in england that is and dental
29:37the universal credit income threshold for these is lower than under tax credits and remember with
29:43universal credit your eligibility is deemed by a sort of monthly assessment with tax credits as an
29:48annual assessment and that can change and shake things up too now this is what happens many who
29:52were on tax credits they get to the box that the dentists or they get all prescriptions and they
29:56just tick the tax credits job seekers allowance or universal credit boxes then they get sent a
30:02letter saying can you check that you're really eligible because they don't realize the income
30:05threshold is different they don't do that and then there's up to 100 pound fine for those people
30:11that they don't realize they're doing anything wrong and there has been a huge increase in fines on
30:16this which is why i'm doing the story in the last year or two i'm also talking to the government
30:20because i don't believe its forms are clear enough to tell those people who aren't trying to do
30:23something wrong by the way you're not entitled to free prescriptions anymore you're not entitled to
30:27free dentistry that's the first tip but if that's you protect yourself and go and check if you are
30:31eligible are you a nationwide customer if so it's likely its last chance to qualify for its fairest
30:36share 100 pounds this is the 100 quid loyalty bonus that it's given out for the last three years i
30:40have
30:40no idea if it's doing it this year it probably is though so i'm based on the past eligibility criteria
30:45if it works the same way you need to have used your current account normally since the start of
30:50the year so that's not paid in over 500 quid or done over 10 transactions it does depend which account
30:54you're on then you need either to have 100 quid or more in its savings account or owe it 100
30:59quid or
30:59more on its mortgage if you don't have that i would put 100 quid in or maybe for safety and
31:04taste it
31:05changes the criteria 200 quid in it's nationwide flex regular saver that pays 6.5 so a good rate anyway
31:12and you can take the money out when you need it's easy access although if you take too much money
31:15out in the year you lose it supermarket coupons we haven't got much time left free wet whites from
31:19huggies normally one to two quid go to huggies.co.uk forward slash coupons for tesco co-op and morrison's
31:24or six free 40 gram felix cat food pouches from tesco in-store and online by shopmeum which is a
31:30cash
31:30back coupon app basically check it's on the app first then you buy it give it your receipt it gives
31:34you
31:35the cash back but you can only redeem once you've got over 10 quid in there so you'll have to
31:38be doing some
31:38other stuff as well and finally if you want to watch one of those oscar films in the cinemas
31:42five view cinema tickets 22 quid via group one or 10 for 40 or two for nine pound 50 you
31:46can buy them
31:46until the 28th of march for any day standard seats 2d movies uh until tuesday the 31st of march they
31:52can
31:52be used together or in separate visits we haven't got long left have we haven't so what's on next week
31:57well we're not on next tuesday we're on next thursday and we've got an hour so i won't have to
32:00talk as
32:00quickly at nine o'clock i'm hoping to do everything you need to do before the april tax year but
32:05there's a
32:05chance the fca will announce the car finance reclaiming stuff so if you've got questions
32:10on either of those because we might be doing that get in touch thank you to everybody here
32:13thank you to jeanette thank you to the team upstairs buh-bye
32:18you