Park savings

[starsparkle08]

Is it worth doing ? I’m thinking of doing an order

No, save in a bank. While they claim that your money is protected, there’s no guarantee you’d get it all back.

No but it inspired me to save - don’t know why it hadn’t occurred to me before! Decide my budget for presents at Christmas, divide it by 12 and save that much each month. Then you have it all there when it gets to Christmas

I do it every year, no problems at all, get my vouchers in November and Christmas shopping all done then.

I’d get too tempted to use the money if in an account . I can see why this is such a good option though . Wish I had more will power , if it’s there I spend it . New Years resolution to address this

I wouldn't, didn't a similar company go bust a few years ago leaving people with nothing for Christmas.

What you can buy is limited then to what they sell rather than being able to shop around

Why would you want them to have your money in their bank and earn interest on it, when you could have it in your own account?

Open a savings account at your bank and transfer a monthly amount in there.

There were also no problems at all with Farepak, until the year everyone lost their money.
Get a bank account like Wise.com and don’t get a debit card, so the money is harder to get at.

I did it for a few years but the vouchers were a pain in the arse eventually.

I save £25/30 a month on a Iceland bonus card giving money to use online/instore. That covers my food and wine and chocolate gifts
I have a online savings account linked to my bank account. I don’t have a card and transfer the money over in November.

I'm not rich enough to just decide my budget.

After everything else eg normal bills and outgoing, I see what's left then devide it all up, eg Xmas bday, holidays, weekends, children's stuff

Then we save each month towards it.

No chance the price of chocolate on there is shocking

You could save it in a premium bond account... And then there is teeny chance you may also won something as well?

I've won £100 over the last year ( 4 x £25).

Or even better open up a stock and shares isa and start to save in that. Nothing wild, index funds.... And you may find if you save enough... You don't even need to touch the initial investment but the "interest" ( for want of a better word) earned can pay for Xmas??? And your initial saving carries over???

Put it away each month in premium bonds. Easy enough to transfer out when the time comes but no as quickly accessible as a bank account when the impulse to spend comes!

I’ve used park for a couple of years. The Love2Shop vouchers can be used in lots of places. I think savings in an account would give more flexibility, but I’m my case I know it would get swallowed up for other things so im using Park again for 2022 x

@Newyearoldyou but that is you deciding your budget- what you have left available to spend and save towards it…

I use a Credit Union. Put money in weekly/monthly from January, can't touch it until late November or early December.

Mack, draw it out in cash and put it into a tin you can't open.

If all your money was divided up nothing would get swollowed up.

You have no protection if this kind of company goes bust, which you do get with any sort of standard bank account. Also most supermarkets do savings schemes of some sort, which probably offer more flexibility.

Choice it's horse before cart or cart before horse though.

If I said let's save 1000 then I would not know what other pots would have to suffer.

Every penny is allocated each month, including petrol, food etc. So what goes to Xmas is all worked out along side those budgets. I couidnt pluck a figure then do it.

I always recommend having a look to see what your regional building society has to offer. Something like a 12 month fixed rate regular saving account would work well for this kind of goal. You can't withdraw from them until they mature, and you get reasonable interest on them because you're limited to adding only small amounts to it each month.

It's too late for next Christmas now, because they usually mature on their anniversary, but worth thinking about even if it's to start now with no specific goal in mind. It's an easy way to tuck a bit away.

I like the premium bond idea 😊

We do it every year. There is protection if it goes bust - you can find it on their website, all the details etc. Its not like the other company that went bust a while back. If I put it in a normal savings account I’d just spend it. It works really well for us. I usually do a £400 love2shop card and £100 on a Tesco card.

www.getpark.co.uk/budgeting/saving/trust-summary.jsp

Use Credit Union.