Question Time: Overpay mortgage with savings? Can bank switching kill a credit score? How do I find my husband’s lost pensions?

In our Question Time podcast, Martin Lewis gives you answers on anything and everything, including: is it worth overpaying my mortgage, and when’s the perfect time to do so? I’m worried bank switching will kill my credit score, will it? I’ve got a Plan 2 and Plan 5 student loan; how do the repayments work? What’s the easiest way to track my husband’s lost pensions from various jobs? Plus, what’s the most unusual place Martin’s been asked a financial question? 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 why he speaks so quickly, if he organises his wardrobe by colour or garment type, or have a very complicated question about your finances, email it to [email protected] mailto:[email protected].

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

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  In Our Time is a world-class seminar every week. Why was Jeremy a lonely snail? What were lines doing in York in the third century? I'm Misha Glennie and every week I'm joined by expert guests to explore the ideas that shape our world.

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• 0:29Speaker 01

  In Our Time, listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts. Tea or coffee? Love a cup of tea.

• 0:40Martin Lewis?

  What you actually want to happen is that you are mortgage-free sooner.

• 0:45Speaker 05

  What's your favourite bridge?

• 0:47Speaker 06

  Would that impact on you negatively because you've only opened the account for a short period of time?

• 0:51Martin Lewis?

  Great timing, well done. That is a very interesting question. I've got £110,000! I'd like to wash my hands first, please. Hello and welcome to the cunningly named The Martin Lewis Podcast. I do wonder what that's going to be about. And this is our Question Time episode where you are Esquires, extremely savvy questioners, get to ask me your questions on absolutely anything and everything, open brackets within reason, close brackets. And this week, you ask me, is it worth overpaying my mortgage and when is the perfect time to do it? Is switching bank a credit score killer? I've got a Plan Two and Plan Five student loan. How do the repayments work when you've got two? What's the easiest way to track my husband's lost pensions because I think he's got loads of them?

• 1:35Martin Lewis?

  And finally, you ask me, what's the most unusual place I've been asked a financial question? Can I wash my hands first? Play the theme tune.

• 1:58Martin Lewis?

  Hello and welcome to this week's Question Time podcast. Yes, the podcast where you get to ask me questions on anything and everything all set together, open brackets within reason, close brackets.

• 2:11Speaker 05

  Glad you actually opened the brackets and closed them this time.

• 2:12Martin Lewis?

  I did open the brackets. I've learnt my lesson after last week. And I'm delighted, you've already heard him, but I'm delighted to be joined by Professor, Sir, Dr Matthew Burnham Esquire. Add your own round of applause, Matt.

• 2:29Martin Lewis?

  There we go. I do like it when you do that. How are you, Matt? But before we get on to you.

• 2:33Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 2:34Martin Lewis?

  She's back.

• 2:35Speaker 05

  Who?

• 2:36Martin Lewis?

  The enigma. The much asked about, the never revealed. The oversight, knowing everything that's going on and yet completely shrouded in mystery. GDPR herself, Rosie is back this week. Now, Rosie, you're back. Did you listen to last week's podcast? Do you know what happened in last week's podcast? She's shaking her head.

• 3:00Speaker 05

  Oh.

• 3:01Martin Lewis?

  She doesn't know.

• 3:02Speaker 05

  The controversy.

• 3:03Martin Lewis?

  The controversy. We went completely counter format. Claire was standing in for you, as you know, and we both love Claire. Claire got to say hello. Rosie's mouth is open wide in shock, horror that Claire got to say hello. Deliberately, because I wanted to see if you were going to listen to the podcast and react to it. And you didn't. So I have, I have no shame or sympathy for Rosie. Rosie's got, she's got her sort, it's a slightly more laughing version of the Mona Lisa face on at the moment. But she's typically unreadable, Matt.

• 3:39Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 3:39Martin Lewis?

  Typically unreadable. For those of you listening for the first time, you'll be totally lost by this. Matt is our curator of questions. He is in charge of deciding what questions go to me. And within the canon of the podcast, he has earned all those titles as though we can't use them outside the canon of the podcast. But who wants to go outside the canon of the podcast? Rosie works with me on lots of things I do. She is my researcher. But in the podcast, she is GDPR and she is here to live fact check. She's always seen, has huge amount of info. She's the power behind the throne. If you always wonder, if people wonder about conspiracies, who are the dark hands controlling what goes on? Well, within the canon of the podcast, that's Rosie.

• 4:25Martin Lewis?

  I don't know, yeah, I'm getting stare. Talk about something else, Matt, I'm getting worried.

• 4:28Speaker 05

  Well, actually, I was thinking, so obviously people get to ask you anything and everything, don't they?

• 4:33Martin Lewis?

  Open brackets, within reason, close brackets.

• 4:34Speaker 05

  Exactly. So, and I was off for a while, as we all know, and I was covered by Simon and Matt. And while I was off, I was at a couple of weddings. And you know, when you're a few, well, you might not, but when you're a few drinks in and you've been speaking to people and you don't really know what to say, you've run out of small talk.

• 4:50Martin Lewis?

  I remember it from when I used to imbibe, correct.

• 4:53Speaker 05

  So I came up with, in my somewhat intoxicated state, a question to ask everyone. A bit of a rogue question and one that would get people talking. And so I want to ask you, Martin Lewis, the same question.

• 5:07Martin Lewis?

  Should you do it now? Or should we do it at the end of the podcast?

