13 Ways To Get Free Money

Scholarships, grants and grants

This may not be news to many of you, but listen up – we are a student funds website, after all.

While you are probably aware that students can receive money in the form of scholarships, grants, and grants (and that unlike regular student loans, these are non-repayable), you may not know how many people are eligible for this free money.

Many students tend to assume that these resources are only offered to those with the best grades, a talent for a particular sport or instrument, or those with a less privileged background. But while these students usually are Many others who are eligible for assistance can also receive a portion of this free money.

As we explain in our Guide to the Weirdest Scholarships, Grants, and Scholarships, funds are available to students for all sorts of reasons. Whether you’re a vegetarian, have a knack for FIFA, or just have the right last name, you can get free money for almost anything – so there’s really no reason not to look for funding yourself.

Registration offers

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Before you create an account with a company that sells somethingyou should always check if there are any sign-up offers for new customers.

In addition to offering an introductory discount, many companies also give you free money to sign up. And while sometimes you need to make a qualified purchase first, it’s 100% free cash if you wanted to buy it anyway.

Sometimes the reward comes in the form of an Amazon voucher, but given that Amazon sells pretty much everythingA voucher is as good as cash anyway. And if you use our Amazon shopping hacks, you are guaranteed a bargain.

There are tons of sign-up offers out there, but our favorites include the £ 5 bonus to join OnePoll or the £ 10 payout to join Curve.

If you want more just visit this landing page to find out the best ways to make free money by signing up with companies.

Money for changing the bank or provider

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One of the most important things we recommend to students before starting college is to open a student bank account. But did you know that you can switch bank accounts even if you have already started college and that you can get free money for doing so?

Switching bank accounts couldn’t be easier, and whether it’s pure cash or an Amazon voucher (which, as we repeat, is as good as regular cash anyway), many banks offer up to $ 100 to help you To persuade change.

And if you don’t already have a bank account, don’t worry – these offers are available to new customers too, not just those who are switching.

Just check the terms and conditions of each bank’s offer as you may not be eligible for the free cash (for example, if you have already completed your first year at university). And remember that banks also offer cash to non-students who want to change!

In addition, not only banks offer significant amounts of free money for the exchange. Energy companies are all over this sort of thing, with Bulb promising £ 50 and broadband companies often making deals too.

Free money for referring friends

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We love referral codes. In terms of how little hassle it takes and how much money you could make, what better way to make free money than sending your friends and family to sign up with some companies.

In fact, there is quite a bit of overlap here with our previous tip as some of the best referral codes are offered by banks, energy companies, and broadband providers.

Often the promotions they run for new customers (e.g. £ 100 to join) are mimicked in their referral programs, but with one key difference: both you and the person you are referring to get a reward.

While the biggest and best offers will come from banks and utilities, many companies have referral schemes. Some reward you in the form of credits and some pay you cold hard money.

Cashback sites (which we’ll get to later) and auto-saving apps are the most reliable of these (although specific offers change frequently), and you can make up to $ 15 per sign-up.

The bottom line is, check out all of the apps and services that you use regularly to see if they offer a referral program. You may be able to make money in no time.

Receive a refund on the student loan

There is a lot to complain about when it comes to the current state of student funding in the UK, but essentially, student loan repayments are pretty solid. Until the flaws in the system mean you end up making repayments when you shouldn’t.

You see, in order to begin repaying your student loan, two things must happen: you must be April first after graduation, and you must be above the threshold for your repayment plan.

We’ll go into more detail in our guide to student loan refunds. However, in recent years, it has been found that 100,000 graduates have paid back their loans before April after graduation.

While this is less than ideal, it does mean 100,000 graduates are also eligible for a refund – an average flat rate of free cash at least a few hundred pounds.

For a full explanation of how to review and claim your refund and why you are unlikely to have to pay back later, please see our guide.

Check to see if you owe a tax refund

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Student loan refunds aren’t the only way to get back overpaid cash.

Every year thousands of people across the UK accidentally pay too much tax – and if you are one of them you are eligible for a discount.

You may have overpaid taxes for one of several reasons (which we explain here), but the good news is that it doesn’t matter whether it was your fault or not. Better still, it doesn’t matter if this all happened many moons ago – you can request a refund up to four years after the end of the tax year in which you overpaid.

It’s also worth noting that students very rarely earn above the annual threshold for paying taxes (£ 12,500 per year). So if you think you paid taxes when you earned less, then you should definitely apply for a tax rebate!

Earn interest with savings and checking accounts

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We know that as a college student, you may not have too much cash. However, if you are able to save some money we definitely recommend putting it in an ISA (individual savings account) or regular savings account (or if you have one that offers a decent rate of interest, you can leave it in your bank account).

Although the 2008 financial crisis, austerity measures, Brexit, and even the coronavirus have kept interest rates relatively low for the past decade, there are still some great offers out there.

Our list of the best savings accounts has some gems that have a payout option above the inflation rate. This is important because, thanks to inflation, £ 100 won’t be worth that much in a year today (you still have £ 100, it just can’t buy you that much).

For this reason, you should always try to keep as much of your free money as possible in an account with the highest interest rate you can find – if not for the free money you could make with interest, but just to make sure That your money is there Money retains its value!

£ 1,000 free every year with a Lifetime ISA

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Owning a home may seem like a distant pipe dream right now, but you can help bring that dream to life by setting aside some cash in a Lifetime ISA (LISA).

