Martin Lewis (financial journalist)

Martin Lewis (financial journalist)
This article is about the British personal finance journalist. For the UK TV newsreader of similar name, see Martyn Lewis (journalist).
Martin Lewis
Born 9 May 1972 (1972-05-09) (age 39)
Withington, Manchester, UK
Occupation Television presenter, journalist, author
Spouse Lara Lewington (2009-present)
Website
MoneySavingExpert.com

Martin Steven Lewis (born 9 May 1972 in Withington, Manchester, United Kingdom) is journalist, television presenter, website entrepreneur and author in the United Kingdom, who specialises in ways to save money. He is often referred to in the media as a "consumer campaigner" or "consumer champion" and goes by the (trademarked) title of "Money Saving Expert".

Contents

Early years

Born at Withington Hospital in Manchester before it became a community hospital in 1972, Lewis's family moved south west from Didsbury to Cheshire while still young.[1] Martin grew up in Norley near Delamere Forest in Cheshire and attended the independent King's School in Chester.[2][3] Martin went on to study government and law at the London School of Economics.[2] After graduating he spent a year as elected general secretary of the LSE Students' Union. After this he worked for London financial public relations firm Brunswick[4] and did stand-up comedy part time.[5] In 1997, he left to do a postgraduate degree in broadcast journalism from Cardiff University's Centre for Journalism Studies.[4]

After graduating he went to work at the BBC Business Unit as a producer on BBC Radio Five Live business programmes[citation needed] and was then an editor of the BBC Radio 4's Today Programme business slot.[6] This was followed by the satellite TV channel Simply Money[6] presented by Angela Rippon, where he developed the Money Saving Expert role.

After Simply Money ended in 2001, Lewis started writing a Deal of the Week column in the Sunday Express, and doing MoneySavingExpert slots on Channel 5's Open House with Gloria Hunniford; and being interviewed on BBC Radio 4's Money Box[4] and as a business and personal finance reporter for BBC1 Breakfast News.[7]

Career

TV and radio career

He had a peak time programme on Five called It Pays to Watch![8] as well as presenting money special editions for ITV1's Tonight, and is regular "Money Saving Expert" on several others (including a weekly slot on Daybreak and Lorraine). He also appears on ITV1's This Morning, Five's The Wright Stuff and often appears as a guest expert on many news and other programmes.

He has a regular phone-in on BBC Radio 2's Jeremy Vine show and BBC Radio 1's Jo Whiley. He had his own daytime television series on ITV1 during December 2005 called Make Me Rich and also often appeares on the BBC programme Watchdog.

Print career

Newspapers

He has a fortnightly column in the Sunday Post and a monthly regional syndicated column in the Manchester Evening News and the Express & Star amongst others. He has been a past columnist for the Sunday Times, News of the World, The Guardian and the Sunday Express. All his columns are on the theme of saving money.

Books

He is the author of two bestselling books, The Money Diet[9] and The Three Most Important Lessons You've Never Been Taught[10][11] and edited another, Thrifty Ways for Modern Days,[12] which was based on contributions to a forum on his website.

Internet career

Lewis created, runs and 100% owns (both personally and through his company Moneysavingexpert.com) the website MoneySavingExpert.com.

As of April 2008 it was ranked the biggest consumer and personal finance site in the UK with over 7 million users each month and over 3 million receiving the Martin's Money Tips weekly e-mail.[13]

The website was designed for Lewis for a cost of £100 in February 2003.[14] There is a team of 23 full time members of staff at "MoneySaving Towers" in Shepherd's Bush, west London. The website carries no advertisements, but rather affiliate links to other websites and thereby receives commission for purchases made and/or clicks through.

In August 2008, the company via which Lewis owns the website changed from being a limited company Martin S Lewis Ltd to an unlimited company Moneysavingexpert.com.[15] This form of company is relatively rare,[16] and means Lewis has unlimited personal liability for the company; the advantage to him is that the company no longer needs to submit its accounts to Companies House. The last published accounts, for the year ended 31 October 2006, showed assets of £1.14m, a level at which abbreviated accounts (only including a balance sheet) need be filed.