• 5:10Speaker 05

  Well, I've got a question for the end of the podcast, so I want to do it now.

• 5:13Martin Lewis?

  Okay.

• 5:14Speaker 05

  What's your favourite bridge?

• 5:17Martin Lewis?

  Um, I like it when you play it with four hands.

• 5:21Speaker 05

  Uh huh.

• 5:22Martin Lewis?

  Bum. My favourite bridge?

• 5:24Speaker 05

  See, it gets people talking. And I bet you're listening now thinking, oh, I wonder what my favourite bridge is.

• 5:29Martin Lewis?

  Okay. My favourite bridge is a relatively ugly concrete bridge. But the reason it's my favourite bridge is when I go for my weekly or bi-weekly run, I often run along the canal and it has been very, very hot recently. And there's one quite wide concrete bridge when I've decided that it's time for that little bit of a stop and shade and to have a little bit of water that I stand under. And that bridge, while it's ugly, while it's concrete, it runs over the canal and it provides me with shade and protection. And we should always be grateful for those who provide people with shade and protection. And in this podcast, I love what I've just done. I've just realised what I can do. And in this podcast, I provide the protection

• 6:14Martin Lewis?

  and Matt gives me shade.

• 6:15Speaker 05

  Hey, very good.

• 6:19Martin Lewis?

  Oh, I wish I'd planned that.

• 6:20Speaker 05

  I know.

• 6:21Martin Lewis?

  Yeah.

• 6:21Speaker 05

  Gets people talking. And it really worked at the wedding.

• 6:24Martin Lewis?

  All right, let's do some proper questions.

• 6:28Martin Lewis?

  We've done a lot of talking already. We haven't got to a question. Let's go straight into it.

• 6:31Speaker 05

  Okay, got one to start with from Stephen and Jade. They've emailed it in to [email protected]. They say, "Dear the finest, right honourable Lord Admiral Matt Burnham of Salford..." And Martin.

• 6:44Martin Lewis?

  Well, I mean, seriously, and you want your question answered. Lord Burnham of Salford, when I called you a lord, I didn't give you a place. Maybe you can have a think about during the podcast where your place would be if you were lord of somewhere.

• 6:55Speaker 05

  It definitely wouldn't be Salford. Okay, carry on. My wife and I nearing the end of the first fix of our first ever mortgage. For Martin's info, our house was £239,000 and our mortgage was £179,000. And we're in the last year of a five-year fix at 1.68%.

• 7:15Martin Lewis?

  What a rate! 1.68%, you've managed... Oh, great timing. Well done, well done.

• 7:21Speaker 05

  And their remaining balance is £154,433.72.

• 7:27Martin Lewis?

  Good.

• 7:28Speaker 05

  "During this fix period, we've been squirreling money away, 24 grand, with the aim of getting our loan to value below 60% ahead of our next mortgage fix application. Our question is, when's best to lump our savings into the mortgage to overpay? Now, soon, or during the remortgaging process? We're wary of a rule that we can only overpay 10% of the remaining value to and don't want to incur charges. Appreciate any help and advice as this is all new to us. Thanks for all you do, it's all three of you."

• 7:58Martin Lewis?

  That's for you, Rosie. That's Rosie. Big smile from Rosie. No, it wasn't a Mona Lisa smile. That was just a genuine, proper smile there. Okey dokey, let's do short answer first, short answer at the point you remortgage. Long answer now.

• 8:12Martin Lewis?

  The best way to think about overpaying or reducing a mortgage balance if you've got savings is that you are saving at your mortgage rate. Let's think about this really easily. If your mortgage rate were 5%, then if you reduced what you owe by £1,000, you're saving yourself £50 interest a year. If your saving rate were 5%, then by saving £1,000, you're earning £50 a year. They're akin. Two sides of the same coin. So that's the easy way to think about it. Now, your current mortgage rate is ridiculously low. One point six eight percent. My standard rule of thumb is if your mortgage rate is higher than the after-tax rate you can earn in savings, you're best to overpay the mortgage.

• 8:57Martin Lewis?

  If your mortgage rate is lower than the after-tax amount you can earn in savings, you're best to save. Well, your mortgage rate currently is one point six eight percent. Your best savings on the market, even for larger lump sums, is four point five percent. Even if you were taxed at forty five percent as a top-rate taxpayer, which I doubt you are, then you would still get more in savings than your mortgage rate is costing you right now. So there is absolutely no need for you to be overpaying. But you're quite right. If you can reduce your loan to value when you borrow, so the loan to value, your LTV on a mortgage, is the amount of your house's current value at the point you're mortgaging that you're borrowing.

• 9:42Martin Lewis?

  If you can reduce it below sixty percent, that's where you get the very best mortgage deals. Now, the difference between sixty and seventy percent, it won't be that huge, but still, it's the sweet spot. So if you've got that extra saving that can reduce you below sixty percent and you want to put it towards your mortgage, great. And that's especially because, you know, the top five-year fixed rate now, you ain't going to be getting one point six eight percent. You're probably going to be getting somewhere around four and a half percent, assuming everything is working well for you. And that's about the same rate as the rate that you can earn in savings. So in essence, what I'm saying is, if you were to put the money into your mortgage now, you wouldn't get any loan-to-value basis because your mortgage is already fixed.

• 10:23Martin Lewis?

  So the fact that your loan-to-value has dropped won't help you. That will only help you when it comes to remortgaging.

