Must be funny... in a rich man's world. (moneysavingexpert.com)

Member Name: The Duke

Product:	moneysavingexpert.com
Date:	08/01/09 (172 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Plenty of advice, hints and tips from journalists and the public alike. Good email newsletter.

Disadvantages: Busy page layout on site and forum, "greedy" members

No-one likes paying over the odds for anything and I'd hazard a guess that most people like a bargain too. That's always been the case (don't we all know of "Rip-off Britain"?) and is even more relevant now in these "credit crunch" days. [Why not just call it a recession and be done with it?] These days, consumers are getting savvier, but where do they get their information from? For UK consumers, the most popular and well-known site is Martin Lewis' Money Saving Expert.

For me, the site can be split into three main pieces: the front side, where Martin does his journalistic thing, the forum where the public can get involved and the weekly email full of tips and bargains.

The "front side" is bursting at the seams with easily digestible information that's understandable and without jargon for the most part. There are sections that cover almost every financial situation you'll come across and they're free to access. Helpfully, each section also has direct links to the MSE forum where Martin posts up-to-date alerts and pieces of information. There are also some really nice tools to help you with your budgeting such as the Tart Alert (get emailled when your interest free period on your credit card is about to elapse) or the Demotivator (want to know how much you'll save if you give up your daily mug of Starbucks coffee?) and these really can help, especially in the planning of your budgets and money saving exercises. Some of the advice is nothing more than pure and simple common sense e.g. if you have lots of clutter, sell what you can, but it can help to have it come from a recognised source.

The forum is a handy accessory to the main site where Martin's articles can be discussed and pretty much any kind of financial dilemma can gain advice and, as with any forum, its strength (or weakness) is a direct refection on the membership. For the most part, this is not an issue but I can't help feel a little concern at the posts (and to a certain extent, posters) in the "Up your Income" and "Debt Free Wannabe" forums where so-called money making schemes are passed around, writing reviews on Dooyoo is only one example. Depending on the potential income offered, these can be dissected for loopholes to exploit and it's not unheard of for these sites to be "gamed" (e.g. cartels, churning encouraged etc.) To be perfectly honest, this seems to go against the ethos of the MSE site and forum and I personally find it extremely distasteful. Similarly, that people are looking to earn a second income or pay off debts in excess of £15,000 using the pennies gained from sites such as Dooyoo or survey sites is, quite frankly, rather worrying in my opinion. That's the negative side... the positive side is that there are loads of people willing to help out with various consumer and finance related queries. The usual caveats about taking care when asking for this advice are as applicable here as any other forum, but it's a good place to hear what the public has to say.

The email is sent out each week and the latest one to drop into my inbox is entitled "£99 Xbox 360, student loan shock rate cut, £30 iTunes for £20, £10 hotels, phone & broadband £14/mth, 25% off Pizza Hut and more...", just to give you a taste of what you might expect. The good thing about signing up is that you won't be spammed by MSE or any other site as a result of giving them your email address, so it's safe to add at work (as I do). The email, in HTML format, is sadly as messy looking as the site and forum, but the quality of content still makes up for the rather cluttered look.

I've used the site many times over the years, seeking advice and information on many different topics, such as investigating loans, changing bank accounts, upgrading my mobile phone on O2, spending money abroad and asking for consumer-related advice when a mobile phone broke within warranty. I have always come away impressed with both the site and the members on the forum who, for the most part, are fantastic and very helpful.

Everything about MSE is free to use and it's nice to see that the MSE site does admit that it's financed through the use of affiliated links when doing comparisons of financial products such as credit cards etc. The site claims that these recommendations are not influenced by affiliates. I can neither confirm nor deny this statement... the MSE recommendations I've looked at (mainly credit cards) often match that of other sites, such as The Motley Fool.

In terms of information and advice, you really can't fault MSE for the most part. Design-wise, I think it's quite messy and garish and often appears badly laid out until you're used to the whole setup, but I prefer a "clean" design with little frills such as Wikipedia, for example. The rather busy layout is especially noticeable in the forums where it can be hard to see useful information like private messages or breadcrumbs (to find out where you are in the forum) as they're not exactly where you expect them to be if you're used to other forums.

You can't really go wrong with MSE as an information source. Some of the basic, general advice from Martin and forum members is excellent and if you're as clueless about financial jargon as I am, you'll find that the articles are not full of it and are written using plain language where possible. The email is a handy addition that might not always have what you want, but can offer up some tempting surprises from time to time.

For most people, MSE is easily a four star site, but the gaming of sites such as Dooyoo by a minority of members plus the rather cluttered layout of some pages on the site means I'll knock a star off.

Summary: Site full of financial and copnsumer-related advice.