My 5 best summer savers!

Moneysavingexpert.com’s Martin Lewis is fighting to save you £££s

summer’s coming... and the warm weather often means we socialise and spend more. So here’s five tips for bolstering your bank account in time for the (hopefully) hot weather.

1 Free £662 if you’re married or a civil partner Back in april 2015, the government launched a new tax break for married people and civil partners, but out of the 4.2 million eligible couples for the marriage tax allowance, fewer than half have claimed it. you’re eligible if both of you are under 82 (there’s a different allowance for older couples), one of you pays the basic 20% income tax rate and the other’s a nontaxpayer. the taxpayer can apply on gov.uk to transfer £1,150 of their personal allowance to their spouse, which means £1,150 of income is now tax-free, a £230 gain. you can back claim if you missed out and since 6 april this year, you can claim back an extra year, so it’s now £662, much of which will come as a cheque. to claim, read mse. me/marriagetax.

2 Free £100 and two airport lounge tickets temporarily change the plastic in your pocket and grab a little cash! new american express Preferred Rewards gold charge cardholders get 20,000 reward points when they spend £2,000 on the card in the first three months. that’s enough to exchange for a £100 voucher for a range of shops, including amazon.co.uk and m&s, or two Ba economy return flights to amsterdam or Paris. now, spending £2,000 sounds like a lot. But it’s £700 a month and i’m suggesting you use the card for everything you can – petrol, supermarkets and more (it’s not an excuse to spend more, just shift your normal spending on to it).

you also get membership to the Lounge club scheme, which gives you two free visits to use at over 500 airport lounges (£15 per visit usually). however, this card has a £140 annual fee after the first year, so cancel before then to avoid it. and, as it’s a charge card not a credit card you must repay in FULL each month. if not you face a £12 penalty and a mark on your credit file.

3 Get up to £250 switching banks the bank-account market is fiercely competitive right now; and the way many of the challenger banks (those with fewer customers) fight to get you to switch is simple… they pay you! these banks

often have better customer service ratings anyway, so grab the cash! tsb is currently offering up to £130 to switch and then up to £10 a month cashback on top, First Direct £125 and a 5% linked regular savings account, and co-op is offering £110 and then up to £5.50 a month. the best buys change regularly, so always check mse.me/bankaccounts.

4 Get a tax rebate if you wear a uniform to work if you wear a uniform and wash it yourself, even if it’s just a branded t-shirt, you may be able to reclaim some tax. the amount will depend on your industry – the standard allowance is £60, so a basic-rate taxpayer can claim £12 (20% of £60), though some occupations allow up to £185 (£37), and higher-rate taxpayers can claim more. you can go back four years in total, so you could get up to £185-£370 depending on which rate of tax you pay. it’s free to claim, just fill out the P87 form at gov.uk and send it to hmrc – don’t pay anyone to do it for you. once you’ve registered, your tax code will change, so you’ll be taxed less in the future.

5 Reclaim lost Tesco Clubcard vouchers if you shop at tesco, you can easily find any unused or lost clubcard vouchers from the past two years. Just log into your account and under my Vouchers you’ll be able to see a list of unspent vouchers. this can be huge, as annav told me on twitter: ‘Wow, i’ve got £413 – ridiculously excited!’