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The Martin Lewis Money Show - Season 18 Episode 10
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00:01Hello, we're back for the next four weeks, covering pensions, shares, ISAs and energy bills, but tonight, summer is coming.
00:11If you've booked or are booking a holiday abroad, there's a host of things you should do now to cut
00:19the cost and hassle when you go.
00:21From the cheapest way to spend overseas, to crucial document checks that could ruin your trip if you miss them,
00:26plus travel insurance, airport parking, how to get your family sitting together for free and lots more.
00:32Plus, as the Middle East conflict has possible knock-on effects for jet fuel prices and travel disruption, I'll be
00:39taking your questions on those too.
00:42Also tonight, in my news, you can use the latest on car finance misselling, the new top savings from the
00:49safest place you can put your money, and free Star Wars Lego.
00:54Do it, we shall.
01:03Wave your wallets, everybody!
01:07Big audience here, I suppose tonight they're holiday wallets, so they look just the same as the normal wallets.
01:12Oh, amazing. We are back and obviously so raring to go, so get your questions in on tonight's subject, on
01:17the ones, or the ones that Martin's planning to do in the next few weeks.
01:20And all the usual ways are on the screen right now. But let's kick it off with a travel question,
01:25and it's coming from Anne.
01:27Now have a look at this. Anne is saying,
01:29please could you do a reminder of the rules around renewing passports. I am somewhat confused. My EU passport was
01:35issued in October 2016, but expires Feb 2027.
01:40I'm going abroad to Italy in September 26. When should I renew it?
01:44Just seeing the maths on those dates, and it is very close. Well, that's exactly where I'm going to start
01:48my big briefing, so let's do it.
01:52OK, there are a number of key document checks that you should be doing if you're going abroad this summer,
01:57or any time really.
01:58The first is that one, the passport check. It's what Anne is talking about. Bring up a passport, there we
02:03go.
02:03The first thing is you need to check you've got at least six months left on the when it's valid
02:08till date.
02:09Three months left if you're going to the EU, and it is usually, in most countries, the day that you
02:14enter.
02:14So let's just do this with Anne.
02:16Mm-hm.
02:18Hers expires February 2027. She's going abroad September. That's seven months beforehand. She's fine. She's fine.
02:26The next one, which is only for the EU, is you need to check your passport is under ten years
02:32old on the day you enter.
02:34Now, it used to be in the past that when you were renewing your passport, you could do it a
02:37few months early,
02:38and those extra few months could be added onto your new passport, which is why they last longer than ten
02:42months.
02:42So let's have a look. Hers was issued in October 2016. Ooh. You've got, technically, you've got one month.
02:51Looking at that, you should be absolutely fine, Anne. There is no problem.
02:55And I probably shouldn't say this, and it's probably not technical, it's probably superstitious, but if it was me, I'd
02:59renew my passport beforehand.
03:00And just have one. What would you do?
03:02Yeah!
03:04So I'm not saying you should do, because you should be absolutely fine, but you're just cutting it close.
03:07And you're saying September and October, I don't know the exact dates. I'm probably scaremongering with that.
03:11But you should be absolutely fine. Amazing. OK. Let me carry on with the rest of my checks.
03:16Now, if you're going to the European Union, and a few other countries as well,
03:20there are around two million global health insurance cards, or its predecessor, the European health insurance cards,
03:26that expire this year. Here's how it looks. There we go. This one belongs to holiday. There we are.
03:31The expiry date on this one, it's always on the bottom right. Have a look.
03:35If yours expires, you quite simply want to get a new one. And you can get a new one absolutely
03:41free without paying for it.
03:42Can we get rid of that? There we go. When it renews, you'll get a GHIC. You do it free
03:47via the NHS.UK.
03:50Never pay. There are shyster sites online that will talk about a fast track or say pay us.
03:55If you're paying for this, you're doing it wrong. Those don't exist. It's always, always free, your GHIC card.
04:01As for what it does, it gives you access to an EU state hospital or a GP at the same
04:06price as a local.
04:07So if it's free for them, it's free for you. OK, just before we move on to this, we've got
04:11Rebecca in the studio.
04:12She's got a question for you, Martin. She's right here. Hello. Hello. Hi.
04:15Do I still need a GHIC card if I've already got my travel insurance?
04:19I normally get the question the other way round, actually. If I've got a GHIC, do I need travel insurance?
04:24The answer is yes, because there's loads of other things on travel insurance. Yes. For a number of reasons.
04:28First of all, well, if you're going to a state-run hospital or free GP, you won't have to pay.
