Three easy ways to blag free cash

Britain is a nation of thieves, according to a new report. Here, we reveal three legal ways to blag some free cash.

Should you be unfortunate enough to lose your wallet or purse, a new study has found that you might as well give up on hoping to ever see it – or more importantly, its contents – ever again.

According to a survey by MyVoucherCodes.co.uk, a whopping 51% of respondents said they would not hand the wallet in to the relevant people. Perhaps even more depressingly, 8% said they would hand the wallet in, but only after they’d removed the money inside!

It’s not just wallets either. 63% said they always pick up change they see lying in the street, while 87% said that if they saw an ATM with money sticking out they would pocket the cash.

Clearly Brits want to get their hands on free cash. So here are three perfectly legal ways to blag some free money!

1) Blag free cash from retailers

The easiest, and certainly my favourite way to get some free cash, is to use cashback websites to blag a bit of commission from retailers.

They work in a very simple way. Cashback sites have commercial tie ups with all sorts of online stores, and as a result have links to those stores on their website. So long as you follow those links, rather than going to the store's site directly, the money you spend will be tracked, and you'll receive a percentage back in cashback!

The top site in this regard is Quidco, which has relationships with all sorts of big names, including Tesco, Play.com, HMV, Debenhams and Marks & Spencer. However, the first £5 you earn in cashback each year will be kept by Quidco as your membership fee.

There are plenty of free alternatives, though the rates of cashback are not always as good. Personally I use GreasyPalm, though there are loads of others including TopCashBack and Rpoints.

You'll soon find yourself using them for everything - I even got cashback on the flowers I bought my wife for Valentine's Day!

Why not give them a try?

2) Blag free cash from your credit card

The only problem with cashback websites is that if the store you want to spend in isn’t one of the cashback sites partners, you want be able to earn any free money by shopping there.

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One way around this is to use a cashback credit card. With these clever bits of plastic you will earn a percentage of your spend back, no matter where you use the card.

The top cashback card, and it has been for a fair while, is the American Express Platinum Cashback card. This card gives you 5% cashback on the money you spend in the first three months (up to a maximum of £100 cashback), with tiered rates thereafter, up to a top rate of 1.25%.

Alternatively, there’s the Egg Money Mastercard, which pays a flat rate of 1% cashback on all of your purchases, though there is a £1 monthly fee that comes with the card.

It’s pretty easy to maximise your cashback with both of these cards by just putting all of your spend each month on the card. However, it’s worth remembering that these cards are only worthwhile if you pay off your card in full each month, otherwise the interest you’ll be charged will soon erode any cashback you may earn.

3) Blag free cash from your bank

Brilliantly, you can actually get cold, hard cash just by switching your current account!

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A host of different banks now offer you cashback if you sign up to their deals. What’s even better is that some of them are market-leading accounts too!

First up, there’s the Alliance & Leicester Premier current account, for which you can get your hands on £100. The account offers an interest free overdraft for a whole year, a great option for those of us that tend to find ourselves in the red more often than not. All you have to do is switch over all of your direct debits to the Premier account, and pay £500 in each month.

Then there’s Santander, which from today will be paying £100 to all customers taking out its Preferred In-Credit Rate account, which pays a market-leading 5% on your money and offers a four-month interest free overdraft.

The cashback is also available on the Zero account, the Reward account and the Premium accounts from Santander.

If you take out the 1st Account from First Direct, they will also give you £100 as a welcome present. Even better, should you not be happy with the service and decide to move after six months, First Direct will then give you a second £100!

Similarly, if you take out a current account with the Co-operative Bank, such as the Co-operative Bank Current Account Plus and aren’t happy with the service, they will give you £50. However, this is only available to those that apply before the 30th June, so you’d better get moving!

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