Pod Insights The Martin Lewis Podcast Question Time: Homeless to Homeowner- what next? Debt making me ill.. help! Save, or pay on 0% card? Close old accounts? About this episode Martin Lewis gives his advice on what to do if you are overwhelmed by debt. He answers a question from someone facing debt problems which are having a very serious impact on their mental health.
We hear a beautiful tale of moving from homeless to homeowner – and Martin explains what to do next after you have bought a house.
Martin answers a question from a listener who to know if they should use Buy Now Pay Later, a 0% Purchase Card or just save up.
Plus, find out what to do if you have current accounts you don’t use.
Plus Martin shares his remarkable hole-in-one golfing record.
If you want to ask Martin a question, you now can! His Question Time podcast lets you ask Martin absolutely anything and everything (within reason!) – so if you’ve always wanted to know what colour his eyes are, what he's planning to do in his eventual retirement, or have a very complicated question about your personal finances, email it to [email protected] mailto:[email protected] .
Transcript Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.
0:00 Speaker 00 This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK.
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1:47 Martin Lewis? Let's see what we can do. I have never seen a debt problem that isn't solvable. I'm not saying it's always easy or quick, but I think we can get some light at the end of the tunnel. Homeless to homeowner, amazing.
1:59 Speaker 03 Yeah. I just wanted to say thank you for everything that you do, and I'm sure there's a lot of other listeners who also feel the same way.
2:06 Martin Lewis? Hello and welcome to the cunningly named The Martin Lewis Podcast. I do wonder what that's going to be about. And this is the Question Time episode where you get to ask me your questions on absolutely anything and everything, open brackets, within reason, close brackets. This week, the first question is from someone in debt and that debt is having a very serious impact on her mental health and she wants to know how she can get help. Then the next question is a beautiful tale of moving from homeless to homeowner. And she asked me, now we've bought a house, what do we do next? After that, it's should I use buy now, pay later or a 0% purchases card or just save up for my new telly? Then I've got open current accounts I don't use, should I close them?
2:49 Martin Lewis? And finally, Martin, what's a totally normal thing that you've never done? Play the theme tune.
3:16 Martin Lewis? Hello and welcome to this week's Question Time episode. Yes, you can ask me anything and everything you like, as I always say. Now, regular listeners, get prepared for a shock. We don't have Matt this week. Replacing Matt, so he can't be the curator of questions, I'm going to call in the questions dude, because I think that sort of fits. We've got PPS, podcast producer Simon is with me this week. Welcome to Question Time, Simon. It's your debut.
3:41 Speaker 04 Yeah, delighted to be here. When Matt was off, they wanted someone good looking, witty, charming, who could cover him. Sadly, weren't able to find that person, but you know, I was delighted to get the call. And you're in luck because I've been able to warm up broadcast wise. I went for a walk around Salford Keys earlier. So I work in Media City here in Salford, but like this Salford University is kind of on the same campus.
4:01 Martin Lewis? Yeah.
4:01 Speaker 04 And some students stopped me to like do some vox pops. They were kind of...
4:05 Martin Lewis? Really?
4:06 Speaker 04 Yeah, yeah.
4:06 Martin Lewis? Did you say, "I work at the BBC, I know what a vox pop is"?
4:10 Speaker 04 Um, well, no, but I gave them the perfect answers because I have been in that exact position.
4:15 Martin Lewis? Oh, I hated it. But when I started my career, I hated vox popping.
4:17 Speaker 04 Well, yeah.
4:18 Martin Lewis? Approaching people and asking, "Oh, and you get so many of these funny looks. So, uh, well done you on that."
4:23 Speaker 04 Yeah, I had a lecturer who used to sort of always, he'd kind of, I don't know if he just wanted to put his feet up for an hour, but he would always just sort of send us out in a, "Come back in an hour with a story." And, uh, and off we'd, off we would go.