• 10:30Martin Lewis?

  And you could earn more in savings than the mortgage is costing you right now. So there's no benefit to you on a sort of pounds and pence finance system. When we get to the point of remortgaging, the likely rate you can get on a five-year fix is going to be around four and a half percent, which is very similar to the rate you can get in top savings. So in financial terms on that basis, it's much of a muchness. But at that point, by using more money towards your mortgage, you are, you can reduce your loan to value that may enable you to get a mortgage rate. So effectively, you've got the added benefit that by using your savings to reduce your mortgage borrowing,

• 11:15Martin Lewis?

  you're getting a better mortgage rate. So your debt is cheaper on a much larger amount. Your debt's cheaper on around 150 grand, which should be beneficial to you. So actually, it's quite simple. I would just a little bit of caution because you haven't mentioned it. I suspect you've done this, but I would always want a three to six months cash emergency fund outside of the mortgage. And that's because the fact you've overpaid or got a lower mortgage would not stop them putting you in arrears, i.e. you owe them money and starting process against you if you couldn't repay in future. So to have that little stash of liquid cash in a top savings account somewhere, three to six months worth of bills, it depends on your philosophy, how risk averse you are, which one you go for, then I always think that's a good idea.

• 11:59Martin Lewis?

  So it's a pretty simple answer, really, I think, for you, based on what I've got there. I would be continuing to squirrel this money away in the highest interest rate savings account you've got. And then when it comes to remortgaging, putting all but three to six months worth of bills money into the mortgage to reduce the amount that you're borrowing to make your mortgage be cheaper in future. And for people listening generally, when you overpay your mortgage, What you actually want to happen is that you are mortgage free sooner. The reason for that is quite simple. The cost of a mortgage is based on two things. The interest rate, the higher the interest rate, the more you pay. And the length of borrowing, the longer you borrow for, the more time the interest has to accrue, the more you pay in total.

• 12:41Martin Lewis?

  So by overpaying the mortgage, your real aim, as you can't reduce the interest rate, if you're just overpaying it within a mortgage, is to reduce the time that you're paying the mortgage for, which can take tens of thousands of pounds of the total amount that you repay. The problem with doing that is when you put the money to the mortgage company, the mortgage company might simply say, oh, we'll just reduce your monthly repayments to improve your cash flow, but we'll keep your term the same. So you might drop from £500 to £480 a month. You don't want that. You want to keep your remortgage payments the same. Now, you might do that by just overpaying each month in future because they reduce it down to £480, but you say, I'm going to pay £500 and you want that to reduce the capital balance, the amount that you owe, and that will effectively get your mortgage term down.

• 13:26Martin Lewis?

  You don't want to negotiate with them and say, I don't want to shorten my mortgage term because you have less flexibility doing that. But what you want, basically, the point is, overpaying your mortgage is all about meaning your mortgage free quicker, so less interest accrues. That was a very long answer to what was actually quite a simple thing. The answer to Stephen and Jade was, do it at the time you remortgage.

• 13:49Martin Lewis?

  So Matt, it's question number two. Everybody listening now, apart from new listeners who need to make sure they understand exactly what's going on and what they're doing, is simply going, it's question number two. Professor Matthew Burnham will clearly, clearly have a caller for Martin at this point. Clearly.

• 14:07Speaker 05

  Clearly.

• 14:07Martin Lewis?

  Clearly.

• 14:08Speaker 05

  And this time, I actually do have a caller for you. I've got Rav in Bristol. Hi Rav.

• 14:14Speaker 06

  Hi Martin, hi Matt.

• 14:16Martin Lewis?

  Hi Rav, welcome on board. Your badge will be pinging its way to you, not literally, that could be dangerous at some point after this because you have been a caller on the show. And what's your question?

• 14:27Speaker 06

  Brilliant. So Martin, I've been listening a lot and you've done various shows and podcasts and so on about the bank switches and how you can get that money every time you do make that bank switch. So it's really interested me in doing it. But the only thing that's always really put me off is I was under the impression that every time you open a new account, they will do like a hard credit search on your file. And I was a bit worried about that. So I wasn't sure whether it was a hard search or a soft search. And I was just thinking that, you know, in terms of making the searches, the more searches you make, eventually without not negatively impacting you over time, because there'll be all these searches on your file. And then also on the flip side of that as well is, say if you're

• 15:08Speaker 06

  applying for credit, whether it's a re-mortgage or a mortgage or a new credit card, again, would that impact on you negatively because you've only opened the account for so, for a short period of time potentially. And again, all the credit searches. So that's what I was sort of in my mind sort of thing. So that's why I wanted to ask.

• 15:30Martin Lewis?

  Okay, so let's go through this because you're right. This is what puts a lot of people off. Factually, everything you've said is correct. When you apply for a new current account, it will put a hard search on your file. A hard search means it is recorded in a way that other lenders will be able to see it when you apply for something new. A soft search, just as an aside, is put on your file so that you can see it, but it doesn't impact your applications when you apply for anything. But this is a hard search. So it is a material search. It has an impact. You are equally right to say that if you have lots of searches in a short space of time, I can tell you've been listening, if

• 16:14Martin Lewis?

  you have lots of searches in a short space of time, that can be negative for future applications. However,

• 16:22Martin Lewis?