The site's profit isn't known, but the 2006 accounts showed payments due (including company taxes and any other current debts) within 1 year of £1.15 million. It is thought to generate substantial turnover as the completion of the purchase of a few financial products, via affiliate links, can be £100 or more.[17]

The site makes strong claims about its ethical status, defined as only ever writing about the best products, without allowing revenue to impact that. These are boosted by its publicised donation of almost £500,000 to date to the MSE Charity Fund. This money is in turn distributed: two thirds to the MSE Charity and the rest to five other charities nominated by site users.[14][18][19]

Campaigns

Bank charges

In late 2005, campaigns against what were claimed to be unfair bank charges gained momentum and a few small websites started to highlight the issue. Lewis was at the forefront of the media campaign to reclaim what he states are unfair and unlawful fees charged by UK banks. He presented the first mainstream television programme on how to get your money back (ITV1's Tonight) and in November 2006 published a step-by-step guide, including template letters, which speedily achieved its millionth download in February 2007 and by August 2007 had over four million downloads[20][21] as well as regularly appearing across the media to champion the issue.

His campaign suffered a major setback in November 2009 when the Supreme Court ruled that the charges imposed by banks formed part of their fees for current account services and could not be assessed for fairness under the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations.[22] Although in the following days he announced that in association with other consumer groups he had hired Ray Cox QC (a barrister with previous experience of banking cases[23]) to look into new legal arguments for account holders wishing to reclaim charges, which might possibly use regulation 5 of the Unfair Terms act as suggested by the Supreme Court Judgement,[24][25] This attempt suffered a further setback when, on 22 December 2009, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) issued a statement saying that it had decided against taking forward such an investigation because it "would have a very limited scope and low prospects of success".[26] The updated template letters allowing individuals to attempt to recover bank charges individually was further delayed from the promised date of the third week of January 2010[27] eventually being published late on 2 February 2010[28] although that then concentrated mainly on reclaiming on financial hardship grounds only, with hopes for further information regarding claims on legal grounds made via courts to "go live in the next couple of weeks";[29] the guide was eventually published late on 24 February 2010.[30]

Lewis initially admitted "our instinctive guess is even with the new argument there is only a 10-20% chance of most people now getting charges back".[31] although in his later updated guide said in relation to claiming via the courts the "chances of success are impossible to work out" and also "if you’ve had charges and don’t fit the Ombudsman’s criteria, it’s at this point you may need to accept you won’t get your money back or at least wait to see others are successful.".[30]

Council Tax

In January 2007, he presented a programme Tonight on Council Tax Cashback,[32] a campaign to get everyone in the UK to check and potentially challenge their Council Tax band, that first started on his website and has led, according to his website, to "many" backdated windfall payments resulting from thousands of claims.[33]

Energy bills

In summer 2008, Lewis appeared on several television & radio programmes exhorting consumers to "cap your energy bills now", based on the prediction that there would be a further round of price increases at the end of 2008.[34] "Capping prices" involved consumers locking themselves into rates higher than prevailing un-capped rates. After that point British Gas announced an increase of 30% on its un-capped prices, though in January 2009 UK energy companies' un-capped prices were reduced by up to 10%.

Information published by Uswitch, a price comparison site whose business motivation is to encourage frequent switching between energy suppliers, after the price cuts, in February 2009, suggested that "Those who were savvy enough to sign up to a competitive fixed-price plan last summer, before some increases in wholesale energy were passed on, are sitting pretty as prices would need to drop by 16% on average before it would be worth moving"[35] but failed to be clear about which specific capped deals it was basing this assertion on, and when it was sensible to have committed to a capped rate deal.