A LISA undoubtedly offers up to £ 1,000 in free money per year and is without a doubt the most generous source of free money we can imagine.

To get the full grand you need to deposit £ 4,000 into your LISA in a single tax year (April to April) but don’t worry if you don’t have that much left – the government will still give you a 25% -Bonus on everything you keep up to £ 4,000.

The maximum total bonus you can earn with a Lifetime ISA is £ 33,000 (equivalent to 33 years of depositing £ 4,000 per year) which is certainly a lot of free money. But as always in life, there are a few catches.

For starters, you can only withdraw money from your LISA if you are using it to either buy a home or if you are over 60 (and most likely using it for retirement). If you withdraw money for any other reason you will lose all bonuses you received plus an extra percentage of your money.

So, while you should only be putting money into a LISA if you are sure you will be using it on a home or your retirement, it is probably the trick that will make you most of the free money. Our Guide to Lifetime ISA has everything you need to know.

Use cashback sites for online purchases

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We’ve mentioned it a few times in this guide. If your into making and saving money, you are probably pretty familiar with cashback already. But in case you aren’t, here’s a quick breakdown.

When buying something online, you can either do it directly or through a cashback site. Whenever possible, we would always recommend using a cashback site.

When you shop with cashback sites, you’ll have exactly the same shopping experience when you are on the website of the retailer you choose, but with one key difference: the cashback site tracks your activity and reimburses you a percentage of the total purchase ( or in some cases a fixed amount).

So many of your favorite stores are on cashback websites like TopCashback and Quidco, including Topshop, ASOS, and sometimes Amazon (though they typically only show up during peak business hours). Usually you’re trying to get a maximum of 5% or 6% back, but it’s better than nothing!

As expected, the big money is in the big purchases. When you get car insurance or buy a new phone, you pay more than on cashback websites £ 100 each to buy it through them.

You can also get money back in supermarkets. As well as offering cashback sites Money back on online grocery storesThe supermarket cashback apps offer offers for up to 100% cashback on a whole range of individual items, from sweet treats to pet food.

Use cashback sites every time you can shop online and earn easily a few hundred pounds in free money each year. Just read our guide to collecting cashback to get started!

Get Paid to Use the Internet with Swagbucks

Do you spend your life online? If you’re not re-reading all of your favorite Save the Student manuals (we understand some of them are timeless classics) you can make money for free just to use the internet.

Among the many ways to make money with Swagbucks is to make it your default search engine. While this means saying goodbye to Google (or, God forbid, Bing), it will give you 10 to 20 self-service points (the virtual currency used at Swagbucks) for every 10 to 20 searches.

Using these numbers, we found that if you search as usual for six months, you will earn around 300 pounds.

But the free money doesn’t end there. Swagbucks will also pay you to watch videos, which we see is pretty much anything most of us do online anyway. You may find it a little harder to make free money this way because it isn’t as effortless as simply searching and isn’t always available to all users, but it’s definitely worth a try.

Visit our Swagbucks Travel Guide for more information or sign up for Swagbucks right away.

Make money walking

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We all know the three main benefits of walking: it’s free, it helps you stay fit and healthy, and it’s completely carbon neutral. But what if we told you there is a fourth reason to go anywhere?

Walking is now even better than free, thanks to apps like Sweatcoin, BetterPoints, and winwalk – it’s a source of free money.

These apps track your movement throughout the day and reward your steps with virtual currency. This “money” can then be exchanged for gift cards, and most importantly, for gift cards in a number of popular shops and restaurants free money to.

We’re not going to lie, you won’t become a millionaire by making money for free using paid walking apps – but keep your phone with you while out and you will see the money come in.

Win free cash from competitions

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Now let’s be clear. When we say you can win money for free in competitions, we mean that free – We are not talking about entering the lottery which costs money and gives you less chance of winning than these crazy things.

We’re talking about the hundreds, if not thousands, of other competitions currently going on in the UK that are free to enter and which could earn you a staggering amount of free cash.

Elite-level competitors (i.e., people who take part in competitions) say they participate in around 100 competitions every day, but that is simply not manageable for most of us. Still, if you aim for around 30 per week, you should still be able to win a number of prizes (be it cash, items, or experiences).

One of our favorite ways to win money is by participating in free lotteries. Most of them require you to check the results every day to get your prize (if you’ve won, of course) but with jackpots of several hundred pounds it is definitely worth a few seconds of your time.

And there are many more competitions that offer free cash worth thousands of pounds. So check out our guide to winning contests to find the best places to find them.

Scan your receipts for cash

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Last but not least on our list of ways to make free money: receipts. If you usually find yourself throwing away your receipts or even rejecting them altogether, it is time to reconsider your actions.

In addition to making it a lot harder to make sure your consumer rights are being respected, there are also times when you don’t get cash if you don’t keep your receipts. So make sure you hold onto them – at least long enough to take a photo.

Why? Receipt scanning apps like Storewards, Shoppix, and Huyu let you upload scanned copies of your receipts for every purchase made at any store. And while you don’t actually get cash for every receipt, you do get some coins or tokens every time you submit it.

Once you’ve collected enough coins to make a withdrawal, you can get your free money either in the form of a voucher (including Amazon, thank goodness) or cash (usually through PayPal).

It may take you a while to get to this stage, but with that little effort, we’d say receipt scanning has definitely earned its streaks to make free money.