► Money A - Z

Scroll down to find a complete is a list of organisations, charities and services relating to money compiled by the Student Advisor. Or you can select the quick links below.

Quick Links

General Money Advice

Banking & Student Bank Accounts

Benefits

Borrowing

Budgeting

Discounts

Loyalty Cards

Price Comparison Sites

Tax

General Money Advice

Citizens Advice, Advice Guide See www.adviceguide.org.uk for lots of up-to-date and practical advice, guidance and fact sheets on money issues, employment, benefits and tax. The site also gives information on where to go for more help.

Money Saving Expert is a site dedicated to saving consumers money on everything and anything.

Website: www.moneysavingexpert.com

Credit Action offer a range of resources, tools and training to help everybody handle their money well, and help others to do likewise!

Credit Action operates at a national level through advocacy, collaboration and partnerships with various groups and companies as well as at a local level through a variety of targeted projects, with a particular emphasis on those most vulnerable to financial difficulties.

Website: www.creditaction.org.uk

The Money Advice Map is an easy-to-use internet search facility to help you find your nearest free and independent face-to-face money and legal advice centre.

Website: www.moneyadvicemap.com

Money Wise is a website covering all aspects of personal finance. News, articles, advice and guides from everyday money issues to how to grow your money. The site offers independent news and views, forums and blogs, as well as compare and buy comparison tools.

Website: www.moneywise.co.uk

Banking

Most banks offer special student accounts with interest free overdrafts and tempting incentives. Don't be too quick to choose an account and make sure you shop around.

Martin Lewis creates an annual student bank account comparison report which is released each summer.

Website: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/Student-bank-account

Don't be tempted to open several student bank accounts

If you are tempted to open several student accounts to get the most freebies you may find yourself in financial difficulties.

It is usually a condition of your student bank account that your student finance is paid into it directly. This means than if you have more than one account your bank may force you to transfer your money to a regular account and revoke your overdraft without warning.

Benefits

Usually students aren't entitled to benefits whilst studying but there are exceptions for some students with children or disabilities.

The University's Welfare and Finance pages provide further information http://www.worc.ac.uk/wfa/150.htm

Lots of websites will help you work out if you might be entitled to benefits.

Try www.turn2us.org.uk to search for benefit or grant entitlements. Turn 2 Us also run a confidential helpline for benefit and charitable grant advice 0808 802 2000

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Borrowing

Loan Sharks

Loan Sharks are illegal lenders who often use violence to intimidate borrowers for more information see

www.direct.gov.uk/stoploansharks

National Debt Line

A helpline that provides free confidential and independent advice on how to deal with debt problems. Contact them on 0808 808 4000 or visit www.nationaldebtline.co.uk

Budgeting

The Moneybasics Spendometer makes day-to-day budgeting simple and practical.

As one in four Brits has no idea how much they spend in a week, a budgeting tool that is accessible and is easy to use is vital.

Website: www.creditaction.org.uk/tools/spendometer.html

Discounts

Discount Codes

Many sites contain information on dicsount codes for high street and online shopping. You'll usually need to register with them in order to benefit from discounts. See sites like www.sendmediscounts.co.uk and www.myvouchercodes.co.uk to start saving.

Other sites have teamed up with cash back websites such as www.quidco.co.uk and www.greasy-palm.co.uk to make money back offers. These sites give you extra discounts if you make purchases through them.

Other Discounts

Don't forget your NUS Extra Card will also offer you discounts on 100's of high street and online stores.

Please note the Student Advice Service does not endorse any particular discount sites or cards other than the NUS Extra Card. Students are advised to check the authenticity of sites and any terms and conditions before registering on them.

Loyalty Cards

Loyalty cards can be a good way to save your money. As well as saving up points from money spent in store to use towards purchases you can convert points to buy other goods and save even more money. For example Tesco Clubcard points can go even further if used to buy other items like DVD rentals.

Cards like Sainsbury's Nectar Card can be used to gain points for shopping at other outlets like eBay and Amazon. Simply click the link from the Nectar site.

Price Comparison Sites

Sites such as www.kelkoo.co.uk, www.pricerunner.co.uk and www.savebuckets.co.uk scour the internet to find the cheapest deal for your item.

Money Supermarket

The site www.moneysupermarket.com lets you compare a wide range of products including travel, insurance, money, mobiles and broadband.

Please note there are several price comparison sites online and students are advised to try a range of sites in order to effectively compare information.

My Supermarket

Compares the cost of products from the four main UK supermarkets (Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's and Ocado/Waitrose) using www.mysupermarket.co.uk

Petrol Price Comparison

Helps find the cheapest fuel within 3 miles of your postcode using www.petrolprices.com saving up to 7p a litre.

Tax

For more information view our Tax Advice section