Earn cashback on every pound you spend!

It couldn’t be easier to boost your bank balance

WHILE it may sound too good to be true, savvy shoppers really can pocket hundreds of pounds every year by earning cashback on their spending.

A host of different websites and credit cards effectively enable you to profit as you shop, by rewarding you with a cash perk for buying anything, from insurance and holidays to MoTs and mobile phones. Some mortgage providers and banks also offer hard cash to tempt you to take out their products.

But how does it all work? Here, we guide you through what’s on offer.

HOW YOU CAN GET PAID JUST TO SHOP

CASHBACK websites allow you to earn money on all sorts of purchases. These sites act as a middle man between you and the retailer.

So instead of visiting the retailer’s website direct, you go first to a cashback site, search for the shop that you want and then click on its logo to be redirected.

If you buy something, the cashback website is then paid a commission for referring you on, which it then passes back to you.

The two biggest, and bestknown, cashback sites are called Quidco.com and TopCashback.co.uk

You can sign up for free by entering your email address and setting up a password. Then, whenever you are considering buying anything, from garden furniture to a holiday, check to see if you could earn money by shopping via the cashback site.

You may also find it useful to set your favourite cashback website as your internet home page so you don’t forget.

If the retailer you are looking for is listed on the site, you can get money back on your buys. The rates vary widely — you might get 7 pc cashback on purchases from some shops or 1 pc on others.

Among the best payers are firms offering insurance, broadband, banking, loans, gas and electricity and even funeral plans.

Comparison services such as GoCompare and MoneySupermarket will often pay if you click through from a cashback website and go on to buy home insurance, car cover or switch your bills.

You should always make sure that any deal you are buying is the cheapest on offer, rather than just choosing the supplier that pays the highest cashback.

Once you have found the offer you want, simply click through to the retailer’s website and shop as normal. Any money you earn is then paid into your cashback account.

Payments can take weeks or months to come through and, on rare occasions, companies may go bust or fail to honour the cashback they have promised.

It means that you should never consider your earnings as guaranteed until they are safely in your account. Then you can transfer it to your bank online or opt for a gift voucher instead.

There can also be issues when retailers fail to pay, where the website fails to properly register your click through or where you have not followed the terms and conditions of the offer correctly.

If you have followed the rules to the letter and still haven’t been paid, then contact the cashback website for help.

FINDING THE BEST CASHBACK DEALS

TOPCASHBACK passes on every penny it earns in commission to you. It can do this because it makes money through advertising and bonus payments for generating a certain amount of sales for retailers.

On average, customers pocket £325 a year in cashback, according to the site. You can take this as cash or swap the money for vouchers to use at shops such as Marks & Spencer and Amazon, which often give you a bonus on top.

For example, if you had £50 in your cashback account, you could get £62.50 if you swap this for vouchers to spend on an adventure with Virgin Experience Days. But be aware that many High Street names have gone bust in the past few years, leaving customers unable to spend their gift cards.

Joining TopCashback is free, but you’ll be automatically signed up to

a month’s trial of the site’s Plus membership, which costs £5. This is deducted from any cashback you earn, so if you don’t earn anything you won’t pay. The benefit of Plus membership is that you can earn a 5 pc bonus — or an extra £2.50 for every £50 that you earn. You can also earn cashback every time you use your debit or credit card at certain shops on the High Street. You must first register your card with the website or app. Quidco offers similar deals to TopCashback and also has both a free and premium membership, which costs £5. As well as earning bonus cashk, premium members will be entered into monthly prize draws. As with TopCashback, you can also earn in- store by registering your debit or credit card, and you can boost your cash earnings by trading the money for vouchers.

MAKE YOUR CARDS WORK HARDER

YOU can also use a cashback credit card to boost your earnings as you shop. These work just like regular credit cards, but you are rewarded for your spending.

For example, if your card pays 5 pc and you spend £100, you’ll earn £5.

The money is typically credited to your card account once a year on the anniversary of the date you were issued the card.

Ensure you repay your balance in full or the interest charges will far outweigh any cashback you earn.

The American Express Platinum Cashback Everyday card offers 5 pc cashback on up to £ 2,000 of spending in the first three months of having the card — earning you up to £100 in cashback.

After this, the rate is tiered. You earn 0.5 pc on spending up to £5,000 a year, and 1 pc over this amount.

You must spend at least £3,000 over the year to receive cashback. If you are likely to spend more than £9,000 a year on your credit card, you could opt for the Amex Platinum, Cashback card, which offers better rates.

You earn 5 pc on up to £2,500 of spending in the first three months, or a maximum of £125 cashback.

The rate is then tiered at 1 pc up to £10,000 and 1.25 pc on spending over this amount. However, there is a £25 annual fee. Not all stores accept American Express, so you may want to try Tandem Bank, which pays 0.5 pc cashback on all spending.

Take note: the bank is mobileonly, so you need to be comfortable managing your credit card account using your phone.

Santander’s All in One credit card also pays 0.5 pc cashback, but there is a £3 monthly fee, so you would need to spend £600 a month just to cover this.

GIVE YOUR BANK ACCOUNT A BOOST

THERE are also bank accounts that offer cashback on household bills when you pay by direct debit. NatWest and RBS Reward current accounts, for example, will pay you 2 pc in rewards on direct debits for council tax, electricity, gas, mobile, landline, TV package and broadband. Customers earn an average of £83 a year in cashback, based on spending of £345 a month on bills. This amounts to £59 after you factor in the account’s £ 2 monthly fee. You will also receive a £125 cash payment just for switching to the RBS Reward account, and a further £50 if the account is still open after 12 months. You must pay in at least £1,500 and log into your account online by August 2 to qualify. Santander’s 123 current account is also popular. You can choose from a standard account that costs £5 a month, or the £1-a-month Lite version. Both offer the same cashback rates, but you get an interest rate of 1.5 pc on balances of up to £20,000 if you opt for the more expensive account. You will be paid up to 3 pc cashback on the majority of household bills paid by direct debit each month. This includes 1 pc on water and council tax, 2 pc on gas, electricity and home insurance policies with the bank, and 3 pc on mobile and home phone bills, broadband and TV packages. If you take out a Santander life insurance policy, you will earn 12 pc on your first year’s premium. If your mortgage is also with Santander, you can earn up to £10 cashback on your monthly repayments — but you should never choose a home loan deal purely on the basis of cashback, as the interest rate and other fees will normally make a much bigger difference to your costs.