This bill-checking service paid me to see if I could save money (aff)

An online tool that promises to scan your household bills and hunt down cheaper deals will pay you just to make a check.

Nous, an AI-based bill checker, saves you having to dig through comparison sites to find the cheapest rate for your gas and electricity, and it's free to use.

But when I tested it out to see if I could save us money on my own bills, I was surprised to see a reward being paid into my bank account - £5 arrived straight away.

Within minutes of filling in a few basic details, Nous had crunched the numbers, compared my current tariff with alternatives on the market and estimated I could save around £280 a year. Not bad for a couple of minutes filling in some boxes.

But the real surprise came a couple of clicks later, when I was offered a £5 reward just for going through the process – and yes, it landed in my bank straight away.

There wasn’t any hard sell, no pressure to commit, no confusing upsells, just a straightforward dashboard showing potential savings and giving me the option to switch if I wanted to.

Energy is just the starting point too. Nous says it can look at broadband, mobile contracts, water bills, council tax and even mortgages, plus things like car insurance, home cover and TV packages.

The idea is that you grant permission once and let it keep an eye on everything – a bit like having a financial MOT running in the background.

There are two versions of the service. The free tier lets one person manage a couple of services and promises smaller savings, while the premium plan costs £6.99 a month and unlocks unlimited tracking and logins.

You’re automatically given a one-month premium trial during sign-up, but the company says it won’t start charging unless you actively choose to stay on it, and you’ll drop back to the free version otherwise.

To try it for yourself, check out the savings, and see if you get a cash reward, click here.