Others

Other large scale campaigns, with ensuing television programmes, include reclaiming payment protection insurance[36] (it is predicted that this may grow to the same scale as bank charge reclaiming),[37] reclaiming mortgage exit fees[38] and reclaiming credit card charges,[39] all of which have resulted in over 100,000 template letter downloads, according to Lewis' website.[21]

Recognition

Lewis became a Governor of the London School of Economics in 2008.[40]

Personal life

Lewis married long-time partner, former 5 News weather presenter Lara Lewington,[41][42][43] on 31 May 2009.[44]

Other than money saving, Lewis declares his interests as playing Scrabble, golf and reading historic novels.[45] Being born a few miles from Maine Road in 1972[46], he is a keen supporter of Manchester City.

Books

  • (2005) The Money Diet: The Ultimate Guide to Shedding Pounds Off Your Bills and Saving Money on Everything!, Vermilion
  • (ed 2006) Thrifty Ways for Modern Days, Vermilion
  • (2008) The Three Most Important Lessons You've Never Been Taught: MoneySavingExpert.Com, Vermilion

References

  1. ^ Taylor, Paul (21 February 2007). "Mr Supersaver's on a mission". Manchester Evening News. http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/tv_and_showbiz/s/236770_mr_supersavers_on_a_mission_. Retrieved 2011-09-04. 
  2. ^ a b Manchester Evening News, 21 February 2007, Mr Supersaver's on a mission
  3. ^ Martin's Blog July 2005
  4. ^ a b c "Martin Lewis MoneySavingExpert Biography". http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/biography.phtml. Retrieved 3 September 2006. 
  5. ^ "MoneySavingExpert Forums Martin Lewis comedy background post". http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=1447669. Retrieved 3 September 2006. 
  6. ^ a b Metro, 6 December 2005, Martin Lewis
  7. ^ "BBC Business Report 2001". BBC News. 4 July 2001. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/1421754.stm. Retrieved 3 September 2006. 
  8. ^ "It Pays To Watch Website". http://www.itpaystowatch.co.uk. Retrieved 23 January 2008. 
  9. ^ "The Scotsman, Martin Lewis, moneysaving champ". http://money.scotsman.com/scotsman/articles/articledisplay.jsp?article_id=2601719&section=Mortgages&prependForce=SM_. Retrieved 3 September 2006. 
  10. ^ "The Three Most Important Lessons You've Never Been Taught". http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/site/three-most-important-lessons. Retrieved 23 January 2008. 
  11. ^ "Martin's Money Tips inc. Bestseller info". http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/tips/23-01-2008/. Retrieved 23 January 2008. 
  12. ^ "Thrifty Ways for Modern Days". http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/site/money-saving-books. Retrieved 23 January 2008. 
  13. ^ "Statistics from bottom right of MoneySavingExpert home page stats". MoneySavingExpert.com. http://www.moneysavingexpert.com. Retrieved 21 April 2008. 
  14. ^ a b MoneySavingExpert.com, About
  15. ^ Companies House Companies House website - enter company number 04557992 and press "search"
  16. ^ I intend to register a new unlimited company under the Companies Act 2006 - how does this affect me? Department for Business, Innovation & Skills - Articles of Association
  17. ^ QuidCo Currency Rates
  18. ^ How this site is financed MoneySavingExpert.com
  19. ^ MSE Charity Fund MoneySavingExpert.com
  20. ^ Hickman, Martin (23 February 2007). "The Independent". London. http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/article2296831.ece. Retrieved 22 February 2007. 
  21. ^ a b "MoneySavingExpert.com Stats section". http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/#stats. Retrieved 28 August 2007. 
  22. ^ "'Court rules in favour of banks on charges - Reuters'". 25 November 2009. http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE5AO17X20091125?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=10174. Retrieved 25 November 2009. 
  23. ^ "'Ray Cox QC Biography - Fountain Courts'". http://www.fountaincourt.co.uk/raymond-cox-qc/. Retrieved 2 December 2009. 
