Rewards Checker Discussion

[MSE Archna]

This thread is to discuss the new

www.rewardschecker.com

Please click reply to discuss

[Torkijo]

Looks OK, but doesnt have the Egg Money card on it so no use to me.

Cheers

T

[keckydelhi]

I haev an Ulster Bank card but they don't use Airmiles any more and haven't in ages. It;s called your points - I'd like to know how this onecompares because the airmiles one is no use to me

[singhy]

Would it please be possible to add the popular NatWest cards in there please e.g. NatWest Black? These use the NatWest YourPoints which aren't quantified and would be very useful to have, thanks!

[singhy]

Originally Posted by keckydelhi

I haev an Ulster Bank card but they don't use Airmiles any more and haven't in ages. It;s called your points - I'd like to know how this onecompares because the airmiles one is no use to me

Ah, I've just checked and this is the same program I was looking for info on; UlsterBank, NatWest and RBS all use YourPoints

[lynnechapman]

Would it be possible to include the Priority Club card which gives points at Holiday Inns?
Lynne

[MSE Dan]

Hi folks,

Natwest Yourpoints aren't available to new customers at the moment, only those who had existing Natwest etc cards when the change from Airmiles happened.

We asked Natwest for a full breakdown of what's available on the scheme (as the only way we can evaluate reward schemes is to see everything thats available, not just the ones Natwest publicise), but they wouldn't do that, so we are trying to find other ways.

Hope this helps,

Dan

[singhy]

Originally Posted by MSE Dan

Hi folks,

Natwest Yourpoints aren't available to new customers at the moment, only those who had existing Natwest etc cards when the change from Airmiles happened.

Thanks for letting us know why, Dan. I did actually only sign up for a NatWest card a few months ago, and use YourPoints as a new customer, although admittedly that's a NatWest Black card so I suppose that's not the norm.

If I can help by logging into the site and finding out any information, please don't hesitate to get in touch.

[Stephe]

While the rewards checker is good so far as it goes, it begins from an assumption that one has a certain number of points.

Another factor that determines the value of these points is how fast they are accumulated, and the formula for this is not as straightforward as one might assume:

I have a "Sainsbury's Local" over the road from me, so it is worthwhile my collecting Nectar points. 2 points are "awarded" for every pound spent, so you might assume that for every £100 I spend there, I will have received 200 points...

Unfortunately, Sainsbury's only "award" 2 points for every whole pound spent, so with an average spend of about £2.50 per visit, my £100 spent only "earns" me about 160 points. (I haven't done the maths in full — this site may be for obsessives, but I am only a new member and this is my first post — give me time!)

This may be discussed elsewhere — if so, sorry — but I haven't seen it yet.

[Stephe]

Actually, I get more than this — Sainsbury's offer 1 "bonus point" for having your own shopping bag. The staff didn't always bother recording this, so I've taken to answering the automatic "d'y'need a bag?" question with a cheery-sounding (I hope), "No, I bring my own; I get brownie-points for it!"

The poor staff must be fed-up with me!

[jonthedog]

I think it is misleading and unhelpful to think of the 'true' value of £10 worth of clubcard vouchers being £40. The only products and services you can buy at this ratio on the deals tokens are those with a very high mark up anyway, e.g. restaurant meals, brouchure holidays, jewelery, RAC membership.
To look at the above examples, restaurants that accept deals tokens are pretty much the same chains offering the perpetual 2 for 1 offers; as you can't use them at the same time the true 'value' of your deals tokens is halved. I'm sure no dedicated moneysaver has occasion to buy a holiday at the full brouchure prices that often...you can't use the vouchers on the last minute deals. I don't think many moneysavers would go for RAC membership over one from a comparison website at 1/4 of the cost.
And as for Goldsmiths, well if you compare the price of just a plain platinum wedding band, Goldsmiths charge £500, H Samuel charge £350, internet price £200...it's a reasonable assumption to think that this mark up applies accross the range.
What I'm saying is, yes deals tokens are great, and yes, you have to spend them on something, but it is very unhelpful to think of them as an actual cash value...they force you to buy an expensive product you wouldn't normally buy. This tool perpetuates the idea that people should automatically think that clubcard vouchers are worth 4x their face value when making decisions. They aren't; it's 2-3 at best.
Incidently, I have had a tesco credit card for the last 8 years or so and have racked up the vouchers...yet to find anything to spend them on outside of the odd meal.