04:33Whereas you would have to pay an excess even if you claimed on the travel insurance if it cost you
04:37when you're abroad.
04:38So it could cover the excess for you. Secondly, if you wanted a GP, are you going to put that
04:42on your travel insurance?
04:43Are you just going to go to a GP? It's a lot more convenient. It doesn't cost a penny. Just
04:47get yourself a GHIC card.
04:49I mean, honestly, why would you not? You know, it's two minutes online. Get one, have it in your pocket.
04:55Take it away when you're abroad. It should be fine. Awesome. Right.
05:00If you travel to the EU with pets, and it's specifically a cat, a dog or a ferret, that is
05:06not a joke, it's those three pets.
05:08Because I wanted, when I was writing it, I wanted to put a budgie so I could make a joke
05:11about going cheap, but it's only...
05:13I didn't do it, because it's a ferret. Anyway, since last week, EU pet passports are no longer valid for
05:20most UK residents.
05:21So what you're going to have to do is you're going to have to go to the vet and get,
05:24and it's possibly costly, 100 or 150 quid, a single youth animal health certificate.
05:29And you need to do that in no more than 10 days before you're about to go.
05:32So if you want to take your pet abroad, it's got a little bit more complicated.
05:36If you're travelling to the USA or you're passing through, unless you've got a visa, get yourself an ESTA, an
05:40ESTA.
05:41There's heightened border security. You could be turned back if you don't have one.
05:45They last two years. Now it's important, note that figure, $40.27.
05:50If you're being charged more, it's another one of those shyster sites.
05:53You need to go to the official site, that is the cost.
05:56Final note, you'll have all read about the EU entry requirements changing so that people are getting...
06:02It's taking longer at the airports when you come forward and backwards. Bear that in mind.
06:06But again, some of those shysters are advertising that you need an ETIS,
06:12which is the European Travel Information and Authorisation System.
06:16You do not. They are scams. It doesn't start till October.
06:20Don't let them to persuade you to pay when you don't need to.
06:23OK. We can move on to some travel insurance now. Yeah, sure.
06:26Yeah, Irene's got in touch about this one.
06:27I know you always say if you book a holiday, you should book travel insurance at the same time.
06:32However, do I book travel insurance from the current date or the date I'm due to fly out?
06:37Regular people who watch the show will know exactly what I'm going to answer.
06:40I do it every time. Let's bring it up loud and large.
06:44OK. My big travel insurance rule is, get it, I learnt how to do this in rehearsal, they're going to
06:49hate me.
06:50A-S-A-B.
06:53As... Sound are going mad.
06:56As soon as you book. But of course...
06:59And the reason you do that is because half of the cover you're paying for is in case something happens
07:06that stops you going before the trip.
07:07And if you don't have the travel insurance place, you've got no cover, so you may as well have it
07:11in place.
07:11But at this time of year, when many people have already booked, I have a slight adaptation, which is this.
07:17If you've booked and you don't have it yet, just get it now.
07:21Yeah. So the answer to Anne's question, very simply, is to get it now.
07:25Get it done as soon as possible.
07:27Success on this is coming from David.
07:29And David's saying,
07:30I booked flights to Australia for a family group of seven to travel in March next year.
07:35I took out insurance immediately.
07:37One of our group is now pregnant and can't travel on the dates planned.
07:40It costs £5,000 to reschedule, which I'm happy to report the insurance have covered.
07:45Thank you, Mark.
07:45Oh, wonderful.
07:50Very quick aside on that.
07:52Think of who you're booking for.
07:54So if it's a family group and one can't go, they'll often cover you.
07:57But if there's a large group of friends going, you often all get independent travel insurance.
08:01Well, then if one can't go and you can't all go on a trip, it's only the person who's got
08:06that cover.
08:06So you would need a group insurance policy so that if one can't go, you all can't go.
08:10So just worth noting that as an aside.
08:12One second, I've got a question for you.
08:13Sorry, Martin.
08:14It's coming from Shell.
08:15And Shell's asking, what if your holiday insurance is direct through your bank account?
08:19When I've told them I'm going away, they said I don't need to tell them.
08:22Does this mean if something happens before I go, I'll still be covered?
08:24Really interesting question, Shell.
08:26Effectively, what you've got is an ongoing rolling annual travel policy that keeps auto renewing without you doing everything.
08:33So let me just take this in a bit more detail because people often ask me, what does ASAB actually
08:37mean?
08:38Well, if you're booking a single trip policy, a policy just for one trip, then you get the insurance as
08:44soon as you book to cover a specific future date, say the 10th to the 17th of August.