4:34 Martin Lewis? It's interesting because you, you edit the, um, the main podcast that we do. And often you send it to me to have a listen to, and then I give you my feedback. And you always say to me, "I'm not going to do your accent. I wanted to, but I got scared." I'll go for a walk around Salford Keys while you, and then, while you're waiting, while you're listening. So is it, you just go round, you go round the docks, do you?
4:52 Speaker 04 There's a loop that I often do, yeah, depending on how much time. I, I hate spending all day inside.
4:57 Martin Lewis? Yeah, me too.
4:58 Speaker 04 And today, it's the day.
4:59 Martin Lewis? You know I'm step obsessed, so I'm saying it.
5:01 Speaker 04 So any opportunity to get outside, I will, I will take it. So there's a couple of loops that I do depending on how much time I've got. But yeah, yeah, so there was some students lurking.
5:08 Martin Lewis? So now you all know that we have Loopy Simon with us, everyone, and he'll be here for the whole podcast. Right, let's get on with your first question. What have you got for me?
5:16 Speaker 04 Yeah, it's a, it's a really interesting one, this one. We've actually changed the name. We're going to call her Jane because it's quite a personal email that she sent us. She says, "I know you will get thousands of these emails each week. I am struggling with debt of around £7,000. I was let go by my job last year after 25 years of service. I'll be very honest, I've attempted to take my own life twice due to the situation. I just don't know where to start to get help. There are so many companies saying they will help, but they just charge you and that's money that's added to the debt. I've tried to contact Citizens Advice, but they're impossible to get hold of. And even after emailing, they do not get back to me. I would appreciate any advice you could give me because I feel like I have nowhere to turn."
5:55 Martin Lewis? Oh, Jane, I'm so sorry. I really am, but let's see what we can do. I want to start by saying, you are not the only person who has felt like this and feels like this. And I'm so sorry to say, and I hope this isn't triggering for everyone, but unfortunately, financial problems are one of the biggest triggers for suicidal ideation. And so you're not alone. And, and in a good way, you're not unusual. And I want you to understand that. This is, this is common and this happens and there are paths and ways that we can get out of it. And as long as I've been doing what I've been doing, I have never seen a debt problem, whether it's from gambling or whatever else, that isn't solvable. I'm not saying it's always easy or quick. But I think we can get some light at the end of the tunnel.
6:38 Martin Lewis? So the first thing to say is, we will get there. And absolutely, there are some wonderful organisations that can help you. You've spoken to Citizens Advice, if they're busy, that's a problem. And if you would like to talk to them, I can probably, through Simon, get your contact details if you're willing to, and we can probably put you through to someone there. But probably in your circumstances, if I can be really honest, when it comes to debt counselling, there are two types of agencies. There's your Step Change, Citizens Advice Bureau and National Debtline. And I should note, everyone I will mention is non-profit. They are there only to help you, not to judge you, not to make money out of you. They're just there to try and work through what's the best solution for you.
7:19 Martin Lewis? Those three, they're what I would call the functional debt counselling agency. So when you go to them, you'll present your finances and they will work it through with you, like, you know, you might go in another stage of your life to an accountant, or you might go to a lawyer, someone you need to have functional advice that says, this is what we need to do, how do we structure it, how do we organise it, how do we make it work? And then there is another service called Christians Against Poverty, and it is of a religious base, but I tend to phrase it, and some of the people who do it, they are religious and they do like to pray, and we'll be straight on that. But most of what they're about is trying to help people because they are Christian, not trying to only help Christians.