[zolablue25]

Originally Posted by jonthedog

I'm sure no dedicated moneysaver has occasion to buy a holiday at the full brouchure prices that often...

Unless you have to take your holidays at certain times of year, say if you are a teacher or have children in school. Then if you wish to be certain of getting the destination you want at the time you need you may have to pay brochure price for your trip.

Agree with most of your post though.

[nomoneytoday]

It doesn't include the Shell mastercard or play.com cards - a £10,000 spend will give £100 worth of fuel or music

[A.Jones]

Originally Posted by jonthedog

This tool perpetuates the idea that people should automatically think that clubcard vouchers are worth 4x their face value when making decisions. They aren't; it's 2-3 at best.

I agree with that. We often use ours for either meals or magazine subscriptions. You can nearly always get 50% off those with vouchers found on-line. So we get 2x the value, not 4x.

[VoucherMan]

Quote:

'Seven rewards were randomly selected and valued per scheme. The valuation assigned is its 'real' rather than recommended retail price. For example, while a points provider will often list a CD as being worth £13, if it's commonly available for £7, we only value it at £7.
These were then used to evaluate the points worth. For example, if 6,000 MSE points got you a £24 MP3 player, then one point is worth around 0.4p. The average value of a point over the seven goods is then calculated.'

As mentioned by others many (most?) of the deals for 4p per point are widely available for less than the full RRP, so to value clubcard points this highly is not really a fair comparison. In fact I've only found one up to now -Lightwater Valley. They give out vouchers for returning customers to get in cheaper, but I've never seen any offers elsewhere.

[mccorry]

I have to say, that as far as BA Miles is concerned I question the integrity of the LoyaltyChecker application. It would be helpful if you could explain how you reach the fiscal figure you do in relation to the data entered.

For example, I entered 428,000 BA Miles and the LoyaltyChecker returned a fiscal value of £2,910. How did you reach that figure?

I recently redeemed 150,000 BA Miles for a roundtrip BA First Class flight to the US booked less than 4 weeks in advance. Booking using BA miles effectively makes the reservation fully flexible (changeable, cancellable, and fully refundable).

The fiscal value of a corresponding retail ticket to offer the same characteristics was in excess of £9,925.30.

I can compound your logic even further by stating I redeemed those miles during a BA 2-4-1 BA Miles sale, meaning I got two return trips for 150,000 BA miles. (Thus, best case 150,000 BA Miles = £19,850.60.)

So I have to question the nature of the calculation mechanism you apply...

(It's well known that BA miles, alongside many other frequent flyer miles schemes, are best exploited in relation to premium class travel, and less beneficial for economy class travel.)

[tobiwankenobe]

I'm trying to save up airmiles to head to New York, so my question's quite specific:
Is it best to use my BA Amex card to buy goods to save miles or get a tesco credit card, get tesco points and use the points to buy BA airmiles?

Tesco gives more money back if it's a direct comparison using the calculator.

[meenergy]

According to Rewardschecker each Natwest Yourpoint is worth £0.04. You receive 1 Yourpoint per £1 spend on their credit cards (1.25 Yourpoints per £ for the Black card). This equates to 4% (5% for the Black card), which would make Natwest Yourpoints the best scheme by a mile! I presume Rewardschecker is incorrect??

[PepeLePew]

Originally Posted by meenergy

According to Rewardschecker each Natwest Yourpoint is worth £0.04. You receive 1 Yourpoint per £1 spend on their credit cards (1.25 Yourpoints per £ for the Black card). This equates to 4% (5% for the Black card), which would make Natwest Yourpoints the best scheme by a mile! I presume Rewardschecker is incorrect??

I was just thinking the same thing myself

You've got 2,752 points
from the Natwest Yourpoints scheme...
Value of 1 point: £0.04
Total value of points owned: £110


However if you go on natwest dot com/yorupoints website - sorry can't link as a newbie

These are the paltry rewards on offer

Reward YourPoints*
M&S £10 voucher 2,000
Amazon.co.uk £20 voucher 4,000

As a separate point I'm surprised that the Shell Drivers (or V-Power) club is not listed in the points listing :confused:

[Taffy99]

MBNA Play.com credit card
£1 to spend at Play.com for every £100 spent
(1 point worth 1p) - or slightly less when taking tunechecker.com into account