Steve Saunders has used Snoop to get a better tax code, boost his credit score and claim £376 back from his water company

I’m Steve Saunders, I’m 56 years old and I live in East Devon where I work at my local council in a small team that helps event organisers with licensing and planning festivals and outdoor events. It’s a full time job and I have been lucky to avoid furlough and redundancy at work, although I know just how tough things are for most people and for businesses that I work with. During the first springtime lockdown, I realised I needed to start thinking about how to plan and budget my family’s finances because of what we are all going through. Snoop has been so helpful in that respect with budget planning and other tips I’ve received so more of that shortly!

I’m married and my wife, Louise works part time. It would be fair to say that although we aren’t particularly well or badly paid, we were drifting along without too much regard or thought to our finances until the pandemic. My wife was furloughed and although we still had some of her income, we realised that we needed to prepare and to plan how we could live efficiently or as the saying goes, ‘within our means.’ Snoop has really helped in that respect and has saved us money too. We have two grown up kids, our son, Jack is in full time education in Oxford and our daughter, Alice moved to London in the summer after her contract with the NHS here in Devon ended. I’m immensely proud of how they have both coped and how they have used the challenge to shop around for better deals, to think about savings and to consider their own finances more than they would have done before. 

We still have a mortgage which we’ve had with Santander since moving home 4 years ago. Both kids rent their properties and so as a family we’re always looking at the best options for saving money. For me, the option of just receiving a mortgage statement every year is no longer enough and by using banking Apps and more recently Snoop, we understand how to check our remaining balance along with keeping an eye on potential mortgage deals. When my son needed to apply for his rented accommodation, using Snoop he already has his budget and outgoings prepared and ready to send. 

So I downloaded Snoop in June 2020 after reading positive reports online at ‘money to the masses’ which featured the bank accounts I have. I liked the style of Snoop that was shown, it appealed to me that it was free and also that it was a new App receiving positive feedback in the first few months. At that time I was using another App that begins with ‘Y’ that seemed too complicated when linking my bank accounts and so I changed over to Snoop. I have nothing but praise for it and I can’t think of any other app or website that has helped me with my finances as Snoop has. It was so simple to set-up, to link my accounts and although it was only launched in April 2020, it has become really important for what we need it for. 

I have passed on Snoop tips and help to my friends and to my own kids who are both Snoopers and they have started using the App to help with monthly budgeting and managing their own spending. The great thing about the Snoops I receive is that they are so up to date and current, whether it money off at supermarkets or voucher offers, or just the helpful Snoops about your spending and the little nudges about whether I’m overspending with utility companies. I’m now an avid and passionate Snoop user.

Since downloading the app, there have been many occasions that Snoop has helped. Here’s just a few:

✅ We’ve taken up the Snoop to set up a Family Spotify account recently to merge one Spotify account,

✅ I used the HMRC tip to gain a better tax code because I’m working from home, that has reduced my tax payments, something I’ve not had in my working life before!

✅ I’ve taken on the tips to boost my credit score so when I look at re-mortgaging we’ll be in a stronger position,

✅ Snoop saved me £376 this year with the wonderful tip about contacting my local water authority and guess what, I had been over paying my water bill for the last 4 years and received the refund I didn’t know I was entitled too. This has given my family a 6 monthly holiday from paying water bills!

✅ My wife has a lovely new iPhone coming for Christmas thanks to the Snoop about four months 0% credit with Paypal. I know I wouldn’t have seen this offer without Snoop.

I love ‘pinning’ Snoops that really relate to us as a couple and for us, the simple explanations of the furlough scheme have been really helpful. Snoop has changed my way of thinking about our finances, which for a couple in our mid-fifties is great. Last year we wouldn’t have even considered how much we spent on broadband, mobile phones or the weekly shop and so Snoop offers all this information when it is needed more than ever! I check my incoming Snoops daily now, the easiest thing to do is to sit down with a coffee first thin in the morning before the day gets started to see what updates have been sent along with checking my spending summary. It’s even easier now that it’s possible to Pin relevant Snoops and also by browsing Categories too.