8:02 Martin Lewis? So you don't need to be a practising Christian to go to them. The difference between Christians Against Poverty and the others is they spend a lot more hours with you and they are engaging in emotional counselling at the same time. They're there to sort of, it's more holistic, it's not just your finances, it's also looking at your wellbeing as an individual and as a human when you go there. So if you're comfortable going with an agency like Christians Against Poverty, I think certainly when clearly the debt that you've had has had a profound impact on your mental health, by definition, then you may find that they're the ones who are able to invest more time and in a good way, hold your hand through the process, in a way that the others,
8:44 Martin Lewis? the Step Change, the Citizens Advice, National Debtline, who do brilliant work and have brilliant, wonderful, caring counsellors, but they are more about the functional help. And if I just... You know, in 2016, I set up the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute charity, which is a charity looking at trying to break the link between financial problems and mental health problems. And I need to be straight with you and everyone else, the two are so inextricably linked. They are so closely tied together. If you have mental health problems, you're over three times more likely to be in crisis debt than everyone else. And if you have money problems, it exacerbates the treatment time that you have. That actually, one of the things we're looking at is how do you interlink mental health counselling
9:28 Martin Lewis? and debt counselling so that you're not getting them from the same people, but the agencies are all put together. So, and I say that because I want you to understand that this isn't, this is, this is a real symptom of our society that you're a victim of in this. And I hope, I hope that we'll be able to get you through it. If you want to get to Citizens Advice, get in touch and Simon will, will contact you. Otherwise, we can put you in touch with Christians Against Poverty too. And Jane, we'll get there. You'll get there. They'll help you. There are, there are paths that can take the pressure off. There are lots of them. There's breathing space, there's debt management plans, there are all types of things that can take the pressure off. And the biggest thing that people say to me after they've been to one of these non-profit
10:12 Martin Lewis? debt counselling agencies is, "I slept last night."
10:15 Speaker 04 And if you've been affected by issues in this podcast, there are a range of organisations and websites that can offer you advice and support. You can find them listed on the BBC's Action Line website at bbc.co.uk forward slash actionline.
10:29 Martin Lewis? Okay, well, that was quite a tricky one to start. I presume we're going to go into a caller now, Simon?
10:38 Speaker 04 Yeah, and I've very selfishly, given that I'm in my mid 30s and about to move house, I've found someone that can basically help me out. So we've got Emma from The Wirral with us.
10:47 Martin Lewis? So Emma is a Simon proxy, is that what you're telling me?
10:51 Martin Lewis? Hello Emma and hello Simon.
10:55 Speaker 03 Hello.
10:56 Martin Lewis? Hello, what can I do for you?
10:57 Speaker 03 Firstly, before I ask my question, I actually, I just want to say thank you for everything that you do. If it wasn't for for yourself, Martin, and other financial experts, I don't know where I would be today. Just for context, when I was 16, I was living in a homeless shelter for two years. Was a single mum, a teenage mum, you know, and the odds were firmly stacked against me. But when I started to focus on finance about five or six years ago during Covid, you know, paid off 16,000 pounds of debt and now my husband and I have bought our first house. So I just wanted to say thank you for everything that you do. And I'm sure there's a lot of other listeners who also feel the same way.
11:36 Martin Lewis? Oh, thank you so much. I've not had the best week, so that's very, very nice to hear. And I really do appreciate it. From homeless to owning your own home, what a wonderful story.
11:45 Speaker 03 Thank you.
11:46 Martin Lewis? So what can I do for you? Let's do, let's, let me try and help.
11:49 Speaker 03 Positive. So my husband and I bought our first home in October 25. And I'm 35 and he's 42. So we're absolutely over the moon. And I used my full Lysa balance for the deposit. And yeah, that was quite a simple process as well, actually, which really surprised me. And most of the remaining savings that we had went into essential work on the house that needed to be done. So we only have a small amount of savings left over, but our savings account is only 1.05%.
12:20 Martin Lewis? Okay, that's slap wrist time, but yeah.
12:22 Speaker 03 Yeah, I know. So now that we're effectively starting from scratch, what's the best way for us to move forward? What are the best accounts for us? And we're looking to put away a minimum 250 pounds a month.
