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Start your year off with a bang by saving over £1000 - 17 January 2012

Last year money was tight for many of us in the UK and unfortunately 2012 doesn’t look like it’s going to get any better.

This is why price comparison site MoneySupermarket.com is urging its customers to get their finances in check at the start of the year.

According to their new TV advert, by finding a better deal on your car and home insurance, loan, credit card and energy you could save over £1000.

Kevin Mountford from the website said "These savings don't even require a change of lifestyle, but simply a few minutes of research to check what deal you are currently being offered, comparing it to other products and changing it to a more competitive deal if necessary.”

Insurance
Both car and home insurance premiums have steadily been on the rise. With this trend set to continue, now has never been a more important time to make sure you are on the cheapest deal.

When it comes round to renewing your insurance products, never settle for the renewal quote. By taking the time to shop around you could save hundreds of pounds.

Consumer intelligence found that by using the home insurance comparison tool, consumers could save on average £127.35 off their house insurance premiums, and by doing the same for car insurance a further £371.53 on average could be saved.

That is a total of nearly £500 saving.

Money
A further £500 can be saved if you have a credit card and/or a loan.

Those people who are paying a high APR on their debts are losing money in the interest payments. For example, if you have a credit card balance of £2,069 paying an average APR of 18.4%, by switching to a 0% balance transfer credit card you could save £272.35 in interest payments.

The same principle applied to a loan. With competition high amongst lenders we are seeing some of the lowest rates for years as they battle for your business.

The average current loan rate on the typical £7,663 most of us have in personal loans is 11.76%. By transferring your loan to a more competitive rate, the lowest being 6.4% available from Nationwide Building Society, customer could save £220 in interest payments.

Energy
Late on last year, all of the energy providers raised their prices yet again, forcing millions into fuel poverty.

Many people are extremely worried at what their energy bills may have amounted to over the cold Christmas period so now is the time to do something about it.

Most of the energy providers offer online tariffs which are usually their cheapest rates. With the average standard tariff costing bill payers £1,286.58 a year, over £360 can be saved by switching to a cheaper tariff.

Scott Byrom, head of the MoneySupermarket gas and electricity team said “Bill payers can take action and make their own savings by making sure they are on the best energy deal for their usage and region."

How much can you save?
With even more savings to be made on a number of other products, the challenge has been set.

How much can you save in 2012?

For those of you who have not seen the TV advert yet, have a look at the video below for some motivation.