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Is your phone on its last legs? If so, listen up: you can now buy an iPhone for less than £30 in an early Black Friday sale. Yes, you read that correctly.

In the limited-time deal, you’ll be able to get your hands on the device before Christmas, but you’ll need to move fast if you’re interested.

From discount and features to where to shop the offer, find out everything you need to know below.

So, what’s included in the iPhone deal?

Available on Wowcher, the refurbished iPhone 5S boasts a four-inch Retina display with ‘vibrant visuals and crisp text’. It’s also equipped with the A7 chip for ‘fast and efficient performance’ to enable ‘speedy’ app launches and multitasking.

Touch ID ensures an extra layer of security when locking your phone and making purchases, while its 8MP iSight lens enables 1080p HD video – think clear, high-res memories. The refurbished iPhone runs on iOS too, so you’ll have access to a wide range of apps and services on the App Store.

It’s worth noting that the 5S model was the first ever iPhone to feature touch ID, true tone flash, and a gold colourway – making it somewhat of a cult classic. In fact, people have been looking back on the iPhone 5S fondly on TikTok.

A number of social media users have complimented its design. One said, it’s the ‘most beautiful and elegant phone ever’, whilst another claimed it’s ‘the best iPhone design of all time’. Others are raving about the iPhone 5S’s durability, as one said: “My mum is still using mine, I gave it to her 2015.” Well, there you have it.

The recent iPhone 16 launch

The iPhone 5S deal comes off the back of the highly-anticipated iPhone 16 launch. A move that marked Apple’s first step into AI, the iPhone 16 boasts a range of new features including: an A18 chip for improved Apple Intelligence functionality, a high-res camera system that enables spatial recording, extended battery life, and a special camera control button. But it comes at a price. Starting from £799, it’s not cheap, especially if you’re not too fussed about its fancy features. That’s why, many shoppers are turning to refurbished models instead.

Where to buy an iPhone for less than £30 before Christmas

The Apple iPhone 5S 16GB Unlocked in Space Grey is available on Wowcher for a limited time only. Reduced from £79.99 to £27, it’s available in good condition and will be shipped from the London Magic Store.

Apple/Wowcher

If you’re willing to spend a little more dosh on the deal, you can buy the iPhone 5S in very good condition for £33 – still a huge saving of up to 66%. But if you’re interested, you’ll need to move fast, Wowcher deals never last long.

Shop the iPhone deal now.

In news that will come as pretty much no surprise, the housing market is pretty f**ked as prices have risen at rates that far outstrip wage growth, making it increasingly difficult to get a foot on the ladder in the first place.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, sluggish income growth over the years has made it difficult to build up a pile of cash that could be used on putting a deposit down.

Of course, hoping that house prices would fall in any meaningful way sounds like wishful thinking, as that’d screw over all the people already on the property ladder who could end up being trapped in negative equity, where the cost of their mortgage is higher than the value of their house.

Enter a new scheme designed to make it so that you can get a foot on the property ladder without having too much in the way of savings which also doesn’t involve trying to bring house prices down.

This is a new one percent mortgage for first-time buyers, where people can buy homes valued at up to £500,000 with just a one percent deposit, meaning that at most you’d need £5,000 to buy a house with this scheme.

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It’s been introduced by the Yorkshire Building Society and will be available through England, Scotland and Wales, but only first-time buyers will be able to participate.

Their director of mortgages Ben Merritt said research indicated £5,000 was the right amount for first-time buyers who needed to be ready to pay a mortgage.

Under the deal, the mortgage would require a £5,000 deposit for a five year fixed rate mortgage at 5.99 percent, which is basically six but sounds slightly lower.

If you’ve never owned a house before and won’t be 70 or older by the time the mortgage term ends, then you can get one, but it’s not for new-build properties or flats.

Obviously with such a low initial deposit on a mortgage, the consequence is going to be high interest rates and a high monthly repayment, so hold your horses before you start thinking it’s all going to be sunshine and roses from here on out.

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However, a warning has been fired out over these new first-time buyers mortgages as according to City A.M., brokers are concerned that such a scheme would just crank up house prices even higher.

In general when getting a mortgage, you’re expected to get together a deposit of at least 10 percent, which isn’t easy to do when you’re young, in a job that pays like s**te, paying obscene rent and everything is getting more expensive.

You can quite clearly see the problem at work here – if you use these devices to bring down initial costs of getting on the property ladder, that’ll increase demand and without a concurrent increase in supply the prices will go up.

Stephen Perkins, managing director at Yellow Brick mortgages said: “Whilst this could help remove one of the largest barriers to home-ownership and the need for family support, borrowers will still need to be able to afford and obtain a 99 per cent mortgage, which based on the huge disparity between house prices and incomes, means such a scheme would in fact only benefit a small minority.”

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Meanwhile, an increasing number of homeowners are falling behind on mortgage payments.

Trade body UK Finance recorded that last year, there was a 30 percent rise of mortgages in arrears by at least 2.5 percent, and forecast another increase of 22 percent in that amount for 2024.

Other experts have warned that owning such a small stake in a house would leave first-time buyers horribly exposed to the risks of negative equity, where the house is worth less than the mortgage on it.

Mortgage expert Karen Noye told Yahoo News: “Naturally, anything that helps generation rent get on the housing ladder should be applauded but there is a very real concern that if the 99 percent mortgage scheme were to be put in place, having such a high loan-to-value mortgage would expose buyers to the risks of negative equity.

“If house prices drop, then only having one percent equity in a property leaves the buyer with a minuscule amount of equity to play with.”

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She said that ‘lenders like Halifax have predicted a two to four percent fall in house prices this year’, and while that’ll nowhere near bridge the gap between incomes and house prices it’s enough to stick first-time buyers in negative equity within the first year of being on the property ladder.