12:34 Martin Lewis? Okay, well, that's a good amount to be saving. Well done you. I mean, look, the most important start point is you build up an emergency fund of ready cash. Yeah, and you want three to six months' worth of bills. That gives you that sort of financial security, that financial, you know, defence mechanism, which is really worth doing. And you can have that in any funds as long as they're easy access. So the start point there would probably be putting it into a regular saver. Some of them you can take money out of. Now with regular savers, they're not for lump sums, they're only for small amounts that you're putting in each month, but you're exactly in that, in that bag. So. A place to start, you could do Principality Building Society pays seven and a half percent interest and the reason you do these is the interest rates are much higher on £200 a
13:19 Martin Lewis? month saved for six months. Hand the Economic Building Society 6.3% on £100 a month saved for up to a year and then link to bank accounts. I mean, something you could look at is First Direct right now is paying Switch as £175 to switch to its bank account, top rated for customer service and then you can save with it for a year at 7% and you can put up to £300 a month in. And so then you get £175 quid and the interest on top. So all of those would be a good start point. I think it's probably also worth, you know, that's for your emergency fund and you want to make sure you have enough, you've got a house, you've got bills, you've got things coming. In terms of building and providing for your long-term financial future, I mean, the two
14:03 Martin Lewis? main competitors would not be saving, they would be investing and reducing your mortgage.
14:10 Speaker 03 Yeah, so I do have a pretty decent pension that I have increased my contributions to and it's looking good long-term. I've still got 30 years left, so we'll see how it goes. But yeah, for now it is about building up that emergency fund.
14:27 Martin Lewis? But you can also, yes, but after you've done that, you can invest outside of a pension too to give you ready cash, as long as you're doing it for a longer period and that will tend to outperform savings. But there is also the option of, I don't know what your mortgage rate is, what is it? Do you know?
14:40 Speaker 03 4.2%.
14:41 Martin Lewis? So 4.2%. Yeah, I mean, compared, you're going to struggle over the next few years to get savings consistently outpaying 4.2%. So you might want to look at making capital over payments to your mortgage that can get your mortgage free more quickly and investing at the same time. But let's get the emergency fund first, that gives you that financial security that you need and those regular savers are easy. If it's not a regular saver, then there's Kahoot, which is part of Santander, will give you 5% interest on up to £3,000, which is a decent lump sum account and there's the Chase bank account at 4.5% as well. I should note to those listening, these rates are correct at the time of recording, but rates can change every day. Oh, it's almost a bit of compliance there.
15:26 Martin Lewis? Does that help?
15:27 Speaker 03 Yeah, that's brilliant. I have no idea. There was accounts out there paying 7.5%.
15:32 Martin Lewis? But they're only on, this is the key to them, you see. You can't go and say, I'm going to put 20 grand in. They do it. They're almost like lost leaders. You can, you know, the principality is 7.5% for six months and then you have to make sure you take the money out or the rate won't be that good. But you can only put 200 quid a month in, but for your scenario, it's perfect. Simon, have you got any issues that you need to add on the top of that?
15:52 Speaker 04 Well, I mean, the main thing I'll say, Emma, is like, congrats, congrats on buying a house, by the way. I think it's like such an exciting time in your life and you're absolutely smashing it by the sounds of things.
16:00 Speaker 03 Thank you.
16:00 Speaker 04 I mean, my only, I wasn't going to bring it up. My only, you know, apology is that you did put in your email how you'd be fangirling over Matt and Martin. And I'm sorry, I'm not Matt.
16:11 Martin Lewis? I was always going to say, I'm sorry, you're not Matt too, but I don't mean it. It was just, it was just a nasty dig and I shouldn't do it. But it's lovely to have you here for this week, Simon. And Emma, thank you so much. And I'm so pleased that we've helped. And what a wonderful story.
16:25 Speaker 03 Thank you.
16:26 Martin Lewis? Homeless to homeowner. Amazing.
16:28 Speaker 03 Yeah.
16:30 Speaker 03 Thank you so much, guys.
16:34 Martin Lewis? Right. What have you got next for me, Simon?
