If you’re saving hard for a special occasion, a home or a holiday, you’ll want to gather together all the cash you can to make that dream a reality. So what if there was money out there – your money – that you could get back? Here’s some ways to reclaim your cash today…
UTILITY BILLS
One of the surprisingly regular ways that I get extra cash in my bank account is through a utility bill rebate. If you pay by direct debit, it’s possible that you might be over-paying on your bills a little and could end up being in credit over the course of the year. If so, you’re entitled to get that money back and can ask your gas and electricity suppliers to repay it into your bank account. Take a metre reading, phone your utilities provider and get an up-to-date bill. If you’re in credit, great! If not, I’ve blogged about some ways to make your home more energy efficient so that you’ll end up being in credit next year!
WHO BORROWED FROM YOU?
Have a think back over recent months and try to recall if you lent any money to friends or family. It could just be a small amount, like when you split the bill for dinner and they promise to give you their portion of the bill later. Or did you buy tickets for a night out for your group of friends but one pal has forgotten to send over the cash? You can send them a gentle reminder using a PayPal money request, which emails your friends with a total cost, and allows you to split it up between any number of your pals. In the future, when you’re planning a group trip etc you can start a ‘pool’ on PayPal that everyone can contribute to.
INSURANCES
Remember when PPI claims were all you heard about when you watched adverts on TV? Well, the claims are still valid but the deadline is coming soon. The cut-off for claims is 29th August 2019 so if you want to start looking into a claim, now’s the time to do it. If you took out ANY loans, credit cards, car finance, mortgages etc during the claim period of the 1990s-2000s you’ll probably be able to reclaim PPI.
CATALOGUES
Catalogue claims are the new PPI! I only spotted the news recently that you can claim back any insurances or interest that you paid on catalogue purchases if you bought anything from a catalogue account in the late 1990s or early 2000s. This may be worth looking into if you had any catalogue credit during that time as you could get some cash back from them – a quick google will tell you how to claim from your particular catalogue provider.
SELF-ASSESSMENT TAX
If you’re self-employed and have been saving for your tax bill, you could be pleasantly surprised when it comes to paying. There’s no time like the present to put in your self-assessment and find out how much you owe in tax and national insurance. If you’ve put aside a portion of your earnings, you can pay your bill in full and may be left with some extra cash in your savings account that you can either leave in for the next tax bill or take as a bonus now. Just don’t forget to continue saving a portion of all your future earnings for next year!
I hope that this post has given you some ideas for gathering together some cash that’s out there with your name on it. Let me know if you can think of any other pots of money that you might be owed in the comments below.
This article is a sponsored collaboration. The pink links in the content indicate a sponsored link or information source. The blog post reflects my own experience and the sponsor hasn’t had any control over my content 🙂