08:48You pay for that.
08:50Once you've paid for it, you have the travel insurance.
08:53So if anything happens from that point onwards, you're covered.
08:56No problem.
08:57On an annual policy, if you don't have cover, you need to start it ASAB.
09:05You need starting not your holiday dates.
09:09You need that annual cover starting now.
09:11Or if you start at the date you go on holiday, you're not covered.
09:14So it's all lost.
09:15Now, if you've already got cover in place and it lasts until after the holiday ends, bonza.
09:19No problem.
09:21Well, effectively, Shell, that's you.
09:22You've got an ongoing rolling annual travel insurance policy provided by your bank.
09:27So you're fine.
09:28You don't need to notify them.
09:29You're always covered unless you go over the maximum number of days in a year or on a trip.
09:33If you have an annual policy that covers you now, but let's say you're going on that trip and your
09:40annual policy ends on the last day of July.
09:43What you need to do is get a new annual policy that starts the day your old policy ends.
09:50Now, if something were to happen now to that holiday in August and you've got the policy that ends before
09:58the holiday starts,
09:59the vast majority of annual policies would cover you even though the policy is after the close date because the
10:05event happened while you're still within the term.
10:06Am I making sense?
10:08Good. I'm glad to hear it.
10:10Almost all of them.
10:12But I would always check because there are a few that don't do that.
10:15Final note on ASAB.
10:17It is absolutely the safest route.
10:19You absolutely should do it, but it is not 100% foolproof.
10:24There are some companies, if you've got cancer, say, and needed severe treatment, who might say, we're going to cancel
10:30your travel insurance.
10:31There are rules about what they have to do in those circumstances, but it's not foolproof.
10:35It's still the best thing to do there.
10:36OK. All right.
10:36Well, we've had quite a lot of questions on travel insurance coming in specifically on the Middle East conflict.
10:41I am going to put those to Martin in part two.
10:43But right now, I've got this question coming in from Chris on EU roaming.
10:48Which UK companies provide the best data roaming deal abroad in Europe?
10:52Well, it's interesting.
10:53Many people think that you have to pay for all roaming because they only look at the big companies, but
10:56there are loads of others that do it well.
10:58It's where I'm going next.
10:59So let me say, we've done Yoda, EU phone roam.
11:05I asked them because there's a way to make my finger light up.
11:08They said, not in a lie.
11:08What a shame.
11:10Anyway, look, EU Vodafone and 3 will charge you two quid a day to roam like at home.
11:15Use your home data package render in the EU.
11:18O2 is free, as are lots of piggyback networks.
11:21The networks that use the big provider's signals, but you pay a different price.
11:24There's just a few of them there.
11:26So actually, the big question is, you can generally pay less and get free EU roaming.
11:31So 40 million of you are out of contract on your mobile phone.
11:35Three steps.
11:36Text INFO for free to 85075 to check if you're out of contract.
11:40A few providers will ask you back to confirm your date of birth when you do that.
11:43Then go on to a SIM comparison site to find the cheapest deal.
11:47Because the cheapest deals are not direct with providers.
11:50Because then they'd have to give them to existing customers.
11:52This way they can give marketing extras that add on top, like vouchers and stuff.
11:55Factored in all those prices.
11:56Just a couple of examples.
11:57All of these free roam-like at home and unlimited minutes, unlimited text.
12:03Labara, five gig a month on Vodafone Signal if you don't use much data.
12:06Can be as cheap as £1.50 depending on the comparison site.
12:09Up to £4.50 a month.
12:10Many of you are paying loads more than that.
12:12ID Mobile, 50 gig of data a month.
12:15With a maximum 30 gig a month while you're abroad.
12:18So there is a slight limit on that.
12:20Use your three signal.
12:21You can get that as low as two quid a month.
12:23So if you're paying 20 quid, you don't get free EU roaming and you get less data.
12:26Just ditch them, get off them.
12:27You want to keep your existing number?
12:29Just text PAC to 65075 and they will send you a code.
12:32You get to the new provider and then you keep the same number as you are.
12:34OK, let's go further afield from Europe.
12:36Peter's asking these questions here.
12:38E-SIMS, especially for the USA...
12:40USA, yo!
12:41Oh, gosh.
12:43What is going on?
12:44Do I get a travel one before I travel or buy a local one when I arrive?
12:49So I think there's a little confusion there.
12:51An E-SIM, which is absolutely what I use every time I go outside the European Union,
12:55simply is a virtual SIM card.
