Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think park vouchers etc are a very dodgy way of saving for Christmas?

291 replies

Whoknowswhocares · 25/12/2012 11:19

A few people have mentioned on here they plan to save for next year with one of these type of companies.

I think this is highly risky. Unlike savings in a bank, there is no safety net in place and if the company go bust, you will lose all your money. It happened to what was the biggest firm in the market only about 3-4 years ago. Most people who use these schemes are finding things tough already and cannot afford to lose their money. Please, please save your money in a bank, or even a sealed tin to break open next year

Unless iabu and the rules have changed. So am I?

OP posts:
Bogeyface · 30/12/2012 20:29

It is more financially savvy than spending anything on a credit card if you dont have 0% and/or pay it off in full every month. And if you pay it off in full every month then you dont need to use the CC at all surely?

Feelingdetached · 30/12/2012 20:29

fox go you Envy

LineRunner · 30/12/2012 20:30

Thefoxsbrush, these are the things I need to know! Smile

Bogeyface · 30/12/2012 20:31

I didnt know about the referal thing!

Off to email everyone I ever met, ever :o

zsazsaapplenod · 30/12/2012 20:31

Fox, that's fantastic!

Feelingdetached · 30/12/2012 20:32

bogey I have two credit cards that have 0% purchases which I have used to my advantage and accumulate points I currently have. £50 voucher for house of Fraser from Amex card so spending and paying off every month is worth it in this respect. My M and S card points are dismal though!

If you go through cashback site, use clubcard, pay with Amex card and free delivery code you quids in ahem! Grin

CurlyhairedAssassin · 30/12/2012 20:33

I know, bogeyface. I spend my boots advantage cards knowing full well that I have only accrued them after buying loads of their stuff at over inflated prices, rather than goin to Superdrug. But I spend my points on essentials the day before payday if I'm a bit short whereas someone like my sister would happily admit that she'd spent it on a treat for herself as soon as she realised she had enough points for it!!!

I suppose the park vouchers only work in the same way though. Although if you spend park voichers inboots aren't you being profited from twice?

shesariver · 30/12/2012 20:34

Off to email everyone I ever met, ever Xmas Grin

zsazsaapplenod · 30/12/2012 20:35

Curly, you usually get a voucher with Love 2 Shop for Boots and if you spend over £50 in Boots using your Love 2 Shop vouchers you get 500 bonus points on your Boots card.

Now that's a pretty good deal but only if you truly need to spend over £50 in Boots Smile

Bogeyface · 30/12/2012 20:37

YOu know what? I fucking KNEW someone would go on about cashback, points etc :o But in the MAIN using CC isnt a good idea, if you cant come out of it in profit, and most people come out of it owing more than they spent.

Curly When I use them in Boots I print of the "Extra points for spending X" vouchers and split up my transactions so I make the most of it. I have almost £50 in points on my advantage card atm, purely from doing things like that!

And yes, I do tend to treat myself but that will change now DH has been made redundant, I am saving it for essentials like you.

Bogeyface · 30/12/2012 20:38

That is

I am saving it, like you, for essentials :o:o

Feelingdetached · 30/12/2012 20:40

Points events re the thing for boots, spend £50 get 1000 points in card, this year it was instantly and they had two days when they did this in December.

Make you £50 spend full of special offers that you know are lower prices and you can make it work well. I got clothes for dd buy one get one half price.

Feelingdetached · 30/12/2012 20:41

Well one might err do that when buying tat, I've had my moments bogey

LineRunner · 30/12/2012 20:47

But ...the above stuff - it's all quite complicated, in a way.

So I can understand why some people might enjoy the simpler transaction of an old fashioned Christmas Club, especially the social element of it.

When I bought Variety vouchers from my friend, and our DCs were small, we both felt as though we were being really sensible and I enjoyed popping round to hers every week with a few quid.