The average deposit put down on a house bought in the UK last year was £53,414 – a decrease on the £62,471 average figure from 2022.

You might be hoping to shift onto a mortgage to get out of renting, as at least that way a honking massive chunk of your monthly income is going onto a home you (sort of) own instead of being funnelled directly into the pockets of some landlord.

Only banks don’t accept a proven track record of paying rent on time as proof that you could afford a mortgage.

This is supposed to be because there’s all sorts of other payments involved with outright owning the house, and the fact you’ll be paying a mortgage for years to come, which lenders see as very different to showing you’ve been able to pay a comparable rate of rent for a shorter period of time.

An ultra-low mortgage is entering the UK market in what is a game-changer for those struggling to get on to the property ladder.

The decision to buy your first home is a big one. But in a cost of living crisis, coming off of the back of two years of sky-high inflation and rising prices across the board, from fuel to food, it’s been harder than ever to save.

Now, a brand new mortgage deal is being offered that can guarantee those who want to say goodbye to renting the chance to buy their first flat or house with a 99% mortgage.

You’ll only need to put up £5,000. A big change from a market where five per cent mortgages are the norm.

To put this in simple terms, you would only need £5,000 for a house valued up to £500,000. In a 5% scheme, you would need five times that at £25,000.

Who is behind the scheme?

Yorkshire Building Society is the building society bringing the deal to the open market for those who have never owned a home.

It’ll be available across England, Scotland and Wales, with the new mortgage available via brokers through Accord Mortgages; the lender’s intermediary-only arm.

For someone buying a their first property for £200,000, a £5,000 deposit would equate to 2.5% of the purchase price.

The remaining 97.5% would then be on a mortgage.

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Why is it being introduced?

Yorkshire Building Society’s director of mortgages, Ben Merritt, said that their research hinted that £5,000 is the amount that could shorten the time needed for first-time buyers to get mortgage-ready.

He said it could help to encourage a ‘level playing field for those who don’t have financial support from their families to fall back on’.

Under the deal, which is available to first-time buyers only, borrowers with a deposit of at least £5,000 could take out a five-year fixed-rate mortgage at 5.99%.

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Who can take advantage and what are the terms?

Anyone who has never owned a house before. There is a cap on your age at the end of the mortgage term, with it capped at 70.

The mortgage is not available for new-build properties or flats, and the society said loans are subject to rigorous credit scoring and affordability checks.

Mr Merritt said: “While £5,000 represents a 1% deposit for those who need to borrow the maximum amount available, the key is that customers are still putting money into a deposit, they still have to demonstrate strong creditworthiness and pass an affordability assessment to be eligible for a £5,000 deposit mortgage.

“We have a duty to encourage financial responsibility in anyone taking out a mortgage.”

Martin Lewis has issued a warning to Brits about their payslips following on from Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves’ Budget setting out the United Kingdom’s finances for the next year.

The Budget took place on Wednesday (30 October) and saw Chancellor Reeves outline the country’s economic policy for the upcoming year.

The first Labour government to put together a Budget in 15 years, included a first of its kind tax on vaping as well as massive changes to car tax and how much some people will pay.

Inheritance tax laws were also cracked down on, with the tax relief enjoyed by many farmers removed. None other than Diddly Squat Farm’s Jeremy Clarkson is among those impacted by the law change; a change that is set to cost his estate millions.

But the big policy change in Reeves’ Budgets concerned national insurance (NI) and more importantly, how much your employer pays in to the pot.

Everyone over the age of 16 pays NI, whether you’re an employee, employer, or self-employed. The cash goes towards funding the NHS and state benefits.

Under Reeves’ plans, the NI rate for employers have been upped by 1.2 percent to 15 percent from April 2025.

And on top of this, the government has said employers must start contributing to the pot after the first £5,000 has been paid to an employee. Before her announcement, the rate had been £9,100, with both tax rises on businesses set to raise £25 billion a year.

Money man Lewis (David M. Benett/Alan Chapman/Dave Benett/Getty Images)

During Thursday night’s The Martin Lewis Money Show on ITV1 and ITVX, Lewis was grilled on what this means for people and their pay.

Asking Lewis a question, one member of the audience said: “I pay both employer National Insurance and employee National Insurance.

“Out of what I earn, has the Budget reduced my take home pay?”

Explaining, Lewis said: “Yes.”

Lewis spoke frankly on the show (ITV)

That’s because the member of the audience worked through something called an umbrella company, which is business often used by recruitment agencies to pay temporary workers. Lewis explained: “There are around 700,000 people who work through umbrella companies.

“They’re often freelancers or supply teachers and they are counted as PAYE workers for an agency, but they’re sort of self employed.”

Tax specialist Karri Mellon, who appeared on the show, added: “Yes, that’s correct, because where you have companies which have sole directors and employees, they will not qualify for the employment allowance. So the company is going to be paying more employers’ National Insurance, and that, therefore, means that the employee will have less to take home because they pay their own employer’s National Insurance.”

Reeves made the Autumn Budget announcement on Wednesday (Leon Neal/Getty Images)

General employees are also set to feel the pain, according to critics of the NI hike, saying that the increase will result in lower pay rises, if any at all, as well as stagnated job creation. In some cases, it could result in job losses due to increased costs, Reeves has been warned.

The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), which is the country’s official economic forecaster, said ‘most’ of the increased NI cost would be passed on to workers and consumers from employers through lower wages and higher prices.

Rain Newton-Smith, chief executive of the CBI, which claims to represent 170,000 firms, said the burden on business would make it ‘more expensive to hire people or give pay rises’.