12:58There's nothing physical in your phone, which changes your effective phone number
13:03and routes your data through so that you then pay the E-SIM provider.
13:07So for the USA, you can get one for around a tenner that would give you 10 gig a month.
13:11It would give you 10 gig of data lasting a month.
13:14I mean, you'd be paying 10, 15 quid on your existing mobile phone if you just use its package.
13:18But it's virtual, you just buy it online, so you can buy it before you go.
13:22That way you've got it when you land in the airport.
13:24Signal, some of them are good, some of them are bad.
13:26Trying to find who's the best in different countries is difficult.
13:29But if you got there and it wasn't that good, it's only a tenner and you're just doing it on
13:33your Wi-Fi.
13:33You could just go and get another provider when you were there if it wasn't working.
13:36It's not that big a deal. E-SIM is the way to go outside Europe.
13:38OK, awesome. Thank you very much, Martin.
13:40Well, coming up next, the cheapest way to spend abroad and lots more.
13:44We'll see you after the break.
13:54Hello, welcome back. It's our travel special.
13:56Part one was good, but wait till you get to part two.
13:59Jeanette.
14:00There's lots going on.
14:01But we'll start with a question here from John.
14:04My card provider has started to charge 2.9% extra for foreign transactions.
14:09I did a soft search to try to get a new credit card, but I was refused.
14:12My credit score is 100%.
14:14How can I shop on holiday without paying these extra charges?
14:18So, look, that's pretty much typically what happens.
14:21Your card gets a near-perfect exchange rate and most card providers then add 3% on top,
14:26which means what costs £100 worth of euros, you pay £103 for.
14:31The specialist cards, you just pay £100, so it's 3% cheaper.
14:36You've done a soft search for a card.
14:38I would go onto an overseas spending card eligibility calculator
14:42and look at all the top cards to see which you can get.
14:45But even if you didn't have a good credit score,
14:47some of those I'm about to go through, how easy to get.
14:50Play the sting. Big briefing, too.
14:53OK. Take a deep breath. We're going through this.
14:56This is the top near-perfect exchange rate on the day you spend cards.
15:01All of these are good cards, but they all have slightly different factors.
15:05You've got cash back on the Lloyds Ultra, which is a credit card.
15:09You've got cash back and it's easy to get on the Trading 212 debit card,
15:15but you have to open its investment account.
15:17You don't have to invest, you have to have the investment account.
15:19I know some people won't like that.
15:20So, an alternative easy to get is the Chase debit card.
15:23You have to open its banking app and get its bank account,
15:26but you don't have to use it or switch to it.
15:28So, again, all these three are sort of grab-and-go cards.
15:31You just get this card for spending abroad.
15:34This one is totally different, and they're actually...
15:36I'm going with First Direct.
15:38This is switch bank account.
15:41You get a top overseas debit card, but they also pay you to switch account.
15:44There are three banks offering that at the moment.
15:48First Direct, which gives it top for service and has lots of other perks.
15:52Club Lloyds, which pays slightly more than First Direct
15:54and has some good perks.
15:56Santander Edge, which is a good bills account.
15:58Again, pays roughly the same amount,
16:00but you have to pay it £3 a month, but you get cash back on your bills.
16:03I'm going with First Direct, but all of those would do roughly the same job.
16:07So, let's try and differentiate between why I've picked these out.
16:12Lloyds, you get 1% a year cash back on your spending in the UK and overseas.
16:16So, as long as you're paying it off in full, it's a great card,
16:19because it's paying you every time you spend.
16:20That effectively means you're getting better than the perfect exchange rates,
16:23because you get 1% back.
16:25Trading 212, more cash back, but only till the 31st of July.
16:291.5%, half a percent after that, and that's capped at £15 a month.
16:33Lloyds is uncapped.
16:34Chase, easy to get, gives you cash back on some UK spend,
16:37but it's not really a cash back card anymore to compare with the others.
16:41First Direct, you get £175 if you switch for it.
16:44It's not about spending on the card.
16:47Switch to which bank account, move your bank account to it, get £175.
16:50Hopefully, you're starting to see the differences.
16:52Can you get it without a hard credit check?
16:54No, it's a credit card.
16:56You need a hard credit check, not everyone will be accepted.
16:58No, it's got an overdraft.
17:01Yes, just a soft ID check.
17:03So, we'll do an ID check, doesn't mark your credit file,
17:05doesn't impact your credit score.
17:07Almost everyone should be able to get it.