Viviennemary · 30/12/2012 20:50

I meant poor as in unfortunate because they had lost their savings. I didn't realise that new regulations were in place or that the banks were partly to blame. Sorry. Xmas Blush

jellybeans · 30/12/2012 20:55

'Do you park savers realise that you are making an interest free loan to them? Lending them your money so that they can invest/gamble with it all year to make a fat profit for themselves?'

I don't think people are bothered if it means they have the money they need to spend at Xmas. All businesses have to make money.

Yes Park make money through commission on their vouchers, interest on the savings and catalogue/hamper sales. Over 400,000 save with them and numbers are going up.

Trills · 30/12/2012 21:06

I don't think people are bothered if it means they have the money they need to spend at Xmas.

You have less money than you would have if you had put it in an interest-earning account, and you have no benefits apart from "not being able to get it out early" which to my mind is not a benefit at all.

Bogeyface · 30/12/2012 21:19

Trills most Park savers saver a few hundred pounds at most. What interest would you get on a short term savings account for £500? If you save on your own you get commission, plus money off vouchers for the shops you can spend them in and the security of knowing that Xmas is paid for. current interest rates really dont make it worth taking that money and putting it in the bank.

MrsHoarder · 30/12/2012 21:31

Assuming that £500 was saved equally through the year then if it went into a regular savings account (ie a Christmas account) then even this year you should get about £20. And you aren't stuck with vouchers which have problem with change/limit of locations they can be spent (fine until your ds wants a gizmo that is cheaper/easier to get at a different retailer).

And yes I spend on a cc which is paid of each month,I get cash back and some insurance on payments which I wouldn't get from a debit card, cash or vouchers

jellybeans · 30/12/2012 21:33

The average spend is around £400 (I do a lot of research on things!). Interest rates at the moment on that, as Bogeyface says is not much. Yet you can get commission with Park and bonus vouchers for paying direct debit etc, this could well be more than you would get in interest in a savings account.

Like most things there are disadvantages and advantages and these have to be considered by each individual. As may have been said there are social aspects to these clubs with families and friends saving and going shopping together etc. What harm are they doing if they enjoy it?

'You have less money than you would have if you had put it in an interest-earning account, and you have no benefits apart from "not being able to get it out early" which to my mind is not a benefit at all.'

As pointed out above it may not be less money than you would be getting in an account. You have the benefit of guaranteeing (so long as you keep paying and it doesn't collapse) you will have money (in voucher form) for Christmas the next year. This may not apply if you have full access to a bank account. However it is possible you can actually get your money back (if you change your mind)with Park and the PO but you pay a charge in both cases.

Trills · 30/12/2012 21:37

You have the benefit of guaranteeing (so long as you keep paying and it doesn't collapse) you will have money (in voucher form) for Christmas the next year. This may not apply if you have full access to a bank account.

Because you will take it out? And yet everyone was so up in arms at the first person to use the words "willpower" or "self control". Hmm

Trills · 30/12/2012 21:38

If you actually do get something out other than "the amount of money you put in, but in a less useful form" then fair enough, but that doesn't necessarily seem to be the case.

TravelinColour · 30/12/2012 21:40

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Bogeyface · 30/12/2012 21:44

Why not just accept that some people prefer doing it?

You prefer saving in a bank account/spending on CC/shopliftingWink / whatever, I prefer to do this.

To me the advantages of Park are enough to mean that I will do this over saving in the bank until interest rates are high enough to mean that bank savings are worth my while. Why do so many people take issue with this?

jellybeans · 30/12/2012 21:54

I don't get your point Trills. I have already said I am considering it because I want a savings option just for Xmas money. I have ISAs and 2 current accounts already, one with savings in BUT there is always a temptation to use that money if a big car repair etc comes up or we fancy more holiday spends. If it is in Park/PO then it is safe and cannot be touched ensuring money for Xmas. Whether that means I have little willpower or not I don't much care. But in my eyes saving for Xmas in advance can only be a good thing whether that is in an account or with Park/asda/PO.