  Searches only stay on your file in almost all cases for a year. The fact that you've got a new account will be on there, but your application searches only stay on for a year. So if you're doing a switch to a bank account and you're doing it once a year, you will have, well, assuming that you're being accepted and credit scoring for bank accounts isn't that tricky, you will have one search on your file. Will that affect you? Well, yes, I mean, but it has to be looked at in combination of everything else that's going on with your credit. If you've got a really absolutely glowing credit history and you're easily passing the affordability checks, it's unlikely to have a big impact. If you're struggling and you've got a relatively poor credit history,

• 17:04Martin Lewis?

  it's likely to make it worse because everything is agglomerated rather than individual in the way that they look at these things. So would I do it? Well, the best way to think about this is twofold. First of all, this application for a bank account is only going to have an impact in the short term. If you were to check your credit score and you know what a credit score is, you know, I don't really rate them as being absolutely gospel, don't you?

• 17:32Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 17:33Martin Lewis?

  Yeah, I mean, it's just, it's a loose indication of how one credit reference agency might see you. And so it's a good guide, but if it moves a few points, you shouldn't really care. It will tend to drop your credit score when you look at those things for maybe a month or two, and then it will bounce back to exactly where it was. So it isn't really that big a deal. I just wouldn't do the application if I was about to apply for a mortgage or is about to apply for an important balance transfer. If I don't have any of those due, I wouldn't let this bother me.

• 18:01Martin Lewis?

  Do you have any of those due? Is that what's putting you off or?

• 18:04Speaker 06

  No, it's not that, but you know, you sometimes you never know what's going on. I mean, obviously, when you do your mortgage applications, you do it for a few years. So you could sort of plan in time and tie that in. So I guess, are you saying that in a way, really, you should, if you are doing this switching, potentially maybe once a year, just allow the previous search then go off your credit search? And I also understand what you've said as well in terms of the, you know, the credit searches. There's probably three, four at these different agencies providing this service. And I guess it depends on who the lender uses as well. But then, but would you say potentially maybe once a year is what you should cap it at?

• 18:40Martin Lewis?

  I I tell you what, let's let's take this philosophically. Let's imagine that your credit score, not that it exists in that factual way because every lender scores you different based on its own wish list of what is a perfect customer. But let's imagine you have a credit score, for example. And let's imagine it's like a pot of coins. And gradually over the years, by being careful and good and managing it right and repaying on time, all of that, you've built up this nice pot of credit score. That's that's sort of how most people, I think, perceive. I'm working on my credit score, I'm building it, I'm managing it, I want it to be better. But why? And I'm going to ask you a rhetorical question, almost, but let's see if you get it.

• 19:24Martin Lewis?

  Why do you want a good credit score? What is the point of a good credit score?

• 19:30Speaker 06

  To be able to, you know, borrow money and, you know, if I wanted a mortgage, I can go to whichever lender I want to, or credit cards and finance, isn't it really?

• 19:39Martin Lewis?

  Exactly. That's the point of it. Now, what I always find interesting on this is people say, I'm worried about applying for this product I want because it might impact my credit score. Wrong way round. I have built up my credit score so that I can successfully apply for the credits that I want. And that's the right way round to think of it. So what I would say to you is, you you need to think about applications and new products and change as spending a bit of what you saved. And the question is, is it worth it for you? Now, if you, especially because the impact on your credit score of changing bank account is particularly short-lived, if you have nothing else to spend on at the moment, spend

• 20:22Martin Lewis?

  it on being paid £220 by HSBC, or, you know, £200 by Barclays, or £175 by First Direct, or £180 by Santander Edge, for switching and make that money and get yourself a better account. That's what you've been saving for. That is the rainy day that you've been saving it up for. Obviously, if you have something even more important, like a mortgage, it's like, well, I'm not going to spend my money on my saving, I'm not going to spend my credit score on my bank account until I've paid in credit score terms for my mortgage. So I I think you may be being a little risk averse. If it's, if you're not making any other applications. I would, I would go ahead and you might want to switch twice a year and see what the

• 21:06Martin Lewis?

  impact is. If it starts to have an impact, then you stop doing it. If you want to become a multiple switcher, if you have other applications to make, then I'd be very cautious. So I don't think there's a hard and fast rule, but I do think that people who have good credit scores are overly cautious about protecting them for the sake of protecting their credit score, rather than using their credit score for what it's there for, which is to enable you to get all the best possible products out there. Does that make sense?

• 21:34Speaker 06

  That definitely makes, no, definitely that makes sense. That's really, really good. That's really helpful. I guess, like you said, it's about, you know, being risk at first boss, being responsible as well, and using that, that credit score to do what you want. So that's really good. Thank you, Martin.

• 21:47Martin Lewis?

  Switching bank account wants no problem. Where this gets more difficult, if you want to become one of those serial switchers who makes thousands of pounds by multiply switching bank accounts and doing it every three months, that in the period that you're doing that is going to bring your credit worthiness down and make applications more difficult. So that's best for people who are, you know, three or four years away from the next mortgage application, or they're never going to need any borrowing, so they may as well just go on and go and make some money out of it anyway. And that's sort of the balance. I love the question, Raff. Thank you.

• 22:18Speaker 06

  Yeah, thank you, Martin. Thank you for taking the time to answer my question.

• 22:21Martin Lewis?

  A pleasure, and a badge will be flinging its way on its way to you.

• 22:24Speaker 06

  I look forward to it. Thank you.

• 22:26Martin Lewis?