16:36 Speaker 04 Yeah, next up we've got dear my favourite Eminem.
16:39 Martin Lewis? Well, that of course is Martin and Matt, but we don't have Matt. And we've got Simon. So surely this week we are S and M.
16:47 Speaker 04 It's a different pod.
16:48 Martin Lewis? I think we should probably, probably get increased the listener figures, wouldn't we? Let's be honest.
16:53 Martin Lewis? Right.
16:54 Speaker 04 Well, AG wishes to know, I have planned this year to buy a new phone and a new television. These would be separate purchases. The phone, I don't want to spend too much money on, so I'm looking for a mid-range smartphone, sub £400 ideally. And the TV, I would like to splash out a little bit more on, likely £1500 for the specification I would like. Currently, my plan was just to save the money and pay off from my current account. However, I understand that these budgeted one-off payments might look better with a buy now, pay later or a 0% spending credit card. That might be a viable option for the better cash flow in case of emergencies. Are these the benefits of using these options worth considering? I have no planned major credit application for at least 15 months and I've never used either option.
17:36 Speaker 04 I do have an emergency fund, but I had to repair a boiler in November at last minute, so it's not as well stocked as I would prefer it to be.
17:42 Martin Lewis? So a very, very interesting question, AG. Thank you very much. So I hope I've got it right. You're looking to buy a 400 quid smartphone and a 1500 pound TV. So you've got about 1900 quid worth of saving. Look, saving up in advance is always generally the best way to go with the exception of people who are trying to play the system. Right, so you always want to save in advance because it is far better to save in advance and have interest paid to you by the bank than to borrow and to have to pay back and pay the bank interest afterwards. But you're you're being savvy, you're saying buy now, pay later, which is where you could generally can spread the cost over three months and that's at 0%. And as long as this is a planned,
18:24 Martin Lewis? I'm not anti buy now, pay later and regulation is coming in this year. My concern is people don't think of it as a debt. And if you're going to do any form of debt, you need to take a forensic critical decision. Is that right for me? Can I repay it? You're clearly talking about you can repay it and you do it as a spreading the cost over three months in the right way. Or a 0% spending credit card, which does exactly the same thing, but over a longer period. You factored in one of the first things I would say, which is let's just think about the impact on your credit score. That isn't an issue. You're not using your credit score. There's no mortgage application worth coming. So having said all that, within this, you have the money to repay. Therefore, is it
19:03 Martin Lewis? worth playing the system in order to maximise the game for you? Yes, is the answer. It is. But this is only if you are very controlled with your finances. And what I mean by that is, we can do this as a debt form of finance, but you need to make sure you've got the money put aside in savings that could pay off the debt whenever you needed to. So you're only taking an arbitrary debt rather than a real debt. You're not actually going to be in debt, you're just utilising the finance. And if you were going to do that, then I would probably get myself, as long as your credit score's decent enough, a 0% for spending credit card. I'd probably go for one like M&S
19:43 Martin Lewis? Bank or Tesco Bank, because they give you rewards on spending. So if you were to use them, you would actually get some Tesco points or some M&S points on top of whatever these items cost you. And they're also 0%. Tesco 0% for 22 months, M&S Bank 0% for 25 months. Go on to an eligibility calculator to find that which you would get. So why do I suggest that? Well, then you get three benefits. The first benefit, I often talk about when you're making a bigger purchase, I say, put some of it on a credit card because then you get section 75 protection. That means the credit card company is jointly liable with the retailer if something goes wrong. So you're getting that valuable extra consumer protection. Now, you could do that and just pay the card off in full that month, so you wouldn't be any interest at all. But if you're doing it this way, you still get that protection.