  24. ^ Evans, Richard (25 November 2009). "'Overdraft charges: it's not over yet, says Martin Lewis - Telegraph'". The Daily Telegraph (London). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/consumertips/banking/6653435/Bank-charges-its-not-over-yet-says-Martin-Lewis.html. Retrieved 2 December 2009. 
  25. ^ "'MSE hires top QC - moneysavingexpert.com news'". http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/reclaim/2009/11/mse-hires-top-qc-to-continue-bank-charges-fight. Retrieved 2 December 2009. 
  26. ^ "'OFT announces decision and next steps on bank charges'". http://www.oft.gov.uk/news/press/2009/144-09. Retrieved 14 January 2010. 
  27. ^ "'Martin's Money Tips Weekly Email' 23rd December 2009". http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/tips/23-12-2009/. Retrieved 14 January 2010. 
  28. ^ "'Martin's Money Tips Weekly Email' 03 February 2010". http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/tips/03-02-2010/. Retrieved 23 February 2010. 
  29. ^ "'Bank Charges Reclaiming'". http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/bank-charges. Retrieved 23 February 2010. 
  30. ^ a b "'Bank Charges Court Guide'". http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/oft-bank-charges. Retrieved 24 February 2010. 
  31. ^ "'Bank Charges Q&A: door reopened for reclaimers?'". http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/reclaim/2009/11/mse-hires-top-qc-to-continue-bank-charges-fight. Retrieved 2 December 2009. 
  32. ^ ""Council Tax Cashback: Reclaim £1000s". http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/council-tax-bands-change. Retrieved 20 January 2007. 
  33. ^ ""Council Tax Reclaiming Success Reports". http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=3964795#post3964795. Retrieved 23 January 2008. 
  34. ^ "Power price hike". 7 August 2008. http://www.gm.tv/index.cfm?articleid=30234. Retrieved 1 February 2009. "GMTV's Martin Lewis said: "EDF is the first of the big six suppliers to announce a price rise. Once one provider puts its prices up, the others normally follow within five to six weeks, as they operate a herd mentality. I urge everyone to cap their tariffs at the cheapest possible rate as soon as possible. "By that, I mean today or tomorrow and no later. You can still lock in cheap prices if you do it straight away, but cheap caps are vanishing faster than a rabbit at a greyhound track. Do remember that this is only the first round of rises; expect another round in December or January, if not earlier - this is why fixing's so important."" 
  35. ^ Leaving a fixed deal could save you money Times Online, 15 February 2009
  36. ^ ""Loan Insurance Reclaiming". http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/ppi-loan-insurance. Retrieved 23 January 2008. 
  37. ^ Hickman, Martin. "The Independent: £4bn protection racket". London. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/the-banks-1634bn-protection-racket-770621.html. Retrieved 20 January 2007. 
  38. ^ ""Mortgage Fee Reclaiming". http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/mortgage-fees. Retrieved 23 January 2008. 
  39. ^ ""Credit Card Reclaiming". http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/credit-card-charges. Retrieved 23 January 2008. 
  40. ^ "Martin Lewis's Blog". http://blog.moneysavingexpert.com/2008/02/11/learning-to-blag-what-is-%E2%80%9Cfiduciary-responsibility%E2%80%9D/. Retrieved 2 October 2008. 
  41. ^ "Blog MoneySavingExpert". http://blog.moneysavingexpert.com/2007/12/31/i%e2%80%99m-very-proud-the-msg%e2%80%99s-agreed-to-become-the-msf/. Retrieved 3 January 2008. 
  42. ^ "Lara's Biography". http://www.laralewington.com/page2.htm. Retrieved 3 January 2008. 
  43. ^ "Announcement on MSE forums". http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1727559. Retrieved 2 June 2009. 
  44. ^ Lara Lewington and Jonnie Irwin, OK! magazine, November 18, 2008.
  45. ^ "MSE Martin's Profile". http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/member.php?u=13175. Retrieved 14 August 2010. 
  46. ^ "A moment’s pause for Stuart Pearce". http://blog.moneysavingexpert.com. 15 May 2007. http://blog.moneysavingexpert.com/2007/05/15/a-moments-pause-for-stuart-pearce/. Retrieved 2011-09-05. 

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