  I think we need an interlude here, Matt.

• 22:28Speaker 05

  Mm hmm.

• 22:30Martin Lewis?

  Because, and we maybe probably should wait for the end of the podcast, but I can't.

• 22:34Speaker 05

  Okay.

• 22:35Martin Lewis?

  Because as already mentioned, Rosie is here with me. She came up to Manchester to see you. She then outrageously decided to take a week off work while she had hold of the badges. She kept them in her clutches, probably somewhere very valuable. She might have pinned them all over the house so people walking past could see, knowing that she had badges and I don't have a badge. I'm going to take my first in-person look at the badge. Hand it over, Rosie. She's reaching into her badge now, into her bag now. She's got them out. It's a sort of leather satchel. It's in a brown envelope. It's like a bribe. I'm getting my brown envelope. I'm opening it up on there. Oh, there's lots in there. They feel good, quite tactile. Let's have a go. There we are. Okay. Oh my gosh, I've got a lot of wrinkles in that picture.

• 23:21Speaker 05

  You've got your eyebrows raised, don't you?

• 23:23Martin Lewis?

  I've got my eyebrows raised, I've got full wrinkles, maybe I should invest in botox. I've got a pair of headphones on and cut out on this sort of, so the badge, because we agreed I could describe, didn't we?

• 23:33Speaker 05

  Yes.

• 23:34Martin Lewis?

  So here's what the badge is. It says, in big black font on the top, I'm Anne, dot, dot, dot. And I've got my reading glasses on, can I see the third dot? There's a tiny, tiny little smiling face. There's a little Burnham, a mini Burnham, a mini Burnham, just sitting on the badge. And then below is a big picture of me, looking somewhat like I'm astonished or surprised, or somewhat worried. Yeah, with headphones on, and it says the Martin Lewis podcast on one side of my face. And that's sort of, the way that's framed, that's sort of almost, it's like it's clipping the sides, it's like it's giving me a shave.

• 24:10Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 24:10Martin Lewis?

  A bit of a shave. And on the other side, there's a five, which is for Radio Five. And then the bottom, it says the crucial letters, E S Q. Extremely Savvy Questioners, Esquiers, which anybody who's read out on the programme is an Esquire. But only if you call up and get in touch, will you get one of these amazing, money can't buy, and perhaps money shouldn't have bought.

• 24:32Martin Lewis?

  Badges.

• 24:34Martin Lewis?

  You and Rosie are laughing. I love the badge, Matt.

• 24:36Speaker 05

  It looks good, doesn't it?

• 24:37Martin Lewis?

  It's very good in a kitsch way.

• 24:40Speaker 05

  And I'm glad you liked my little Easter egg of my face.

• 24:42Martin Lewis?

  I do like the Easter egg. I'm just noting, who's bigger, you or Five Live? About the same.

• 24:47Speaker 05

  I'd say Five Live.

• 24:49Martin Lewis?

  No, I don't know. I think you've put yourself on, if the editor of Five Live is listening, Matt's put himself on parity with the entire radio channel.

• 24:58Speaker 05

  Which I think is where I stand, yeah.

• 25:02Speaker 05

  But I'm glad you liked the badges.

• 25:03Martin Lewis?

  I do like the badges.

• 25:07Martin Lewis?

  Right, that was a good caller. What have you got for me next? It's a read. It's gonna be a read.

• 25:11Speaker 05

  Of course. Why break from tradition? Question from Ben, who has emailed.

• 25:16Martin Lewis?

  Well, you can, you're the curator of questions.

• 25:17Speaker 05

  I don't want to. I really don't think I should either. I don't think you'd be very happy if I did break from tradition.

• 25:22Martin Lewis?

  I wouldn't know where I was. I'd feel lost.

• 25:24Speaker 05

  Exactly. And I think everyone listening is.

• 25:25Martin Lewis?

  I feel swept away by the churn and the change. Do you know what my favourite cupboard in the office is, Matt?

• 25:30Speaker 05

  Go on.

• 25:30Martin Lewis?

  It's the stationery cupboard, because I don't like things that move. Carry on.

• 25:34Speaker 05

  I just got it.

• 25:36Martin Lewis?

  Thank you.

• 25:36Speaker 05

  That took a second to click then. Question from Ben, it's thrown at me. He says, Dear Martin and Matt, Eminem. I started listening to the podcast on holiday in Thailand as a 22 year old and I really enjoy the pod.

• 25:49Martin Lewis?

  Yay, thank you. We love younger listeners as well. I mean, I'm very passionate about financial education. It's great that you're coming on board. Wonderful to hear, Ben.

• 25:57Speaker 05

  I've just finished training to be a maths teacher.

• 25:59Martin Lewis?

  Even better, even better.

• 26:01Speaker 05

  You're the kind of person.

• 26:02Martin Lewis?

  Yeah, and spread it, you know, the more you learn about this from next year in England. From 2027, we're hoping that financial education will be a core part of the national curriculum. So all state schools will have to teach it. And I'm sure if you're getting into this, I hope you'll be involved in that as we need maths teachers to adopt it too.

• 26:20Speaker 05

  He goes on, say, I have an undergraduate degree from University of Bath in accounting and finance.

• 26:24Martin Lewis?

  Oh, Ben, keep going.

• 26:27Speaker 05

  And then decided I want to be a maths teacher. I started university in 2022, so I have a plan two student loan.