20:26 Martin Lewis? Number two, you get the rewards. So you get those points. I think Tesco's a quarter of a percent of what you spend in Tesco points comes back to you. I'd have to double check that, that's off the top of my head. And thirdly, because you owe the credit card money, make sure you make the minimum repayments each month, you can put the savings you're not using to buy these items into as higher interest savings account as possible, currently earning 4.5% on it. Now, this technique is technically called stoozing. That's where you deliberately create a 0% debt and save the money at high interest. So effectively, the credit card money is lending you the money for the purchase at 0%. You've got the money and you're using the money they've lent you to earn at 4, 4.5% interest on
21:09 Martin Lewis? top of. I mean, that is the perfect technique, but I hope everybody listening can understand the risks in it. The risks, if you don't do it right, you don't follow the recipe, something happens, you have an emergency, it can go wrong. So the safest option is save up and buy it. And that's right for the vast majority of people. But the system playing option would probably be to put it on a 0% rewards credit card, making sure you're making the minimum repayments and make sure you pay it off before the 0% ends. And that way you can maximise the benefits.
21:38 Speaker 04 The only other bit of advice you've got to throw in, as soon as you get the new phone, download BBC Sounds app, start listening to the Martin Lewis podcast.
21:46 Martin Lewis? Yeah, I mean, and you're right, quite right. I totally miss the fact that you should do that too. And there's a programme you could watch on your television while we're at it, isn't there? But I can't say that because it's, it's from a different channel.
21:59 Martin Lewis? Where are we going to next, Simon? You are the questions dude.
22:02 Speaker 04 Obviously, at this point, Matt would normally stick in a funny question. But I'm just gonna elbow in, as this is my one chance to be here, and say, "What is the totally normal thing that you've never done?"
22:12 Martin Lewis? What is the most totally normal thing that I have never done? Wow. I'm gonna have to do the first thing that comes to mind. And I think this is probably more totally normal for people of my generation, because I sadly have to admit, I'm a different generation to you than people of your generation. I have never had a drag or smoked a cigarette in my life. I've never had a cigarette in my mouth and smoked it. And certainly, my age growing up, that was quite rare. And the reason for this is quite simple. My dad smoked a pipe when I was young. And when I was about seven, I put his pipe in my mouth, because that's what you do when you're seven, and I had a big suck on the pipe.
22:52 Speaker 04 Oh, that must have been awful.
22:53 Martin Lewis? Absolutely threw up. And in a good way, it scarred me for life from ever wanting to smoke in any way, shape, size or form. Does not, never, having a drag or a cigarette, does that qualify in your totally normal thing you've never done?
23:07 Speaker 04 Yeah, I think most people probably have tried it once.
23:10 Martin Lewis? Yeah, some people a lot more, yeah.
23:12 Speaker 04 Yeah, and some people a lot more than that. Actually, the reason I asked it was because I thought, I had one recently that I thought of you about, because I'm gonna stag do in a few weeks' time, and the lad who's getting married is like, big into his golf.
23:25 Martin Lewis? Okay.
23:25 Speaker 04 And I know you're big into your golf. So I did have this, I've never played a round of golf.
23:30 Martin Lewis? Okay.
23:31 Speaker 04 And I had this sort of moment of fear that the lads that were organising the stag do would organise a round of golf, because they'd think that's the sort of thing he'd like to do.
23:38 Martin Lewis? Yeah, and you could not, if you've never played golf, you cannot go onto a proper course if you've never picked up a club. I mean, that is just not how it works.
23:43 Speaker 04 Well, that's the thing, I didn't know whether I would need to just, or can you just stumble your way through?
23:48 Martin Lewis? You could drive the buggy.
23:51 Speaker 04 My experience, like if there isn't a kind of windmill involved, I've never played golf.
23:55 Martin Lewis? I thought you were going to say something like you've never had a hole in one, whereas I was going to go, of course I have.
23:58 Speaker 04 Have you?
