Petar Lekarski

Assistant Editor – News & Investigations

Petar joined MoneySavingExpert in 2019, but his passion for all things MoneySaving goes back much further – as evidenced by his 'Part of the furniture' badge on the MSE Forum.

He developed his in-depth knowledge of bank accounts, credit cards, loans and savings in the Money team before moving across to MSE News. He has written about a wide range of personal finance topics, covering everything from mobile roaming charges to supermarket loyalty schemes to railcards.

In 2021, Petar researched and wrote MSE's comprehensive and massively popular guide to diesel emissions legal claims, and he continues to maintain it as the cases progress.

Petar has also worked directly with Martin Lewis as his researcher, supporting the MoneySavingExpert with his eponymous ITV show and other media appearances over a period of 18 months.

When he's not polishing prose or crunching numbers, you'll find Petar at the cinema, eating spicy food or cycling around London on a rented bike. He also enjoys playing video games, bouldering and lists of three.

Latest from Petar Lekarski

Sainsbury's has stopped offering some Nectar cardholders weekly points bonuses, as part of an under-the-radar shake-up to the loyalty scheme which has left some shoppers confused and frustrated. It has only given us scant details so we've pieced together that info with MoneySavers' reports to get to the bottom of it.

20 April 2021

Barclaycard is to slash many customers' credit card spending limits from the end of May, with one MoneySaver reporting a £16,000 cut even though she says she's never missed a payment and has been a customer for some 15 years. It could leave people without the funds to pay for large, planned expenses.

19 April 2021

Burton and Dorothy Perkins shopfront image

Burton and Dorothy Perkins shoppers have been left struggling to return clothes because they are unable to generate return labels online and the retailers no longer provide paper versions, MoneySavingExpert.com can reveal. The brands' new owner Boohoo has apologised for the problems and says it will honour returns even if they arrive late – we've full help on what to do below.

19 April 2021

Around 8,800 London Capital & Finance (LCF) investors are set to receive compensation under a new Government scheme, the Treasury has announced today. But investors will only get back 80% of their initial investment, capped at £68,000.

18 April 2021

The House of Lords has voted in favour of an amendment to the Financial Services Bill, which could see interest rates capped for certain mortgage prisoners. But the House of Commons needs to approve the change before it can take force.

14 April 2021

Ikea shoppers now have longer to make use of £20 gift vouchers that were given out as part of its annual Christmas tree promotion, as the retailer has extended their validity until 1 August. It comes after concerns shoppers wouldn't have enough time to redeem vouchers with many Ikea stores only just starting to reopen following coronavirus restrictions easing in England, Scotland and Wales.

13 April 2021

The financial regulator has warned consumers to beware of fraudulent emails from scammers pretending to be MoneySavingExpert.com or our founder Martin Lewis, after identifying a copycat firm falsely using our name.

13 April 2021

Utility giant Thames Water has mistakenly taken thousands of customers' direct debit payments a day early after a "system error", MoneySavingExpert.com can reveal. If you've been hit by bank charges as a result, you can get a refund but you'll need to ask for it – we've full help below.

13 April 2021

Not-for-profit internet safety body Internet Matters has today launched a free ten-point guide with tips to help kids and young people build good online money management habits.

12 April 2021

Jobseekers claiming certain work-related benefits can once more get unlimited mobile data, minutes and texts for £10 a month. If you need that much data it's a cracking deal and you could even use the Sim to temporarily replace your home broadband – but you can get cheaper deals if you need less data.

11 April 2021

Over 250,000 customers of the defunct gas and electricity supplier Green Network Energy (GNE) are still waiting for EDF Energy to set up their accounts two months after it was appointed as their new supplier, MoneySavingExpert.com can reveal. EDF's warned it'll take until the end of May to finish transferring all customers – here's the latest on what's happening and your rights.

31 March 2021

More than 100,000 Argos customers who bought an extended warranty from the retailer online between July 2019 and October 2020 will soon get a £5 e-gift card, after the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) found the retailer failed to make customers aware of cheaper alternatives.

26 March 2021

Millions of Vodafone customers will be hit with price hikes of up to 4.5% next month, the telecoms provider has confirmed. But only those who are out of contract can cancel penalty-free. Here's what's happening.

25 March 2021

Teletext Holidays may face court action if it fails to refund customers whose package holidays were cancelled due to the coronavirus crisis, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has said.

25 March 2021

image of woman with laptop looking at bills and calculator

Lifetime ISA providers are setting early deadlines for savers who want to withdraw cash penalty-free without using it for a first home or retirement – so if you want to do that, don't wait until the official early April cut-off. In some cases savers have just days to make a penalty-free withdrawal – we've a full provider-by-provider breakdown below.

19 March 2021

Ratesetter is to shut all 45,000 existing investor accounts on 2 April and all of Ratesetter's loans will be transferred to Metro Bank from the same date. Both of these changes are taking place after Metro Bank bought Ratesetter last September.

3 February 2021