• 26:33Martin Lewis?

  Yep.

• 26:33Speaker 05

  Then I started my teacher training with the University of Reading in 2025, giving me a plan five student loan. My question is, will I start paying back just the plan five loan first? This would be perfect as I'd pay this off, then start paying back my plan two student loan. Or would I just start paying them both back at the same time? From what I read, there's no clear answer and I was wondering if you could shed any light on the situation.

• 26:56Martin Lewis?

  That is a very interesting question. So let's start by, obviously you've got the different thresholds. So you repay the plan five loan. Once you're earning above £25,000, 9% of everything you earn above £25,000. You repay the plan two loan once you're earning above £29,385. So obviously on earnings up to £29,385, over £25,000, you would only be paying off your plan five loan. Once you get above that, I'm mulling. If it were a post-normal postgraduate loan, which it isn't, then you would pay both. And you'd have to pay 6% towards your normal postgrad loan and 9% towards your undergrad loan.

• 27:38Martin Lewis?

  But the plan two is an undergraduate loan. So that would equate, would you be paying 9% to both? I think I might have to take a second and do magic of podcast, Matt.

• 27:52Martin Lewis?

  Okay, I've come back because we only have a certain time in the studio. I don't have very long to research this. So I've only the the time shift that you had was only three or four minutes in real time. I think I've found an answer, but it doesn't fit right to me. So what I'm going to do, I'm going to give you the answer as I have it right now, but then I'm going to go and do some proper research over the next week, speak to the student loans company, as I am lucky enough to be able to do so, in order to get myself a detailed technical answer that I'm happy with. So see this as a cursory answer with more to come. Is it all right that I do that, Matt?

• 28:25Speaker 05

  Yeah, I'll let you off this time.

• 28:26Martin Lewis?

  Okay. I think we want to give the right answer. So this is just a cursory answer. This is a Martin version one answer, and I will go and dot all my i's and cross all my t's, having done some proper checking. I love being stumped. Okay. So this is what I think. What I'm reading at the moment would indicate that your plan, you would pay 9% of your earnings above the lowest threshold, which is £25,000. So let's say you earned £35,000, you would pay £900 on that. The amount that is where you would only be paying Plan Five, so that's the £4,385,

• 29:07Martin Lewis?

  so from £25,000 to £29,385, all of that would go towards paying off your Plan Five loan. But anything above that, where you're now in the Plan Two threshold, all of that would go towards paying off your Plan Two loan. That is my cursory reading. That doesn't feel right to me, though. So that's why I just want to give it a bracket. I've only ever looked before in detail at the situation with an undergraduate loan and a postgrad loan, not what you effectively have because of this, which is an undergraduate loan and another undergraduate loan. So I'm going to hold that in abeyance for now, and we're going to come back with a catch up next week.

• 29:49Martin Lewis?

  Because while everything I found said that's right, that seems quite bizarre to me. Because if you were earning, let's say, for sake of example, £125,000, so you would be paying off- Nine thousand pounds per year, you would only be repaying £400 of that towards your Plan Five loan, but you'd be repaying £8,600 of that towards your Plan Two loan. That doesn't seem to be the right split for me particularly. So that's my initial answer, but we will do more investigations and I will come back to you next week.

• 30:27Martin Lewis?

  Okay, Matt, question number four. It's a caller. What have you got?

• 30:31Speaker 05

  It's not a caller this week, unfortunately. Yeah. Why have you gone quiet?

• 30:39Martin Lewis?

  I'm giving you a disappointed tone.

• 30:41Speaker 05

  Oh, okay. Right, right. I can see your face and I can see you're actually smiling slightly.

• 30:45Martin Lewis?

  I was trying to see how you reacted to the pressure of silence in a podcast as a producer.

• 30:50Speaker 05

  I can feel any silence.

• 30:51Martin Lewis?

  Go on then.

• 30:51Speaker 05

  I could just talk and talk and talk. Okay, right. Question that I've got is from Theresa. She's emailed it in because I didn't manage to get a caller, but I thought I'd give you a nice question anyway.

• 31:02Martin Lewis?

  Okay.

• 31:03Speaker 05

  She asks, is there an easy way to track down pensions from previous jobs? My husband has had lots of short jobs and has moved multiple times. Now, we don't really know exactly how much he's got.

• 31:15Speaker 05

  So now this is when you would come in and answer the question. Do you want me to just answer it anyway? I think I know the answer. I can try.

• 31:22Martin Lewis?

  Okay. Curator of questions himself. Let's see if you're the curator of answers.

• 31:28Speaker 05

  I actually don't know the answer at all. This is where you come in. This is why we need Martin Lewis on the Martin Lewis podcast and not trust me.

• 31:37Martin Lewis?

  I was watching, there was some speaker training thing the other day that I'd done only because someone had sent it me because I'd used my evidence as an example of how to do some talking. And one of the things there is if you want to sound like you've got authority. Do you know the big way to sound like you've got authority, Matt?

• 31:50Speaker 05

  Go on. Silence.

• 31:52Martin Lewis?

  Silences.

• 31:53Speaker 05

  It's what they, when I was training to be a journalist and stuff like that, when they, when you're interviewing someone, they always said, ask the question.

• 32:00Martin Lewis?