17:08So, the person asking who got rejected,
17:10you, in almost all cases, won't be rejected for the two in the middle.
17:15If you spend or withdraw from a cash machine, is it interest-free?
17:20All of these are.
17:22Those are debit cards with no overdraft.
17:24This one isn't if you go above its overdraft limit,
17:26but you're not doing that.
17:27If you're in credit, you'll be fine.
17:28And you've got to pay...
17:33EARFUL!
17:33Well, there you go, each month to avoid it on the credit card.
17:37Now, the reason this is a nuance is some specialist overseas cards,
17:40even if you pay them off in full, will charge you interest on ATM withdrawals.
17:44This particular card doesn't.
17:46How much can you take out of an ATM?
17:48Well, in the UK or abroad, but we're only going to be doing it abroad.
17:51You shouldn't be doing it in the UK on a credit card anyway.
17:54500 quid a day and 500 quid a day.
17:57These, the limit is per month.
17:58That's actually got a low limit, only 400 quid per month.
18:01This is 1500 quid a month.
18:02So if you're going to take cash out abroad, quite a lot of equivalent cash.
18:05Probably trading 212 isn't for you.
18:07And do you have Section 75 protection, that extra credit card protection?
18:11Well, only on the credit card.
18:13But both that and the others all have lesser chargeback protection.
18:17Not as good, but you still get some protection on your spending,
18:19which is way better than paying for things in cash.
18:21If stuff goes wrong, you get a level of protection.
18:24So have a quick look at those.
18:26You can freeze your screen at home if you want to go through it in detail.
18:28Just to say, there are loads of other specialist credit and debit cards
18:33that all give you near-perfect exchange rate.
18:35I'm picking these because they have extra features like the cashback.
18:39Not saying the others are wrong.
18:40If I had one of those, I wouldn't necessarily be that bothered to switch.
18:44You know, but if you don't have one, these are way cheaper.
18:46OK, just this question here.
18:48That's a tough graphic to talk through, I tell you.
18:50It's tough.
18:52And it's not the applause, that was just easy.
18:56Anita's asking you this question.
18:57What is the best card to use abroad at the moment,
18:59but is it better to use your bank account card
19:01or one of those that you pre-load?
19:03So look, better to use your bank account card.
19:06It's not...
19:07Your bank account card could be pants.
19:09These are specialist cards.
19:10Most bank accounts will add 3%.
19:12So you have to know which bank account card it is
19:14to whether it's good or not.
19:16If it's a bad one, well, you've got pre-loaded cards.
19:19Now, the thing about pre-loaded cards,
19:21Revolut is a good example and pretty cheap out there.
19:24Sometimes you can set it up,
19:25you get the exchange rate on the day you spend.
19:28Sometimes you get the exchange rate on the day you load up.
19:31Now, that may work for you if you loaded it up in euros, say,
19:34and then the pound got weaker so that you got a worse euro rate,
19:39you would have locked in at a higher rate,
19:40but it could also move the other way.
19:42So you're effectively taking a bit of a gamble.
19:44This is just whatever the rate is on the day, you get the perfect rate.
19:47So there's lots of philosophies in that,
19:48but just make sure you're using one of the good cards
19:50that doesn't add that exchange rate fee.
19:52OK.
19:52Another common question, actually, that's come in from Debbie.
19:56If you're offered local currency or pounds when paying by card abroad,
19:59which should you choose?
20:01I could answer that, but so can Florence.
20:06Florence and her husband, Paul, always watch the show.
20:09Martin started talking about two massive tips.
20:11The first was paying in local currency, and the second was getting yourself a travel credit card.
20:15Ida has assumed that paying in pounds was better,
20:18but Martin said when they give you the machine,
20:20make sure you hit the euro or the dollar
20:22instead of letting the machine convert it to pounds.
20:25I call it the Martin Lewis fairy.
20:26It sits on your shoulder, and then when you get to the machine,
20:29it goes, pay in the local currency, and you do.
20:32Martin was also talking about travel credit cards,
20:34and there was one in particular that we thought would suit us very well.
20:37It was the Barclay card rewards, which is the purple one.
20:41One of the perks was the no-fee currency conversion.
20:44Another one was the 0.25% cashback, and then the near-perfect exchange rate.
20:49The card I had before charged us 3%, which on the spending you do on holiday adds up to quite
20:55a bit.
20:55The card came at the best time because we were about to spend quite a lot of money abroad
20:59on our fantastic wedding in Greece. It was brilliant.
21:02So getting that card allowed us to be able to spend the money we needed to without worrying.