23:59 Martin Lewis? Not only have I had a hole in one, but I have had two holes in one in consecutive rounds. I've never had one before, I've never had one since, but in one week I had a hole in one. And then I played two days later and I got another hole in one. And the first, the first hole in one was the worst because I'd been having a lesson and my lesson had finished and I was on the tee by myself. And I hit the ball and I was like, I think that's just gone in. And you're about 150 yards away, I think that's just gone in. And I'm looking around going, there is no one here and I've just got that in. And so I called ahead, right to the next tee because there were some blokes on the next tee. And I called ahead and said, excuse me, excuse me. And they looked back and they've, because you don't do that, it's bad etiquette.
24:43 Martin Lewis? I said, I'm so sorry, I think I've got a hole in one and I'd really like you to check so that I'm not there. And this gentleman walked back and it was golf, so you'll, it'll work out where it's going. And he walked back and he looked in there and he looked up and he recognised me and he picked the ball out. He said, you have got a hole in one, Martin, and I'm a high court judge and I'll sign that you've done it. So I got, had that the best witness in the world and the next time I got one, I was playing with a friend, so I had a proper witness there and then at the time.
25:09 Speaker 04 God, you're a much more modest man than me. If I, I don't know much about golf, I know getting a hole in one's a big deal. And if I, do you know how you'd know if I got a hole in one? I would have told you. We wouldn't have known each other for a few years without this having come up in conversation.
25:22 Martin Lewis? Well, I tell you, the funny thing was I then went, because the tradition is you have to buy a round. And I went to the bar and I offered and it was early in the morning and, and most of the people in there were older than me, quite a bit older than me. And they were like, no, thank you. And then the second time, the bar was totally empty. And I went in and I was like, there was nobody, my friend didn't want the drink. So I, I did actually, I made a donation to a golfing charity that helps vulnerable kids with golf therapy. And because I felt I needed to buy my round on the back of it, because that's the proper way that you get a hole in one. You actually, there are actually insurance policies that pay for the round, not that I claimed on the back of that as well.
25:56 Speaker 04 So your personal finance tip is hit your hole in one in the morning?
25:59 Martin Lewis? Yeah, hole in one while no one's there.
26:01 Speaker 04 Yeah.
26:01 Martin Lewis? Yeah, but you want one witness and absolutely nobody else there is the perfect way to save money when you get a hole in one. But beyond, the odds of it are ridiculous and I've never had one since, it was probably about three, four years ago now.
26:13 Speaker 04 But you carry on trying and that's the main thing.
26:18 Martin Lewis? And I think we're probably coming to the end of the Questions Dude's debut. You never mentioned whether you like Question Dude.
26:25 Speaker 04 No, yeah, I quite enjoy it. Obviously, Matt has now got, you know, letters after his name, but...
26:31 Martin Lewis? We're the curator of questions.
26:32 Speaker 04 Yeah.
26:33 Martin Lewis? It is COQ though, Simon. I won't be too jealous.
26:36 Speaker 04 No, my grandad...
26:36 Martin Lewis? He never likes to mention what the letters are. He likes the fact that he gets curator of questions afterwards, but he doesn't like it when it's shortened to COQ.
26:42 Speaker 04 Yeah.
26:42 Martin Lewis? Can't think why.
26:43 Speaker 04 My grandad used to write AFM after his name, just for anything for money.
26:46 Martin Lewis? Okay. Nice. Perfect.
26:48 Speaker 04 Yeah, yeah.
26:49 Martin Lewis? Perfect for the pod.
26:50 Speaker 04 The thing I actually was going to suggest that my pod production suggestion was going to be, you could start awarding people a NPC as Martin Podcast contributor.
26:59 Martin Lewis? Oh, yeah.
26:59 Speaker 04 Whenever anyone called in.
27:00 Martin Lewis? Yeah, you get an NPC. Quite like that. It also sounds like Monetary Policy Committee. Anyway, we should probably stop this and then get on to the final question. What's your last one for me?
27:08 Speaker 04 Yes, we've got one about current accounts. Dear Martin, your wallet workout programme has inspired me to tidy up my financial accounts.
27:16 Martin Lewis? Does it?
