Martin Lewis investigation into Holland & Barrett prompts major change
The scheme allows shoppers to schedule regular delieveries of products at a discounted price. The customers get a fixed percentage off the standard price of the item, often between 20% and 45% off, as well as free delivery on orders over £10. However, research by MoneySavingExpert.com that took place over a five month period, revealed a number of faults, including that shoppers would have actually saved more without the scheme.
As a result, the health giant which has more than 700 stores in the UK, has said it will carry out a review of the scheme, in a major change. However, company bosses defended 'Subscribe & Save', highlighting that customers get consistently better prices than if they were to make one-off purchases.
Price checks of 10 products were carried out over 100 separate days between July 29, 2024 and January 17, 2025 and it was found that in 59% of the cases it was cheaper to buy the product as a one-off.
On top of that, the research revealed that customers would have actually lost out on savings of 75p right up to £3.50 and in worst cases, they could have overpaid by as much as a huge £39.99.
Holland & Barrett website states that the Subscribe & Save is 'the most convenient and cost-effective way' to shop, as well as that customers will be 'getting the best value'. Read More Thousands of pensioners could be missing out on free TV licence
However, it does not factor in any special offers or deals that may be available at the time of a delivery, such as 'buy one get one free', '3 for 2' or 'better than half price' sales. Therefore, as the subsription discount doesn't include various other promotions, those subscribing can sometimes end up paying more than those who buy the item as a one-off purchase.
Items that were found to always be more expensive in the Subscribe & Save scheme includes the Egmont Manuka Honey 1046+ MGO 250g, Holland & Barrett Goji Berries 210g, and Holland & Barrett Manuka Honey MGO 800+ 350g.
A 200ml bottle of Nivea Sun Kids Sensitive Protect & Care Suncream Lotion SPF 50+ was found to be cheaper to buy as a one-off product 67% of the time, while 899g of the Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard 100% Whey Protein powder in the flavour Double Rich Chocolate, was found to be cheaper as a one-off purchase 55% of the time.
Following the investigation, Holland & Barrett defended the scheme, arguing that it offers 'consistently great prices over the course of a year', with 'the convenience of an automated order' and the free delivery on orders over £10.
However, admitted that 'on rare occasions' that subscription customers 'may have paid more'. The retailer have told MoneySavingExpert.com that they will 'carry out a detailed review' to ensure that those using the Subsribe & Save scheme benefit from offers. They will also look to make the scheme's language and T&Cs clearer.
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CNBC
a day ago
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46-year-old woman is weeks away from student loan forgiveness but stuck in Trump-era backlog
Under the Trump administration, more than 72,000 student loan borrowers who are likely eligible for debt forgiveness are stuck in a backlog of applications waiting for the relief. Some of them, like 46-year-old April Osteen, owe just a single payment. Others, like Dan Carrigg of Rhode Island, have been waiting a year for the government to respond to their application. "There are no updates," Carrigg said. "They tell you nothing." The program experiencing the challenges is known as Public Service Loan Forgiveness Buyback. That opportunity, first offered by the Biden administration, allows borrowers who qualify to have their debt excused under PSLF to retroactively pay the U.S. Department of Education — or "buy back" — any months they missed because they were enrolled in a forbearance or deferment. (Those are different periods during which borrowers' loan payments are on hold.) PSLF, which President George W. Bush signed into law in 2007, allows certain not-for-profit and government employees to have their federal student loans canceled after 120 payments, or 10 years. The Buyback program became especially popular after courts blocked the Biden-era Saving on a Valuable Education, or SAVE, plan in the summer of 2024. Millions of student loan borrowers who signed up for SAVE were automatically enrolled in a forbearance. Those borrowers found their progress towards PSLF frozen throughout the SAVE payment pause, even as they continued to work in eligible public service. The latest court filing shows 72,730 PSLF buyback requests were pending with the U.S. Department of Education as of the end of July. The bottleneck has only worsened since June, when 65,448 applications were under review by the Trump administration. In May, the backlog was close to 59,000. (The Education Dept. has regularly shared the data on pending buyback requests as part of a lawsuit the American Federation of Teachers filed against it. The teacher's union alleges the agency is blocking borrowers from their rights.) "The Biden Administration introduced the Public Service Loan Forgiveness buy-back program to allow borrowers