  And then let them talk. Let them talk. And let them talk. Keep talking and talking and talking. What you're doing to me. Anyway, let me answer the question about pensions. Yeah, there's two relatively easy ways to do this. The official way is you go onto gov.uk, you go onto its pension tracing service, find pension contact details. And you, what you can do there is you can tell it all your past employers and it will tell you who to contact. So for example, if your old employer has sold or moved on or its pension service has moved on, it will tell you who now has the liability, where that pension is kept. And then you get in touch with them and you write to them. And you say, I had a pension with you, how much is it worth please? I sometimes get people getting over a hundred grand back when they do this and they're shocked. Because if you start had a pension when you were 21 and you put a little bit in and it sat there

• 32:43Martin Lewis?

  and it was in a good investment and you forgot about it and you check back when you're 50 and you think it's going to be nothing. And I have had people who go, I've got a hundred and 10,000 pounds. You know, it can be like that. So it is very worth, well worth doing. And so that's a little bit hard to do, but it should include almost every firm with pension tracing service. Another way to do it is there's a fintech firm called Gretel. Now, it's much easier to do. What you do with Gretel is you basically put your details in and it does a search for you on every company in its database to see if you have. So instead of you having to write and go through that whole process, it'll just tell you you've got a pension in this place. It will give you that information and it'll do it for all other lost assets too.

• 33:25Martin Lewis?

  And Gretel does it because effectively firms subcontract it. They have a legal responsibility to try and unite people with lost or forgotten assets. And they subcontract it to do it for them. But with Gretel, it only works with the companies that work with it. Now, it does have a pretty decent range of big providers, but it is not fully comprehensive. So if I were doing this, I would use the official service, but I would probably, in all honesty, I'd use Gretel first, see what Gretel comes up with. And then for the ones that aren't on Gretel, I would then go to the pension tracing service and see what I find. Because I think that would be the easiest way round to do it. And please do let us know how your husband has got on. And I wonder, I just wonder, I'm reading, subtext in this question. I hope, Theresa, I'm not saying anything bad, but.

• 34:12Martin Lewis?

  You've now put the question in front of me, Matt. Is there an easy way to track down pensions from previous jobs? Good standard question, but being asked by Theresa. My husband has had lots of, lots of short jobs and has moved multiple times. Now, we don't really know exactly how much he's got. I do sort of think there's a subtext that's going on. My husband hasn't kept track of his pensions. I tend to be the one who sorts out the money in our relationship. And now he's making me have to do lots of work to make sure that we get the pensions back. I don't know if anybody, anybody else heard that? I heard that. Maybe it's just my way of thinking.

• 34:46Speaker 05

  Maybe. I've got a couple of questions for you on the back of that.

• 34:48Martin Lewis?

  Okay.

• 34:49Speaker 05

  Do you have to pay for Gretel?

• 34:50Martin Lewis?

  No, totally free.

• 34:52Speaker 05

  Okay.

• 34:52Martin Lewis?

  So Gretel, as I say, it's paid for by the firms who subcontract to it to so effectively to fulfill their responsibility for trying to track down people with lost assets.

• 35:01Speaker 05

  Uh huh. And my second question is, you said that, say if the company's folded, that they have to pass on, the liability passes to someone else?

• 35:08Martin Lewis?

  May do.

• 35:09Speaker 05

  May do. So what would happen if the company's gone?

• 35:11Martin Lewis?

  Well, it depends. Companies and pension schemes aren't the same thing, depending on the type. So you can, the pension scheme can be separate from the company. And there were lots of issues over that. And also companies could have been bought and bought and bought again. And it could have been, you, you might have had a private pension scheme that was set up through a company. There are so many different iterations and variations. You're just trying to find out with, on the pension tracing service, you're just trying to find out, where is my pension? Have I got a pension with you too? And that's what the pension tracing service is doing. Gretel is actually going a step further and saying, you have a pension with, but is less comprehensive, which is why I would have a Venn diagram and do both. And hopefully the intersection will be big, so you don't have to do much with the pension tracing services. That's a bit more work, but if you do, you do, because it could be worth serious money.

• 35:57Martin Lewis?

  Now, I did a big plea. I did a peroration last week to say, ask and some funny questions, we want them. Did we get any in on the back, Matt?

• 36:08Speaker 05

  We did. In fact, quite a few people did send in some funny questions.

• 36:14Martin Lewis?

  Okay, have you picked one?

• 36:15Speaker 05

  I've picked one.

• 36:16Martin Lewis?

  Okay, because you are the curator of questions.

• 36:18Speaker 05

  I am, and I found this one this morning before we started recording. It was sent in by Richard. He sent in quite a few, but I picked out my favourite because I think you might have a good story on the back of this one. He asks, what's the most unusual place you've been asked for financial advice?

• 36:35Martin Lewis?

  Right, well, I was just thinking about this. I have to say technically I don't give financial advice. It's guidance that I'm giving, not advice, because advice is regulated, but we're going to ignore that.

• 36:45Martin Lewis?

  So I've had it on more than one occasion, I have been at a urinal. And the person standing next to me has asked me a question.

• 36:54Speaker 05

  Please don't do that.

• 36:55Martin Lewis?

  Yeah, it's just, yeah, just wait, ask me out.

• 36:57Speaker 05

  At the sink, the sink's better. At least you're just washing your hands.

• 37:00Martin Lewis?

  Think it's better and you're washing your hands. And I've had it when I've had it when people, when I've finished on the urinal before I've washed my hands and I'm like, I'd like to wash my hands first, please.

• 37:09Martin Lewis?