21:06And when you coupled that with the paying in local currency, we saved £518.
21:11The majority of that saving was on the wedding, but it was the best thing we ever did.
21:15We'll still be watching the Martin Lewis travel special every year,
21:18given the amount of money it saved me.
21:25Florence and Paul, thank you for that.
21:27Florence explained that brilliantly, and congratulations on your wedding.
21:30Yeah, the rule, always paying the local currency.
21:32If you're in Europe, paying Euros.
21:33If you're in the America, paying Dollars.
21:35That way, your card, hopefully a specialist card, does the conversion.
21:38Otherwise, they add big loads on top.
21:40She mentioned Barclay card rewards.
21:41That was my top pick last year.
21:43It's still a good card, just slightly less cashback than these on the top.
21:46And I just got a message from my wife, watch that, and she says,
21:48I've got the real thing, not a Martin Lewis fairy.
21:51Aww.
21:52Thank you, darling.
21:53That'd be kind of her.
21:54Erm, what about cash, Martin?
21:57Yeah.
21:57Anita B is asking, I like to use cards abroad that take cash for ad hoc purchases.
22:02My husband thinks it's better to get cash from the ATM when we arrive.
22:05Where is the best physical holiday currency from?
22:10If you have a special, you see the theme, if you've got a specialist card, and especially
22:15if it's one that is fee-free ATM cash and no interest on ATM cash withdrawals abroad, that
22:21will, in almost all cases, beat getting Bureau de Change before you go.
22:25If you haven't got one of those cards, then you want to go onto a travel money comparison
22:31site to find the best rate, because rates do differ a lot.
22:34You know, on $1,000, it can be a 150 quid difference between the airport, which is worse,
22:39and the very best out there.
22:40OK.
22:41So, that's your answer.
22:42All right, perfect.
22:43OK, let's move on now to those questions we were speaking about, the Middle East conflict.
22:46Olivia wants to know, Olivia's saying, I have booked flights to Turkey in July.
22:51If flights get cancelled due to the lack of fuel, will we receive a refund?
22:56Generally, yes. If your flight is EU regulated, which means any flight leaving a UK or EU airport,
23:04going anywhere, or any flight arriving back at a UK or EU airport, but then it must be
23:10a UK or EU airline, it is UK or EU regulated, and then, if it's cancelled, you must get either,
23:19you get to choose between a refund or the next available flight. And you would absolutely
23:24look at that. I doubt you would get compensation that you could get sometime in that event.
23:28That's a grey area, though. If it's not an EU regulated airline, so if you're coming back
23:32from Turkey, say, on... Is it Air Turkey? I don't know.
23:35Then you would be reliant on the airlines rules and the rules of the governing overseas country.
23:40But in most cases, you would get a refund, yes.
23:43OK, wonderful. Tracey's here in the audience. I think Tracey's on this side of the room.
23:46Tracey, what's your question for me? Hi, Martin. Hiya.
23:49If future flights or holidays are cancelled by the airline due to the current global issue,
23:53will you definitely receive all your money back, even for your hotel booking as well?
23:58No. No, and I think this is what people need to be very aware of.
24:01If you booked a package holiday where you booked everything in one,
24:05then under the package holiday regulations and rules and protections,
24:10generally, if your flight went, you would get everything back.
24:12And so, actually, at the moment, package holidays give you a certain level
24:15of extra surety that you wouldn't get if you did a DIY booking
24:18where you booked your hotel and flight separately.
24:21Because the point is, if you lose your flight and you've DIY booked,
24:25there's nothing wrong with your hotel.
24:27The issue is you can't get there. Your hotel is still there.
24:29It's not faulty. It's not cancelling.
24:31So you don't have those consumer rights.
24:33So you would then say, what about using a credit card or debit card protection?
24:37It won't work because there's nothing faulty,
24:39and that's just giving you the same replica rights that you would have with the retailer.
24:42So you'd then say, what about travel insurance?
24:45This is the bad bit.
24:47We were checking 40 travel insurance policies.
24:50Of those, only a few would have covered you for the knock-on eventuality
24:54of your flight being cancelled due to jet fuel and then your hotel costs.
24:58Only about three or four.
25:00And most of those were packaged bank accounts.
25:02It's linked to your bank account.
25:03Only one standalone provider.
25:05So we need to be blunt.
25:07At the moment, there is a big risk in those circumstances.
25:10If you're booking, you want something with free or limited cancellation quite short before,
25:14so you could just cancel it.
25:15You should always talk to the provider, ask if they...