to 'buy' eligibility into the program — weaponizing a legal discharge plan for political purposes," said Ellen Keast, deputy press secretary at the Education Department. "The Department is working its way through this backlog while ensuring that borrowers have submitted the required 120 payments of qualifying employment," Keast said. CNBC spoke with three of the borrowers in the buyback backlog about how the delayed loan cancellation is affecting them. "Long delays in PSLF buyback processing must be corrected immediately so that public service workers who have provided essential local services are not deprived of the relief they've earned," said Jaylon Herbin, director of federal campaigns at the Center for Responsible Lending. Osteen, an administrative coordinator at the University of South Carolina, submitted her buyback request in January. Nearly seven months later, she still hasn't received an answer from the Education Department. The government has recorded that she's made 119 out of the 120 required qualifying payments for PSLF — and so she's trying to buy back just one monthly payment to get her debt cleared. Her momentum toward the relief was stalled during the SAVE issues. "I reached out repeatedly to both my loan servicer and the Department of Education, practically begging for help," said Osteen. "At one point, I remember telling a representative, 'I just want to pay—please let me pay!'" "How could I be one payment away from loan forgiveness, only to be told I couldn't make that final payment?" she said. More from Personal Finance:Trump floats tariff 'rebate' for consumersStudent loan forgiveness may soon be taxed againStudent loan borrowers — how will the end of the SAVE plan impact you? Tell us Osteen's roughly $26,000 remaining student loan balance prevents her from taking on new expenses, even for urgent repairs needed on her house in Simpsonville, South Carolina. "I need to address issues like diseased Sycamore trees that pose a safety risk, a collapsing wooden fence and serious drainage problems in the backyard and driveway," she said. Her monthly student loan payments of up to around $350 have made it difficult to save throughout her career. Without much in savings, she considered taking out a personal loan to pay for the work on her house. But then she thought of her education debt. "I'm hesitant to take on a new monthly payment while I still owe student debt — debt that should have already been discharged under the PSLF program," Osteen said. "This uncertainty continues to shape every financial decision I make." Josh Harner, a teacher at a prison in Illinois, has been waiting for a response from the Education Department to his buyback request since early December — more than eight months ago. His loan account shows that he's made 117 qualifying monthly PSLF payments, though he says he's worked far longer in the public sector. During his over-decade-long career, Harner has helped more than 250 people earn their GED credential, a high school diploma equivalent, he said. And so he said it's frustrating to be waiting so long for loan forgiveness. His remaining balance is a little over $120,000. "I check my email 10 times a day," Harner, 38, said, about his buyback request. "I have taken every step — countless phone calls, emails, complaints," he said. "The federal government can't handle the management of all these loans." The main reason Harner wants his debt erased, he said, is so that he can save more for his 15-year-old son's upcoming college bills, and hopefully spare him from the stresses of student loans. "It will feel much better saving the money toward my son's education," Harner said. "I didn't want him to have to worry about how to pay for college or getting into debt to do it." Carrigg, an associate teaching professor at the University of Rhode Island, submitted his buyback request a year ago, in Aug. 2024. He's listed as having made 108 out of the 120 qualifying payments. "I have considerably more than 10 years [of] certified employment," said Carrigg, 41. Carrigg has contacted his local lawmakers and his state attorney general about the issue, but has had no success. "I still call Federal Student Aid every week or two," he said. "I don't know what else to do." He has been unable to get his remaining roughly $15,000 student debt excused. "I am trying to pay Uncle Sam and taxpayers a lump sum of money to complete and finish off my loan, but I cannot get FSA [Federal Student Aid] to provide me with the offer letter that states how much I should make the check out for." "And without that, I cannot pay them," he said. "It is maddening." Throughout his life, Carrigg said, he's needed to make a number of sacrifices because of his student debt. He's taken on a second teaching job at night, and forgoes many discretionary purchases. "We don't take vacations every year," he said. With his student debt forgiven, he and his wife would be able to direct more money toward their mortgage with the goal of no longer having a housing payment in their later decades. "We're not so young anymore," Carrigg said. "And we can start saving a bit more for retirement, which is now coming up faster and faster," he said. "We're getting closer to Medicare age than student loan age."
