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Get 12 Bottles of Wine free when you sign up for Smile Current Account
MSE_Martin
Posts: 8,272 Money Saving Expert
Quick loophole for 12 free bottles of wine
Apply for a Smile current account before 6th August and it'll give you a dozen bottles of wine (you pay £4.99 delivery charge).
The loophole is that qualifying only means you need to credit the account with £1,500 before 1 Oct 2006. The money doesn't have to stay there, so you can simply put the cash in, then once its cleared (leave it a few days to be sure, it pays 3.04% interest in the meantime) you can withdraw the money and then close the account.
Is the account worth using genuinely rather than the loophole?
This is a good account, though not the market leader when it comes to rate. At 3% in-credit interest (providing you earn over £15,500) it's certainly better than most of the big four banks, and often does well on customer service feedback.
The one place it is a big winner is for those looking for an ethical account, there it's the market's outstanding player. Thus if its ethical you want, then go for this account, if not just use the loophole method to get the free wine and go for the current market leader Alliance and Leicester (see Best Current Account Article) which pays 5% interest and gives a 0% 1 year overdraft.
It's a lot of cash - is it worth the risk
This isn't really a risk, its a bank (Smile is backed by the Co-Op bank). The worse case scenario is the very unlikely event it wiggles out of giving you the wine. You won't lose your money. And this is the second time it has run this promotion and last time it all went smoothly.
However of course you need to be able to handle the cash flow of £1,500 leaving your account for a short period. I would caution against doing this if it means you need to borrow the money.
Will it hit my credit score opening a second account?
There will be a small impact, but for most people this is negligible. For more details read Credit Card Freebies article, where the issues are similar.
Martin
Links:
Apply for a Smile current account before 6th August and it'll give you a dozen bottles of wine (you pay £4.99 delivery charge).
The loophole is that qualifying only means you need to credit the account with £1,500 before 1 Oct 2006. The money doesn't have to stay there, so you can simply put the cash in, then once its cleared (leave it a few days to be sure, it pays 3.04% interest in the meantime) you can withdraw the money and then close the account.
Is the account worth using genuinely rather than the loophole?
This is a good account, though not the market leader when it comes to rate. At 3% in-credit interest (providing you earn over £15,500) it's certainly better than most of the big four banks, and often does well on customer service feedback.
The one place it is a big winner is for those looking for an ethical account, there it's the market's outstanding player. Thus if its ethical you want, then go for this account, if not just use the loophole method to get the free wine and go for the current market leader Alliance and Leicester (see Best Current Account Article) which pays 5% interest and gives a 0% 1 year overdraft.
It's a lot of cash - is it worth the risk
This isn't really a risk, its a bank (Smile is backed by the Co-Op bank). The worse case scenario is the very unlikely event it wiggles out of giving you the wine. You won't lose your money. And this is the second time it has run this promotion and last time it all went smoothly.
However of course you need to be able to handle the cash flow of £1,500 leaving your account for a short period. I would caution against doing this if it means you need to borrow the money.
Will it hit my credit score opening a second account?
There will be a small impact, but for most people this is negligible. For more details read Credit Card Freebies article, where the issues are similar.
Martin
Links:
Martin Lewis, Money Saving Expert.
Please note, answers don't constitute financial advice, it is based on generalised journalistic research. Always ensure any decision is made with regards to your own individual circumstance.
Please note, answers don't constitute financial advice, it is based on generalised journalistic research. Always ensure any decision is made with regards to your own individual circumstance.
Don't miss out on urgent MoneySaving, get my weekly e-mail at www.moneysavingexpert.com/tips.
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Comments
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Can't open a smile current account as I'm a student.
No free plonk for me!0 -
I'm unclear, does the £1500 have to be paid in as a lump as your first tranaction?
That's the way I read it:
Wine qualification upon first credit transaction of £1500 minimum by 3rd September 2006.0 -
Don't forget if you are going for this, there's also £15 cashback with linemypocket.0
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I see Martin is again mentioning the SMILE current account free case of wine offer. I opened an account in December 2005 during the previous run of this offer and I'm still waiting for my wine, despite countless frustrating calls to SMILE and Virgin Wines.0
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I can't find any details on the Smile site about the content of the case of wine beyond the fact that there are 12 bottles.
Can anyone who signed up earlier give details (e.g. is the wine red or white or mixed; from which country(ies)and, if you've drunk the bottles, what's your verdict verdict on the quality?
I guess I may be expecting too much from a freebie:j but a few bottles of 1982 Bordeaux 1st growth would be a pleasant surprise:drool: :drool:
While I'm waiting I'll pop down to Oddbins to open a bank account:D0 -
I know i'm asking a potentially silly question, but when you set up a new current account with smile and they ask for your current current account details, will they transfer things ie wages, DDs to smile? If they don't then I will apply, If they do, I won't. Is is as simple as transferring £1500 in and then taking it straight out or does it have to be left there until 3rd Sep? Just worried because they ask for all those details in application ????
thank you0 -
When I joined Smile some years ago (still with them) you had to give your current bank details, but you were later asked if you wanted them to sort out the DDs or not. I chose not to and handled those myself over time.It's PAC not PAC Code, it's MAC not MAC Code, it's PIN not PIN Number, it's ATM not ATM Machine, it's LCD not LCD Display, it's DVD not DVD disc... It's no one not noone, It's a lot not alot, It's got not gotten... Panini is the plural of panino - there is no S!!(OK my English isn't great, the sciences, maths & IT are my strong points!)0
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To try and answer your questions; I had the 12 bottles of wine a year or so ago on a similar Smile offer. It was a mixed case of red and white, pretty middle of the road - not really cheap but certainly not expensive! It was very drinkable though.
When I opened my Smile account, I didn't transfer my old account, you are asked further in the process whether you would like to or not.0 -
We signed up in December (one account each) and EVENTUALLY got our wine in April and May after much hassle! We had to ask and remind them repeatedly. The wine was fine, a mixed case all very drinkable. Ordering it signs you up with Virgin Wines but that's not a problem. I had a slightly "iffy" red which Virgin credited me for without arguement. We moved £1501 into one account then transferred it to the other. Using the Smile Account is NOT straight forward - we have closed one already and are in the process of closing the other.0
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Smile account is extremely straight forward, couldn't be any easier!
I would recommend it to anyone.It's PAC not PAC Code, it's MAC not MAC Code, it's PIN not PIN Number, it's ATM not ATM Machine, it's LCD not LCD Display, it's DVD not DVD disc... It's no one not noone, It's a lot not alot, It's got not gotten... Panini is the plural of panino - there is no S!!(OK my English isn't great, the sciences, maths & IT are my strong points!)0
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