25:18The reason this is important to know is if you are in that position,
25:22once you understand you have no rights,
25:24and they say, well, we'll give you a voucher and you can come back in six months,
25:27you suddenly realise you're doing well, not badly.
25:29Right? If you didn't have free cancellation.
25:31And that...
25:32This is going to be a problem if we get to that jet fuel shortage.
25:35Government are saying there isn't one at the moment,
25:36and they're working on consolidating flights and doing things so there won't be one.
25:41But people's hotel costs, if they book separately and other knock-on costs,
25:44are potentially at risk.
25:46OK.
25:47Thanks for that, Tracey.
25:48Martin, quickly, just before we go to the break,
25:50I've got Roderick's question.
25:51He's here with us this evening, but I'm going to ask it for him.
25:53I'm going on holiday to Ireland in the summer.
25:56I've already booked my flights,
25:57but could the airlines increase the price of my flights if the fuel goes up?
26:01If it's just an airline booking, the Civil Aviation Authority says that's unlikely,
26:05unless it was upfront in the terms and conditions, which it very rarely is.
26:08So, no. Occasionally, in package holidays, they can add a fuel surcharge
26:13if there's a real spike in prices, so you sort of get more protection with the package holiday,
26:17but there is a risk. I don't think it's that big.
26:19I think, in most cases, people will be fine, but I can't completely rule it out.
26:23OK. Thank you very much, Martin.
26:25Well, coming up in our final part, car hire when you're abroad,
26:29and the latest news on car finance,
26:31mis-selling in Martin's News You Can Use,
26:32and we'll try and steer you in the right direction.
26:35Nice.
26:44Hello. Welcome back.
26:45Now, we've been a bit squeezed on time,
26:47so I'm dropping the how to sit together with your family.
26:49I'll put it on all my social medias just after the show.
26:51I also wanted to talk to you about the re-book and cancel trick.
26:54Basically, if you've got car hire or hotels,
26:57and you've got free or cheap cancellation,
26:59keep checking the price up to the date,
27:01because if you find it cheaper,
27:03well, then just re-book and cancel.
27:05And we've got someone who did that, haven't we?
27:05We have, Simon.
27:06Simon's got this success.
27:08He's saying,
27:08watch the show and took your tip to check car hire prices.
27:11I booked in April for a trip to the USA in July.
27:14The price was £1,560.
27:16Free cancellation,
27:17and have re-booked again with the same company for £1,056.
27:22Same car, same terms.
27:24An extra £500-ish in the holiday spending funds.
27:29So keep checking those prices if you've got free cancellation.
27:32Yeah, brilliant stuff.
27:34OK, we're going to move on from holidays just quickly.
27:35Chris has tweeted in here.
27:37Any update on the car finance miscellary payments?
27:39Yeah, a big one.
27:40It's my news you can use.
27:44So we had the FCA on.
27:46We did car finance just before we ended the last show.
27:48And the next week they announced the mass redress scheme,
27:52the regulator, the FCA.
27:5312.1 million agreements are eligible.
27:55It's gone down slightly.
27:56The average payout's gone up because they got rid of some of the very small payouts
27:59to £829 and also the interest rate's gone up slightly.
28:03The big thing to understand about mass redress,
28:05firms must try to seek out everyone who was missold even if they haven't complained.
28:12Yet, complaining now, if you haven't already done it, if you have you're fine,
28:16will mean you get paid out quicker.
28:18So who's this for?
28:20If you had a car, a van, a motorbike or a camper van on PCP or HP Finance
28:27between April 2007 and the 1st of November 2024.
28:32You will not know if you've been missold because the whole way you were missold is they did stuff.
28:35There are three different ways that they didn't tell you about.
28:37So you have no way to know you're missold.
28:38The only way to find out if you've got a complaint is to complain.
28:43And you can complain absolutely for free.
28:45The whole point is this is meant to be easy.
28:46There are free complaint tools online and there's free help online
28:50in how to find your old agreements.
28:52If you're going by the FCA route, you do not need to pay anyone.
28:55So it's all sounding good so far.
28:57Payouts were due this year for those who complained.
29:00By the end of 2026 or 27, 28 if not complained.
29:05But, yesterday we found confirmed that an organisation called Consumer Voice,
29:10which does communication and engagement services for claims law firms,
29:14effectively it communicates these sort of mass redress schemes or these, not mass redress,
29:19these group claims, has put in a court challenge to the FCA's mass redress scheme,
29:25saying the level of redress in the calculation isn't enough.
29:28People should get more back.