CNBC
a day ago
- CNBC
Student loan forgiveness program has a 72,730-person backlog. Here's what borrowers need to know
There's a way for student borrowers pursuing Public Service Loan Forgiveness to get their debt wiped away sooner than they might have expected. But that program, called PSLF Buyback, has been experiencing some challenges of late. Chief among them: As of July 31, there's a 72,730-person backlog of borrowers waiting to have the Department of Education process their applications, according to a new court filing. That's up from 65,448 borrowers as of the end of June. Some of the borrowers CNBC has spoken with have been waiting for half a year or more for answers. Others have only a few months' payments to make. PSLF, which President George W. Bush signed into law in 2007, allows certain not-for-profit and government employees to have their federal student loans canceled after 120 payments, or 10 years. Here's what borrowers need to know about PSLF Buyback. The Biden administration first offered PSLF Buyback in the summer of 2023. The opportunity allows borrowers who've hit 120 months of qualifying public service employment to submit a request to the Education Department to retroactively pay for — or "buy back" — any months they missed because of a forbearance or deferment. During those payment pauses, borrowers often don't get credit toward PSLF. After you've submitted your buyback request, the Education Dept. is supposed to send you an offer letter. That should include the number of monthly payments you missed during your public service history, and a chance to pay that bill now in exchange for student loan forgiveness. More from Personal Finance:Trump floats tariff 'rebate' for consumersStudent loan forgiveness may soon be taxed againStudent loan borrowers — how will the end of the SAVE plan impact you? Tell us How the government calculates your missed monthly payments is complicated, said higher education expert Mark Kantrowitz. But it's usually based on your bills before and after the period during which you weren't making qualifying payments, Kantrowitz said. Some people who had low incomes are eligible for zero-dollar payments, and they might [not?] have to pay anything to get their debt cleared. Once you get the offer letter, Kantrowitz said, "You must pay the amount to your loan servicer within 90 days." You can apply for the Buyback program through the PSLF Reconsideration portal on your Federal Student Aid account, said Nancy Nierman, assistant director of the Education Debt Consumer Assistance Program in New York. Consumer advocates recommend keeping track of when you submitted your buyback request (you should receive a confirmation email) and your recorded number of qualifying PSLF payments, so far. That number should be accessible on your student loan account. Buyback applications have piled up under the Trump administration. The latest court filing shows 72,730 PSLF buyback requests were pending with the government as of the end of July. The bottleneck has only worsened since June, when 65,448 applications were under review by the Trump administration. In May, the backlog was close to 59,000. (The Education Dept. has regularly shared the data on pending buyback requests as part of a lawsuit the American Federation of Teachers filed against it. The teacher's union alleges the agency is blocking borrowers from their rights.) "The main issue with the PSLF Buyback program is that it is apparently a labor-intensive process to review these forms, and there isn't a lot of resources dedicated to the program," Nierman said. "So it could take a very long time for borrowers to get a response." More from Personal Finance:Trump floats tariff 'rebate' for consumersStudent loan forgiveness may soon be taxed againStudent loan borrowers — how will the end of the SAVE plan impact you? Tell us The Buyback program became especially popular after courts blocked the Biden-era Saving on a Valuable Education, or SAVE, plan in the summer of 2024. Millions of student loan borrowers who signed up for SAVE were automatically enrolled in a forbearance. Those borrowers found their progress towards PSLF frozen throughout the SAVE payment pause, even as they continued to work in eligible public service. "The Department is working its way through this backlog while ensuring that borrowers have submitted the required 120 payments of qualifying employment," said Ellen Keast, deputy press secretary at the Education Department. Despite the delays, "if you are eligible for the Buyback, there's no harm in submitting the application," Nierman said. "But if you can afford payments in other repayment plans, don't rely solely on the Buyback to get you to 120 qualifying payments, particularly if you only need a few months of credit to reach forgiveness," she said. You can apply for Buyback and also submit paperwork to switch into another repayment plan at the same time. While you can remain in the SAVE forbearance for now, borrowers' debts began accruing interest again on Aug. 1. If you continue making payments on your loans after you've applied for a buyback offer, or if the Education Department finds you've made more than the required 120 qualifying payments for PSLF, you're entitled to a refund from the government, Kantrowitz said. He's heard from people who've gotten one in this scenario. If you're running into issues with your PSLF Buyback request, you can file a complaint with the Education Department's feedback system at Problems can also be reported to the Federal Student Aid's Ombudsman, said Kantrowitz. But after the Trump administration's layoffs at the Education Department, "I think there are only one or two people answering complaints right now," said Stephanie Sampedro, who used to work in the Federal Student Aid office at the agency. Sampedro was terminated in March. "It might be more effective to complain to their congressmembers," Sampedro said. Jaylon Herbin, director of federal campaigns at the Center for Responsible Lending, recommended filing a complaint with your state attorney general's consumer protection office and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. "Document everything," Herbin added. "Keep records of payments, correspondences and account changes."
Associated Press
2 days ago
- Associated Press
New Holland's IntelliSense Is Changing the Baling Game
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