Any park catalogue customers?

[Babababababybel23]

Is it worth doing it for next Christmas? And when should I start it?
Can you explain how it works please, thank you x

My mum's work mate did it a few years ago, then when my mum retired I started saving with my own account. You don't need to have customers you can do it on your own.

You choose the vouchers you want then park divides the amount into 10 payments. This year I got a £300 high street gift card. Even though I moaned about finding £30 a month I was really pleased when my gift card arrived at the beginning of November 😀

There's no fixed payment dates you just need to have paid in full by the end of October- ideal if you want to make odd payments here and there.

Same here....a women at my old work did it for a bunch of us, and when I moved jobs I opened up my own account just for me. I just do the vouchers (or cards now these days) - usually M&S, Debenhams, High Street, Amazon. About £400 pounds worth. Because I do it over the full 12 months it's about £35 or thereabouts which I don't miss as it's comes straight off my bank account when I'm paid.

You can add extra to your order throughout the year as you go and the remaining months DD is amended. Much of this you can do online. I've never decreased the amount so can't comment on that.

The vouchers arrive end Oct/beg Nov and it's great! What I don't use at Xmas I use over the course of the year.

I guess I could donut myself into a bank account but doing it this way avoids the temptation to dip in and who can lay their hands on a lump sum like that come Christmas time!? (Not me!)

Isn’t Park one of the not secure companies - if they do bust you use your money?

Make sure you order the right vouchers for where you want to spend them coz I'm sure the love 2 shop vouchers don't have as many shops to spend them in as before .

I wouldn't recommend doing it after a similar catalogue company collapsed a few years ago and people who saved for a year ended up with nothing. Just open a separate savings account at your bank and do a standing order into that for Christmas. Much safer and more flexible as long as you aren't tempted to spend it.

Basically it works by you saving a certain amount each month or week. And at the end of the year you get back what you've saved in Vouchers of your choice to spend at Christmas.

There is a sort of protection scheme but I wouldnt trust it. Use a bank and get a bit of interest . learn not to waste money. Put tatmas at the very bottom of the list.

Surely you're better with a protected bank account? If you use one of the regular savers with a good interest rate for a year that will give a good incentive not to take the money out early. And then you can choose where you spend it, even put it through a cash back site and get an extra percentage point or so.

I have a Christmas savings account with my local credit union, they take £50 out of my wages each month and I take the money out in November

I've thought about joining a credit union and saving for Xmas, how much do you need to join one ?

Just open a savings account instead.

I've done it for over ten years but have found the vouchers a bit restricting as to which shops I could use them in. I opened a Post Office savings account last month instead (all easily set up on-line)to save cash for Christmas instead.

Went with Park for years but will never again after last year. Got three Love to Shop vouchers and no shops would accept them, saying there was no credit on them when there was. Ended up having all the money refunded as was their error.

I have seen accounts where you have to give 90 days notice to withdraw cash. If you are worried about being tempted about withdrawal, open one of these and start saving for Christmas in July then 12 months later you can start the withdrawal process. Then you have bank protection plus cash rather than vouchers.

Most credit unions have Christmas savings accounts where you can't withdraw the money until November. I would never use park for Christmas savings as he money just isn't secure.

We do park every year. We save for a £250 love2shop card and use this for the dc presents. It works really well. We pay monthly by direct debit and I don’t dip into it like I would do if it was a normal savings account. They have a protection scheme now so the money is pretty safe.

I’ve never used them but I do put money aside each month. I move it online to an account that I don’t have a card on. That means I have to go into the branch, in the next town for me, to get the money out.

just stick it in the bank - why on earth would you put it somewhere with less protection?