Do you want to increase your savings without the need to earn it? It’s time to look over this list of ways to earn money for free.
Your parents might have advised you that you couldn’t earn cash for free. However, for many it’s not true at all. We’ve discovered a variety of ways to earn cash without much effort.
The ‘effort’ aspect is the most important. Many other guides for earning money for free contain survey sites that pay you, which we believe is a bit misleading. Being required to do more than what is the minimum amount to earn money isn’t for free, but it does mean you’re working.
With that in mind, we’ve included only the most simple, basic ways to earn free money in the UK. Don’t worry that you’ll still earn £100s!
Do you have a bit more time to spare? This list of methods to earn money fast may require some effort from you however the rewards are more than worth it.
Grants, scholarships, and bursaries
You’re likely aware that students are eligible for cash in the form of bursaries, grants, and scholarships (and that unlike Student Loans, they don’t need to be paid back). However, what you might not be aware of is how many individuals are qualified for this cash.
A lot of students believe that these grants are only available to students with the highest grades, aptitude for a specific sport or musical instrument or those who come from less fortunate backgrounds. However, even though those students may receive assistance however, many others could receive some of the money , too.
As we’ve explained in our guide to the most bizarre bursaries, there are grants accessible to students for many different reasons. It doesn’t matter if you’re a vegetarian, a fanatic for FIFA or simply having the perfect surname it’s possible to get cash for nearly anything. There’s no reason to not look for a way to fund yourself.
Offers to sign-up
Signing up for an account with a business that sells… or, well what? Find out if there are any offers to sign up to new clients.
Instead of offering just discounts on initial purchases, a lot of businesses will give you free cash for signing up. It’s possible that you’ll need to purchase a qualifying item prior to signing up, but if it’s something you’re planning to purchase anyway, it’s completely cash for free.
Sometimes, the reward comes as the form of an Amazon voucher. However, since Amazon sells almost everything, vouchers are just as valuable as cash. If you make use of our Amazon shopping tricks, you’ll get an amazing deal.
There are many sign-up bonuses available, but our most popular are the £5 bonus when you join OnePoll as well as the £10 reward when you sign up with Monese as well as Curve (you will also learn more about what Curve card types are by reading our article).
You can also earn free currency by signing up with Coinbase and performing a few short tasks. While you can’t use it at most stores You can also exchange it in exchange for Bitcoin (some stores take Bitcoin) or trade it to £20plus.
If you’re looking for more information, visit our deals page to find the best ways to earn money by signing up with businesses.
Money to switch banks or utility provider
One of the most important items we advise students to do prior to starting university is opening a bank account for students. Did you know that you could switch accounts with your bank even if you’ve already begun university? Plus, the best part is that you can get cash in exchange?
The process of switching bank accounts could not be easier. It doesn’t matter if it’s money or an Amazon voucher (which is, in fact, just as good as cash) Many banks provide up to £100 to persuade you to change accounts.
If you don’t have an account with a bank do not fret. These deals are available to new customers , too and not only for those who are switching.
Make sure you double-check the conditions of the offer from each bank, since there’s a possibility that you won’t be qualified for the money (if your already finished your first year at university for instance). Also, remember that banks provide cash to non-students who want to change banks.
Cash rewards for referring friends
We are awestruck by referral codes. With regard to how little effort you’ll need and the amount of money you can earn it’s difficult to think of a better method to earn money for free than by referring family and friends to join some businesses.
There’s a lot of overlap here with our previous suggestion. The best referral codes are provided by energy companies, banks (Octopus Energy offers £50 credit) and broadband providers.
The promotions that are offered to the new customer (like £100 for joining) are similar to refer-a-friend programs. However, there’s a major distinction – both you and the person you’re referring receive an incentive.
The biggest and most lucrative offers are offered by utilities and banks. However, many companies offer referral programs. Some reward you with form of credit, while others offer cold, hard cash.
Cashback websites (which we’ll discuss in the next section) and apps for automatic savings are among the most reliable options for this (although the offers they offer tend to vary). You can earn up to £15 per registration!
The key is to look through all applications and services you use to determine if they have an incentive program for referrals. You could earn the money in no time.
Refund your Student Loan
There’s a lot that’s wrong with the present situation in Student Finance in the UK. However, generally speaking the repayments for Student Loans are fairly safe. This is until problems with the system cause that you are forced to make repayments that you shouldn’t.
To begin paying back your student loan there are two conditions that must occur. First you must be in the first month of April following your graduation. In addition you must earn more than the minimum amount required to be eligible for a repayment program.
Find out if you’re due an income tax credit
Refunds for student loans aren’t the only method to get the money you’ve paid in excess.
Each year thousands of taxpayers across the UK are liable to pay too much tax. If you’re among those, you’re entitled to an exemption.
Taxes can be overpaid due to a variety of reasons. The good thing is that it doesn’t matter if the tax overpayment was the fault of you or not.
Even better is that it doesn’t matter if it occurred several years ago. You are entitled to an amount of refund for up to four years after the close in the year in which you paid more than.
Be aware that most students earn less than the threshold of annual earnings for tax (currently £12,570 per year). If you believe you’ve paid tax even though you’ve made less than this it is advisable to consider the possibility of claiming a tax rebate.
Earn interest on savings and current accounts.
If you’re a student, then you may not have a lot of extra cash lying around. If you’re capable of saving some cash it is highly recommended to put it into an ISA or a regular savings account.
While the 2008 financial crisis and austerity measures, Brexit and COVID-19 may have reduced interest rates for a time however, there are some good deals available.
However, due to the rise in inflation £100 now won’t be as valuable in the next year (you’ll still own £100 but it will not be able to purchase you the same amount).
