Martin Lewis pledged to donate almost £100,000 to a debt prevention charity after interviewing one of its bosses on Good Morning Britain.
During Wednesday’s edition of the ITV daytime show, Martin and Susanna Reid spoke to Saleem Shafi of Money Buddies, a Leeds-based organisation which offers free debt advice to anyone who needs it.
Towards the end of the interview, the money-saving expert called out the government for not doing enough to help the debt advice sector.
“There is a critical problem of debt support funding here,” he said. “We have, for obvious reasons, [huge] demand on your agency and all other other agencies. When I talk to people who run those, they are really struggling. They have funding shortages.
“Money comes from government, direct grants come from the government to many of these agencies. It’s not enough in the midst of a cost of living crisis.”
As the segment came to a close, Susanna asked Saleem how much money would help Money Buddies in the current cost of living crisis.
“We had a meeting yesterday, and I think £975,000 would make a big difference to our charity in terms of the number of people that we could help,” he said. “I’m sure there’ll be CEOs of other charities across the UK who’ll be crying out for that kind of money too.”
“I’ll give you 10% of that,” Martin then vowed, making a note of the pledge, with Susanna adding: “I think we’ll all pitch in.”
Martin agreed that “anybody else can help as well”, before commenting: “I’ve probably just broken Ofcom rules.”
“Well there are other debt advisor charities, there are a number,” Susanna then pointed out.
Following Martin’s vow, viewers were quick to praise his generosity on social media:
The charity itself also sent Martin a thank you after Saleem’s interview aired:
Although he initially rose to fame offering money-saving tips on daytime TV, Martin received a new wave of acclaim as he began offering advice during the Covid-19 pandemic and, more recently, the ongoing cost of living crisis.
Last year, it was announced that he was being awarded a CBE in the Queen’s New Year Honours List for services to broadcasting and consumer rights.
Good Morning Britain airs every weekday from 6am on ITV.