Who Values Your Loyalty?
Loyalty (n.) – meanings are faithfulness, allegiance, constancy, fidelity, devotion, trustworthiness, reliability, dependability and steadfastness.
Marketing of loyalty credit cards was clever, all the above qualities are brought to mind and it was obviously a well considered choice. For many years now, Tesco and Sainsbury’s (later Nectar) cards were stored in purses and used almost as often as the purses were opened. You couldn’t forget, the shop assistants were trained to trot out “Have you got your (whatever) card.”
It now appears these cards are falling out of favour. Well known names have dropped their schemes or reduced the benefits which are offered. The link between Nectar and Barclaycard has been broken and Tesco have reduced the award scheme value to new customers. Indeed there is now so much confusion regarding who offers what, that customers are losing their interest in such schemes. Quite rightly so, because research reveals that they’re not worth the meagre benefits they offer. With a Nectar card point being worth only 0.54p, this is quite understandable. It’s just not worth the room it takes up in your purse. Here are three of the worst ones:
· Tesco Clubcard points are worth between 1p & 4p
· Airmile points are worth 7.9p
· Nectar points are worth 0.54p
On the points system, there is a wide variation too:
· The MBNA card pays their customers £33 per every £10,000 spent.
· The Natwest Gold or Platinum pays £39 for every £10,000 spent.
· Marks & Spencer, Asda, Amazon, are amongst the ones that offer £50 per £10,000. This is under half of 1%
It is possible that the value of the reward can be less than the annual charge for the card. For example, with a NatWest Black card there is an annual fee of £250, but £10,000 spent would only earn you £51.
The retailer pays, on average, 1%, to the credit card company. In the case of smaller retailer the charge is considerably more. These earnings are not repaid to their customers by the way of reward schemes.
An alternative to the loyalty cards based on loyalty points or discounts would be to use cards which offer other advantages. Those offering cashback on spending or lower interest rates are a wise choice.
For cashback alone, American Express Platinum was the leader of the pack, giving 2% once you reach the annual spending figure of £7,500.
The top two cards in the rewards and money-off vouchers are:
· The BAA Worldcard, rewarding those spending £10,000 with £795. Their discount vouchers can be exchanged for goods, meals and at bars in all BAA UK airports.
· The GM (general motors) card offering a discount of £300 off a new Saab or Vauxhall car.
The above information was courtesy of website moneysavingexpert.com who also tells us that “Most credit card reward schemes are ripping off the public.”
Rip-off – meanings are overcharge, cheat, swindle, do, fleece, dupe and deceive.
Maybe it’s time for a change, then? Why not log on and find out what’s on offer?
Brokers Online are a large uk based financial website who specialise in offering cut price financial services including life insurance and Credit Cards Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_Challiner |
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