Therefore, it is recommended to save the majority of your spare funds as you can in an account that has the highest rate of interest. Even if you’re not looking for the cash that you can earn through interest, you’ll need to ensure that your money is kept in its value.
£1,000 for free each year when you have an ISA for life
A home may appear like a distant idea right now. However, you can make that dream come true by investing your money into the form of a Lifetime ISA (LISA).
With a limit of up to P1,000 per year A LISA is without doubt the most abundant source of free money that we could think of.
For the maximum amount you’ll have to put the amount of £4,000 in your LISA within a single tax year (April through April). Don’t fret if you don’t have that much to in the bank. The government will still offer you a bonus of 25% on any savings you make up to £4000, too.
The highest amount of bonus you can get from the Lifetime ISA is £33,000 (equivalent to 33 years of you make a deposit of £4,000 every year) This is definitely an amount of money that is free. However, as is always the case with life there are some traps.
To begin, you’re able to only withdraw funds from your LISA when you’re planning to purchase a home, when you’re over the age of 60, or have been granted lesser than twelve months of life. If you withdraw money for any other motive, you’ll forfeit the bonus you’ve earned, and an additional portion of the money.
Therefore, although you shouldn’t put money into an LISA only if you’re sure you’ll be using it to purchase an investment property or retirement It’s the one to earn the highest free cash.
Make use of cashback websites for shopping online
We’ve mentioned it before in this article on how to earn free cash within the UK. If you’re an avid fan of earning and saving money, then you’re familiar with cashback. However, in the event that there’s a chance that you’re not a brief explanation.
If you purchase something on the internet it is possible to do it yourself or use cashback sites. If you can, we’d suggest using a cashback website.
If you purchase from cashback websites, you’ll experience the same shopping experience as if you were on the site of your preferred retailer. But, the cashback website will monitor your purchases and refund you a portion of your total amount you spent (or in certain cases it will offer a specific amount).
Many of your favorite stores are available on cashback websites like TopCashback as well as Quidco. Adidas, ASOS, Amazon and a few other retailers that don’t start with A are all listed the site. It’s likely that you’ll be receiving a maximum of 5percent however it’s more than enough!
The biggest money is, like you’d expect, with the major purchases. If you’re purchasing car insurance or buying a new smartphone Cashback websites will pay more than £100 to buy it from their sites.
You can also get cash back from supermarkets. Along with cashback websites that offer cashback on grocery stores online, cashback programs at supermarkets offer up to 100 percent cashback on a wide variety of items from sweets to pet food.
Make use of cashback websites every time you shop online , and you might earn up to a hundred pounds in cash every year.
Earn money to use the internet using Swagbucks
Spend your life online? If you’re not reading your favorite save the Student guides (we all have one) You could be making money for nothing surfing the web.
One of the ways to earn money with Swagbucks is to set it as the default browser. If you do that, it means you’ll have to say goodbye to Google (or God forbid, Bing), you’ll earn between 10 and 20 SB points (the virtual currency that is used by Swagbucks) per 10-20 search.
Based on these numbers We’ve calculated that a normal search for six months can earn around £300.
However, the cash-back isn’t over – Swagbucks will also pay you to view videos. Let’s face it this is what we end up doing online anyway.
It might be difficult to earn money for free in this manner, as it’s not as simple as just searching for it, and it’s not always accessible to everyone. It’s certainly worth trying!
Visit our Swagbucks review to find out more or sign up for Swagbucks today.
Earn money by walking
We’re all aware of the primary advantages that walking provides: It’s cheap and it keeps you fit and healthy, and it’s carbon-neutral. What would you think if we said there was a fourth benefit to take a walk every day?
With apps such as Sweatcoin, BetterPoints and winwalk Walking is now more affordable than it was before and can be a source of cash for free.
These apps monitor your movements throughout the day and reward you for your actions by granting you virtual currencies. The’money’ is exchanged to gift cards at many popular stores and eateries and, most important, it can be used for free money as well.
We’re not lying, you’re not going to become a millionaire through earning money for free from free walking applications. Keep your phone with your phone while on the move and you’ll begin to notice the cash flowing into your account.
Get free cash from competitions
Let’s be crystal clear. If we say that you can win money for free through competitions, we’re talking about no cost. This isn’t about playing an online lottery that requires money and has less chance of winning over these more unlikely opportunities.
We’re talking about the hundreds, or even thousands of contests taking place in the UK currently, which are completely free to participate in and could award you a staggering amount of free cash.
Elite level competitors (people who compete regularly) claim to be able to participate in around 100 competitions a day. However, that’s not feasible for the majority of us. If you set a goal of about 30 hours per week, you’ll be able to win a decent amount of prizes (be they money, prizes or even experiences).
One of our favorite methods to win cash is to participate in free lotteries. The majority of them require you to check the results every day to claim the winnings (if you’ve won obviously) however, with jackpots that can reach hundreds of pounds, it’s certainly worth a few minutes to spend.
There are many more contests that offer hundreds of pounds worth of cash for free.
Check your receipts for cash and scan them
The last, but by no way least among the ways we can earn cash for nothing: receipts. If you typically throw away your receipts or simply ignore them completely, you might consider rethinking your choices.
In addition to making it more difficult to protect your rights as a consumer throwing away your receipts can result in you losing free cash as well. Therefore, ensure that you keep track of them at a minimum for long enough to snap photos.
Apps that scan receipts like Storewards, Shoppix and Huyu allow you to submit receipts at any store. While you will not be the actual cash amount for every receipt, you’ll receive tokens or coins each time you submit a claim.
When you’ve earned enough coins to withdraw and you’ll receive your money for free. It could be a gift card (including Amazon) or free cash (usually through PayPal).
It could take some time to reach this point. With such little effort , we’d say receipt scanning is certainly an effective way to earn cash for nothing.