Martin Lewis warns households about the biggest ‘financial sin’ that could cost them dearly

Martin Lewis’ BBC podcast tackled some of the debates between couples about their finances this week, from whose credit card should be paid off first to being brought in as ‘Judge Judy’ who mediates spending disputes of luxury. However, a common question saw the money-saving expert reveal one of his biggest ‘financial sins’.

As the MSE founder offered advice to those facing financial ‘marital disharmony’, Gethin Jones, guest on this week’s Martin Lewis podcast, began to pick up on a ‘theme’. He explained that a few couples seemed to disagree on whether they should “be loyal to certain banks or utility providers.”

Without hesitation, the finance expert urged households to ignore their loyalty whenever possible, warning: “Financial loyalty tends to be a financial sin.”

Martin urged people to instead be clinical about the products, rather than who is offering them, as one company will rarely be the best option for multiple product offerings. Explaining how he managed his finances with this in mind, he shared, “Personally I always focus on the product and not the vendor.

“I look at the product, I don’t really care who it’s with and I go with the product that’s the best rather than going with the same bank or organization. What you want to do is have the best buys in all the different product categories. Often they don’t reward existing customers, existing customers get worse deals,” he claimed.

With some optimism, Martin acknowledged that certain sectors were “moving away a little bit” from this structure, but argued that the general outlook at the moment was: “Loyalty tends not to pay” and stressed that “it’s best to go and find which is the best product”.