27:16 Speaker 04 I have several current accounts that I open to get a regular saver account. The savings accounts have matured and I don't use the current accounts for anything now. I don't have an overdraft available on any of them. Is it better to close the current accounts or is there a reason to leave them open? Thank you so much for all your help over the years. Kate.
27:34 Martin Lewis? Oh, well, that's wonderful, Kate. And it's so funny, that sort of brings us back to where we were on regular savings accounts earlier in the programme. So that's very well produced there, Simon. Very well produced. Matt will be sitting there going, I don't like the fact that you did that.
27:47 Martin Lewis? So I've said many times before that there is no such thing as a universal credit score in this country. Each lender scores you differently based on its own wish list of what is a profitable customer. And this is one of those areas where different lenders will look at this differently. So you have your credit score that you get from the credit reference companies, but that's just a loose indication of how a typical lender will see you. And this is one of those tough to balance ones. Now, in general, having a current account that you don't need, you'd probably want to get rid of because it will, in the long run, probably minorly improve your credit score. And also, you might be eligible for a new customer offer again in a few years' time, once you've had this closed. So you may as well close it in case they do a new customer offer and in four years' time, you count as a new customer again.
28:31 Martin Lewis? But by having it open, you wouldn't count as a new customer. But it's also important to understand that in the short term, because credit scoring tends to like evidence of longevity... If you were to close these current accounts and you were to go and check your credit score at one of the credit reference agencies, which as I said before is only a loose indication of how a typical lender may see you, you would probably see a blip and a reduction in your credit score. So what I would suggest is if you have no imminent credit application, certainly not a mortgage or anything really important coming up, then yes, it is probably fine and probably a good idea to close these unused current accounts. But if you do have the mortgage application or an important balance transfer application coming, then I would just leave it as it is for the moment because you don't want to
29:16 Martin Lewis? mess with it right now and this is something that you would be able to do afterwards. Final thought is if one of them were to be Nationwide, Nationwide is running its fair ish share scheme that it runs every year and we're getting close to the eligibility criteria for existing customers. I mean, you also have to have either savings or a mortgage with it as well as a current account in order to get the payment, which is a hundred or a hundred and fifty pounds. I don't know the details for this year. They haven't announced it. I'm basing it on what it's done in past years, but I suspect it will be doing something similar. So if one were Nationwide, it would be having a look at the details of the fairish share scheme and what you can do to be eligible and then you might get your 150 quid bonus on top or whatever it is this year. So I think that's a rounded answer on that. Generally,
29:57 Martin Lewis? get rid as long as you don't have an important application coming would be a good summary. And that is where we probably leave it. Thank you so much, Simon, for joining this week. It's been lovely to have you on board and nice chats.
30:09 Speaker 04 I was going to end the podcast at the moment where you said my podcast production was good, but I will lead in the answer as well.
30:14 Martin Lewis? Just going to edit it there.
30:15 Speaker 04 Yeah, yeah, yeah.
30:16 Martin Lewis? Nice.
30:17 Speaker 04 Although I think even Matt would accept it's better to be lucky than good when it comes to podcast production.
30:21 Martin Lewis? Quite right.
30:24 Martin Lewis? And that's it for this week's Question Time. Don't forget to subscribe so you know when we release a new episode. We tend to put out a new Question Time episode each Monday alongside the podcast with Adrian on Thursdays. Aren't you lucky? Two doses of money-saving tips and tricks a week. Do make sure you send in your questions. You can email martinlewis podcast at bbc.co.uk.
30:59 Speaker 05 Martin Lewis is the founder of MoneySavingExpert.com. But of course, other consumer and price comparison websites are available. You can get in touch with Martin's podcast production team by emailing [email protected] . The offers and rates mentioned in the podcast are correct at the time of recording. However, if you are listening on demand, it's worth double checking as details can date. Remember to subscribe on BBC Sounds and leave us a review however you listen.
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