Money Digests

The median diesel pump price is 199.9p a litre versus 174.9p for petrol as of 6 October 2026. That gap changes the mileage at which diesel's efficiency edge pays off.

The small, frequent fuel stop looks convenient, but the detour to the forecourt burns petrol you never use. A full tank at the median pump price usually works out cheaper per mile.

From your mortgage fix to the account your savings are sitting in, these quick checks can catch real money leaking out of your household.

It comes down to two numbers on your statements and a small tax adjustment. The rest is preference.

A big Black Friday purchase can quietly add a quarter of its price in interest if you carry the credit card balance. Here's what to do instead.

Buy now, pay later feels like a no-cost way to spread a theme park trip. But one missed payment can turn it into a credit card bill. Here is how the real interest rates compare.

A big Black Friday purchase can quietly add a quarter of its price in interest if you carry the credit card balance. Here's what to do instead.

A £2,000 overdraft costs nearly three times what a personal loan would for the same amount. The switch takes an afternoon, not a year.

Instant-access rates are below inflation while fixed bonds and ISAs pay more. Here is the gap and how to close it.

A small recurring charge that tips your account into overdraft can add hundreds of pounds a year in interest on top of the fee itself. Here is how to work out the real cost.

Your mortgage rate and your savings rate may be closer than you think. The right call depends on which deal you're actually on and whether your fixed period is about to end.

Over five years, a £40,000 new car's cost is driven mainly by how it's paid for and how fast it loses value, not by the repairs its warranty saves you. On the numbers here, the £3,000 used car's repair bill would need to roughly quadruple before a cash-bought new car came out cheaper, and nearly double again before a PCP deal did.

The law fixes three running costs that don't depend on the car's condition: which vehicle tax band it sits in, whether it needs an MOT, and whether your journeys take you into a charging Clean Air Zone. For most households these add up to only a few hundred pounds a year either way, so it's usually the price of the replacement car – not its day-to-day running costs – that decides the sum.

Whether solar panels pay for themselves turns mainly on how much of the electricity you generate you actually use in your own home, rather than sell back to the grid. Worked through for a sunny south-facing roof and a shadier east/west one, with and without a battery, payback ranges from around 12 to 19 years on today's prices and rates.

Whether a car salary-sacrifice scheme pays off comes down to one comparison: the tax and National Insurance you save on the salary you give up, against the extra tax you pay on the car as a benefit-in-kind. For a low-emission EV that comparison is easy to win at almost any income; for a petrol or diesel car near the 37% cap, the sacrifice can end up costing about as much as paying for the same car out of taxed pay.

The whole question turns on one thing: can you charge at home overnight? Per mile: ~2p on an overnight tariff, ~7.5p at the standard cap, ~17p petrol, ~23p on public rapid chargers.