Park Christmas Savings Club - is it just a big rip-off?

I thought they went bust about a decade ago. Thousands lost their savings didn't they?

I did
Stupid

There is no benefit except the money is tied up, meaning the saver can’t spend it.

Really, they’d be better off saving in a building society to get interest or even buying things monthly in sales (but that requires being organised and having space to put things).

Read the thread and you’ll find out

Whoever uses such crap?
Just why?

We have used park for several years and it's fine, we get vouchers in Oct that we spend for christmas. It's just another bill that comes out of our acc, we don't get into debt for Xmas as we have saved all year. We find it helpful, we are from poor and its benefits us.

Can someone please explain how the Yorkshire bank one works? It says one withdrawal day during the term but I’m not clear what that means. Essentially I would consider it if it wasn’t possible for me to dip into it.

I have used park for years. I don’t class myself as poor or in poverty 🙄
I like knowing it’s money I can not touch throughout the year. I can’t guarantee if I saved it in a bank. I wouldn’t use it. I’m not the best at saving. I also love the vouchers, there’s a large variety now and I do get some on a prepaid card which you have to pay 10% for but I don’t mind.
If I were to save money, once I withdrew it in November it probably wouldn’t all get spent on Xmas, whereas the vouchers are special for Xmas. Feels like a real treat when they come through the door.
I have ds’s birthday at Xmas too so I usually save between £800-1000 that covers Xmas, birthday and food shopping.

The park vouchers have been life changing for me.

Every pay day money is withdrawn from my account before I even notice.

I never have to stress about money at Christmas time because I know I have the money in vouchers to buy all of the Christmas food and presents.

I usually have enough left to but my DCs birthday presents later on in the year too.

Its definitely better if you can save a bit each month yourself but when you don’t have much money to begin with, then it’s too easy to dip into your savings.

I used park when DD17 was younger and money was tighter. I saved each month for love 2 shop vouchers and got her many 3 for 2 toys for Christmas.
We no longer have a need for park and I wish 3 for 2 Argos toys were still on the Christmas list! I do still however save with them still and treat myself every year 😊

If you can trust yourself not to dip into savings

If you can access quality banking with today's (unusually for recent years!) high interest rates

Then you are better off putting the money into a savings account with a good interest rate... But only very slightly! If you put £40 a month into a 5% account, every month, for 12 months, you'd only earn £13 in interest by the end of the year. So it's not exactly a massive difference.

Hence the appeal of these schemes. The fact that you can get Amazon vouchers makes them much less scammy, to me. In the past, some such schemes forced savers to spend their vouchers in places that aren't necessarily the cheapest.

I use Park.
If I have money in my savings account, it gets used for other things throughout the year, because life is like that and shit happens like the fridge breaks or whatever.
I can't dip into Park savings.
It's guaranteed money for Christmas. Last year I lost my job in November and still had a great Christmas because I'd got Park vouchers.
I like it.
If I had more money coming in, I could manage it better. I don't, so Park savings it is.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-rules-to-protect-consumers-hard-earned-cash

After the Farepak scandal, legislation was brought in to ring fence this type of fund, so in theory it should be safe.
Fairly sure this isn’t true. According to MSE there is now a voluntary code of conduct, that’s all.

Because the schemes aren't backed by FSCS. The CPA is a nice enough gentleman's agreement but doesn't actually guarantee your cash.

Because it's not money in-money out like a bank, you get it back in vouchers and stuff. It restricts where you can shop. People have mentioned getting Amazon vouchers, but there's nothing actually stopping them from pulling the plug on Amazon vouchers if it becomes unprofitable for the company. You might have saved money for Christmas but you might end up spending more because of the restrictions on where you can spend.

They have massive cancellation charges in terms of %. If you're poor enough to want to use them then there's a fairly decent chance you'll want to dip into the money at the end for things that are wants rather than needs. That hoarding is exploitative when you juxtapose it against the shiny sparkly adverts of happy people popping champagne.

The hampers are piss poor quality for the cost of them

Yes. All businesses have to make money. Even a bank doesn't pay you as much money on your interest as it earns on it - otherwise it would go bust.

Everyone's normal is different. Why be so derisive just because you don't do it?

I also don't think there is anything ethically "wrong" with offering this sort of service. There is clearly a market for it.

I remember another one of the schemes collapsing one year, and it caused chaos. Best put the money into a savings account.

If you are the sort of person who is good at budgeting, putting money to one side, in a separate account or whatever yes it's a rip off. Yes they have your money to do with as they please for 10 months and then will get a discount on the vouchers they buy in bulk. It is also risky - these "savings schemes" are not underwritten in the same way as banks are, when a similar company called Farepak Hampers went bust about 10 years ago, lots of people lost all their money.

But if you are scraping by week to week, I can see the appeal of it all. Personally, if I were worried about spreading the cost of christmas over the year I'd be looking at something like the Asda savings scheme, or the similar ones at other supermarkets. Or an account like Monzo where you can have separate "pots" for things.

The downside is you save £500 you receive £500 rather than using a 12 month savings account and saving £500 and receiving £525.
You can then spend that £525 at Amazon or wherever you wish.

Yet another thing I've learned today; I honestly thought they went bust years ago

I use Park, have for years. You can choose which vouchers you want to receive when you order, and can change that through the year if you want. I find it a great way to ring fence Christmas cash, and to get vouchers for specific places so that I make sure it's used for Christmas. No interest on it, easy monthly DD. Can't see me stopping to be honest.

it's so easy to need to buy food in March and so prioritise your available money for that rather than thinking about Christmas presents in nine months' time. The aspect of locking away your money until Christmas makes perfect sense. I wouldn't say it does, no. It's a lot better for that money to be available to you in March so that you can meet basic living needs like food, rather than hide it away for extras like presents in December.

Your local credit union likely does a Christmas saver. You can only withdraw the savings in November or December. And, with the interest rates reasonably high at the moment, you get a few quid extra at the end too.
I started saving with a credit union when I was really struggling financially. Twenty years on, and significantly better off, I still save with them as I really value the ethics of credit unions and their interest rates are very good too.