29:30And they want it to be higher.
29:31And I have some sympathy with that, certainly because you would get more in court,
29:37although you'd probably have to pay a claims company to do it.
29:39And the FCA, I think, tried to do a compromise so it didn't get anyone challenging its mass redress scheme.
29:45It didn't get the car finance firms challenging it in order to get this through.
29:49And then the irony is, it's the other side, effectively, who have challenged it.
29:53And it's now going to go through.
29:55The FCA says this is going to delay things.
29:57How long is the big question?
30:00Honestly, it all depends who wins, how big this is, whether somebody else appeals, how it goes through.
30:04I mean, it could be adding months, it could be adding up to a year.
30:08So this group, Consumer Voice, which is a small organisation, I mean, effectively,
30:13it is taking a big gamble with millions of people on their payouts will probably be delayed.
30:18If it wins and the payouts are bigger, I think people will cheer it.
30:21If it doesn't win and it's taken months extra for people to get their payouts and nobody gets any more,
30:26I think there'll be a lot of frustrated people out there.
30:28OK.
30:29Let me move on.
30:31OK.
30:32I just had to do this because I was so happy.
30:34England council tax debt collection win.
30:37Currently, within three weeks of a missed monthly payment, just three weeks,
30:41the council can say, you've got to pay us for the whole year.
30:44And within three weeks of that, they can take you to court, send bailiffs in for the entire year's payment
30:50and added costs.
30:51It is the most aggressive form of debt collection out there.
30:54It absolutely destroys people's finances.
30:56It has been going on 34 years.
30:58I started a campaign with my Money and Mental Health Policy Institute charity two years ago.
31:03And the government has agreed from April 2027.
31:07And I did cry when I heard because millions of people's lives are destroyed by this.
31:11They now must wait 63 days before asking you for the full year.
31:14I would have liked it to be longer, but it means people have two months to go to a debt
31:18counselling agency
31:18and work to improve their finances so they can pay for a month.
31:21They've also awarded court-awarded admin costs to be capped at 150 quid.
31:25So it can only be 100 quid. I'd have liked that to be lower too.
31:2934 years, people have been absolutely destroyed by this.
31:32I'm very pleased to see it's changed.
31:39So, there are new top fixed savings from NS&I, the state-owned financial institution
31:44where all your money is protected by the government, not just the £120,000 you get elsewhere.
31:48They are rarely at Best Buy levels. These are only about 0.2% below.
31:53These are fixed savings, so you're locking your money away.
31:55You will pay tax on them. They're not the special ones like premium bonds.
31:58But you can see the rates between 4.4% and 4.5%.
32:02Then, you can have up to a million quid in there and it's all protected by the state
32:05if you're lucky enough to have that much or if you've just sold your house or something
32:08and you want to keep that money for a year or so.
32:11Free Star Wars Lego. May the 4th be with you.
32:13Now, it's done for May the 4th. It's not my joke, it's theirs, but they're actually doing it this weekend
32:17which is the 2nd and 3rd and the joke doesn't work there.
32:20So, you've got Lego stores, there's a Starfighter. You'll see the opening times.
32:23Entertainer stores, there's a Bantha. Smith stores, there's a Razorcrest from 9am on Saturday.
32:29Limited availability though, so you want to get there as early as you can.
32:32Now, I'm going to stop that. We were going to talk about car hire.
32:35We don't really have time. The big thing on car hire is the insurance.
32:38They will try and upsell you insurance. Go and get yourself stand-alone car hire excess insurance
32:42from money maxing before you go. You will need to then leave a deposit.
32:46It'll have to be on a credit card, probably be €1200.
32:50It'll have to be in the name of the person who booked or the main driver.
32:53So, I would always have the main driver booking and make sure they've got a credit card
32:56and you'll avoid the insurance trap. Go search out the insurance trap if you're doing car hire.
33:01I just tried to do that really quickly rather than doing graphics.
33:03OK. Just very quickly, a little bit more talking for you. What have we got on next week?
33:07Well, just put that graphic back up again, please.
33:10Take a freeze frame of that. Close in camera. Take a freeze frame. Have a read of it, people.
33:14I'll talk about pensions. Next week it's pensions. Saving for your pension. Best Buy pensions.
33:18How to take money out of your pension. We've got a full hour though next week.
33:22We're on from seven till eight o'clock. Really important subject.
33:25So, do watch. Get your questions in to the team at martinlewis.itv.com.
33:29Thank you, Jeanette. Thanks to the audience. Sorry we rushed. See you next week. Bye-bye.
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