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

[FatherJackHackettsUnderpantsHamper]

Now that Christmas 2023 is over, there are loads of adverts on TV for Park, which supposedly helps you to save to pay for Christmas 2024.

However, their main advertised 'benefit' is that you save a certain amount each month and then get it back in time for Christmas in vouchers.

No mention of them paying any interest on the money you're lending them for up to 12 months; and they also obviously massively limit the buying ability of all the money you save - so not only can you not buy any goods that are only available from places that don't accept the vouchers, but you also can't shop around if 'non-voucher' places have the same goods but at cheaper prices. And are the vouchers widely accepted, or are they just for buying from their own catalogue?

What is the actual point in this company? I get that many people - especially those on low incomes - really appreciate the structured discipline and find the regular commitment to saving helpful, but why does it have to be returned in vouchers? Why not just a 'save money, get your money paid back into your bank account/withdraw it in cash in December' scheme - even if they didn't pay any interest in order to pay for/make a profit for running the scheme?

Am I missing something here? What is the benefit of this? And are there now protections in place so that poor folk can't lose all of their savings in another Farepak-type scandal? Why do people bother with this - and effectively reduce the spending power of their limited Christmas budgets even further?

YANBU - it's like the TV licence savings stamps (do they still exist) and other daft schemes - you'd be better saving in a Building Society.

YANBU, I’ve always thought it was a massive rip off and filed it under ‘things other people do’.

There must be a market for it as even supermarkets are at it. It just shows what an expense Christmas has become for many people.

I use Park. Have done for the last few years.

I get amazon vouchers, so it doesn't limit my spending at all.

I find it easier to save with them, simple as that really.

A percentage of what you save gets taken off next year as well, so you save a small amount too.

I always thought by having the vouchers it meant people could have savings but without it being actual savings (that could maybe affect other financial issues such as benefits) and take away the temptation to spend the saved money on other things.

YANBU at all.

The benefit of it is the savings discipline, as you've mentioned, and the fact the money is unspendable until Christmas - people can't dip into it as they might a bank account. It comes as vouchers presumably because that contributes to the profits made by the company - they can get them more cheaply than giving cash - it's just part of their operating model.

After the Farepak scandal, legislation was brought in to ring fence this type of fund, so in theory it should be safe.

It's something of a Vimes Boots case in that poorer people end up paying more because they are struggling to start with. Of course it makes financial sense to use an interest-paying savings account for Christmas funds, but people living hand-to-mouth know that they might be tempted to dip into it for something else.

Park (or similar) haven't ever appealed to me, however, they still exist so the concept must appeal to some folk.

The point is that whatever else goes on, what you save is in that scheme and you can't just dip in to it (as you could regular savings) if something else comes up during the year.

And has its own discipline, so you do put something aside throughout the year, rather than thinking that you could miss now and add extra later.

It's not necessarily the best way to save, but if either of those two aspects help you (need the external structure because you don't want to rely on internal motivation), it can be a worthwhile approach

I used to buy vouchers with them and it really helped at Christmas but with our local high street being crap they became really difficult to use so I stopped.
The hampers are a massive rip off

www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/christmas-savings-clubs/

What would be the point in them taking your money and handing you it back, beneficial to you but how is that business? They need to make their cut, by handing you vouchers that they will make their bit from, but the customer is also happy as they have saved structured for a decent Christmas. It's not a rip off to the customer at all, the customer pays £1000 and receives £1000. The shops pay Park for the privilege of that customer now coming to that shop because they have vouchers. It's called business.

I have used it and also had amazon vouchers, which where I get most of my gifts from anyway and also, because two of the kids are at uni they prefer amazon vouchers rather than having to carry gifts back to uni.

It costs nothing, removes the temptation to "borrow" some out of savings on a tight month and the funds are protected since the Farepak collapse.

I dont see a downside personally.

Another point about the vouchers is that they can only be spent at larger retailers - so once they arrive, the chances are they will be used for the intended Christmas purpose. They won't be, e.g. cadged by one's deadbeat partner to buy cider and fags down the local offie.

It's exploitation of people with poor credit, basically. That fucking hamper company was even worse! But they went bust, leaving everyone who had saved all year out of pocket. If they were targeting rich people they would not get away with it, but they are not. The same year the shitty ha,per company went bust Fortnam and Mason delivered a few of their their hampers slightly late, guess which made the front pages. Credit unions are the best way to save for Xmas in this way, they often have dedicated accounts.

This a decent alternative

It's an exploitative poverty trap for people who struggle to manage their money.

You're not the target market OP, so no need for it to work for you or for you to be faux confused or 'understand'.

It's a very helpful scheme for people who need to save specifically towards increased spending at xmas, in a way that they cannot access the money by dipping into it through the year.

Yes, they are missing out on interest, but lets be honest interest rates have been pathetic until last year. The benefit is the fact the money is inaccessible until the end of the scheme.

You'll be amazed to find out some workplaces offer similar xmas savings clubs, where a % of salary is deducted and kept back by the company and returned as a lump sum in November. Although this is becoming less common.

The same year the shitty ha,per company went bust Fortnam and Mason delivered a few of their their hampers slightly late, guess which made the front pages

The Farepak scandal was all over the papers at the time - rightly so. Legislation was crafted specifically on the back of it.

Our whole society is set up to benefit rich people, so singling out Park isn't really fair. Look at more fundamental things, such as the energy prices charged to people who have pay-as-you-go meters. The poor pay for the rich in many ways.

Park is simply meeting a need in the market. At least people using Park won't be going to payday lenders or, worse, loan sharks.

Interest rates are so pathetic if you saved £20 a month you are not making any profit from interest maybe few pence a year? So a savings account where you could be tempted spend is not worth the risk.

How is it?

What exactly is it costing them, apart from maybe a few quid in interest, and it really would be just a few quid.

They get back what they put in, in a way that they can use for its intended purpose, and they are not charged for it. The company makes it money by (presumably) investing the money and doing deals for the vouchers with the companies that provide them.

No one is ripping anyone off.

I use park every year not for xmass as i dont do xmass at all but i save for a me spend once a year.
I save for the cards i can use them online and in store.
I spend every penny on my self from spa days to afternoon teas.
Last year i got a whole new wardrobe of clothes and a new chair for my front room a spa day I paid for 2 of them.
Also covered my food shopping for 2 months.
Ive even paid the odd bill online.
This year im saving for a holiday getaway and a chest freezer and more spa days.

Good on you for treating yourself rather than spending it all on other folk at Christmas.

I’d rather use the top up balance option on Amazon. It he I can put money in and use it when I want/need something.

Some banks used to offer a service whereby your debit card purchases would be rounded up to the nearest £1 and the difference would be transferred to a savings account - a way of saving without really noticing,

A bank regular savings account is better in my opinion.