  I've had it on quite a few occasions in rollercoaster queues.

• 37:14Speaker 05

  Oh.

• 37:14Martin Lewis?

  But I've also had it on a rollercoaster.

• 37:17Speaker 05

  Okay.

• 37:18Martin Lewis?

  When sat next to someone, if I've been taking, say, my daughter and a friend or something of that occasion. And or my wife on the very, it'd have to be a very slow rollercoaster if you had done it. I can't remember what the exact rollercoaster was. But I do remember distinctly sitting next to somebody on a rollercoaster who realised it was me and started talking and asked me a question. Before we, just as it's going on, the chuka, chuka, chuka, chuka, chuka bit. Luckily, I'm really good at rollercoasters, so I wasn't bothered by that. I once had to film on a rollercoaster, a piece to camera. And for various reasons not to do with me, it had a camera in front of me. I had to do 14 takes and it was a corkscrew rollercoaster.

• 37:51Speaker 05

  Oh, wow.

• 37:52Martin Lewis?

  But I'm pretty good with rollercoasters. And I have to tell you, the odd thing is after four, I became totally not bothered. All the thrill went out of it and I had to almost feign the rollercoaster nuts in the piece to camera. Because I was just so blasé about what was going on when they were doing it, but I wanted to keep it like the original. And the final one, pure name drop.

• 38:16Martin Lewis?

  I've got loads of name drops, actually, I could do on that.

• 38:18Speaker 05

  I bet you could.

• 38:19Martin Lewis?

  I was going to do one about the question Prince Charles asked me when I got my CBE, but I won't. It's not quite this, but my favourite one ever. So I was walking through a, not allowed to say the brand name, big department store that tends to be quite near my office, which I sometimes do if it's very hot or cold because it's quite near the office and it's easy to go inside and you get the warmth when you go in there. I wasn't actually banging there. And someone said behind, someone called said, Martin, Martin Lewis. And I sort of recognised the voice and I turned around, and this is a long time ago, and it was the wonderful Michael McIntyre. And this is in early days. And Michael said, just want to say, I've had some terrible financial problems in my

• 39:03Martin Lewis?

  time and your website has been absolutely fantastic. So thank you. I was so chuffed.

• 39:08Speaker 05

  Yeah, I bet.

• 39:10Martin Lewis?

  So chuffed. Very exciting. It was a long time ago. So yeah, so there we go. I'm not sure that's unusual, but maybe the Michael McIntyre element in Selfridge's Food Hall does that. But I think the urinal, the urinal is more common than you would think.

• 39:22Speaker 05

  I can't imagine it. So are you a rollercoaster person then? Do you like a rollercoaster?

• 39:26Martin Lewis?

  I love a rollercoaster. I am actually going to go in the next week and take my daughter to an unnamed theme park. And we're going to go, just the two of us. It's a dad and daughter date. And we're going to go rollercoaster riding and go and do all of that.

• 39:40Speaker 05

  That sounds lovely.

• 39:40Martin Lewis?

  Yeah, it's very exciting. I think that seems a rather nice way to end it, doesn't it, Matt?

• 39:44Speaker 05

  I agree.

• 39:45Martin Lewis?

  Thank you all for listening. And do please keep your questions coming in to [email protected]. We want money questions, financial questions, questions of that you don't understand something to do with the world of consumer issues, or just a funny or askance question to come at the end. We love all of your questions. And if your question is read out, then perfectly legally, within the canon of the podcast, you can call yourself an Esquire, an ESQ, and you know what you get. Let me pick it up.

• 40:15Martin Lewis?

  There you go. That's the rattle of the badges if you ask a question and your voice is on air.

• 40:24Martin Lewis?

  That's it for this week's Question Time. Don't forget to subscribe so you know when we release a new episode. We put out a new Question Time each Monday alongside the Big Topic Podcast with Adrian on Thursdays. Aren't you lucky? Two doses of money-saving tips and tricks a week. And why not subscribe so you can listen to them both and leave us a review. And if you've got a question, just send it in. You can email [email protected] and just address it to Dear Martin.

• 40:51Speaker 05

  Dear Matt.

• 40:52Martin Lewis?

  Dear Martin. And don't forget, I've cut you off. And don't forget, if you come on the show, we'll send you an exclusive Martin Lewis Podcast Question Time ESQ badge. Who wouldn't want that? That's a rhetorical question you don't need to answer.

• 41:07Speaker 05

  Dear Matt.

• 41:24Speaker 07

  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.

• 41:57Martin Lewis?

  I would need to take them, don't I?

• 41:58Speaker 05

  You do.

• 41:59Speaker 02

  When Freddie saw it, he was like, who designed this?

• 42:03Speaker 05

  Did you say it was a very, an extremely talented producer?

• 42:08Martin Lewis?

  No, she said it was you.

• 42:13Speaker 01

  In Our Time is a world-class seminar every week. Why was Jeremy a lonely snail? What were lines doing in York in the third century? I'm Misha Glennie and every week I'm joined by expert guests to explore the ideas that shape our world.

• 42:28Speaker 02

  It's one of the first times really that you consistently see someone painting teeth. I know that sounds bonkers.

• 42:33Speaker 03

  If I was going to define mathematics, I would say it's the study of structure.

• 42:37Speaker 01

  In Our Time, listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts. Tea or coffee?

• 42:43Speaker 02

  Love a cup of tea.