Brittannia Rewards for Savers - how does it work?

shopndrop

Got some money in a Brittannia savings account and understand after 3 years that they pay some sort of bonus? Anyone know how it works. I have now had the account for 3 years. Is bonus paid on a balance at a certain date. How much is paid?

YorkshireBoy

If it's their 'Membership Rewards' scheme, the details are on their website at...

http://www.britannia.co.uk/reward/index1.html

However, you could ask them directly on 0800 013 4860 - for free!!!

Edna_Bucket_2

The cynics would say that the answer to the thread question is ..... badly!

ManAtHome

Well, it probably works quite well if you have a mortgage - reasonably low rates and a bonus. Haven't seen them in the top ten for savings accounts this century though...

Chadsman

If you have a Britannia credit card you get an extra 25 points ...about £6.20, and if you take out the PPI you get that amount again. 1.5x that amount if you have been a member for 5 years or 2x that amount if you have been a member for 10 years.
You need to use the card at least 6 times a year so I use it in the supermarket 6 times then put it in the back of a drawer till the next year.
...oh and pay it off IMMEDIATELY to avoid any PPI.

People's_Will

Chadsman wrote:

If you have a Britannia credit card you get an extra 25 points ...about £6.20, and if you take out the PPI you get that amount again.

I'm glad that someone has the brains to make the Britannia Members Reward Scheme work for them, Chadsman. Keep up the good work .

In fact, your post reveals the key role of the scheme in helping Britannia to sell extra products on the basis that it is blindly trusted as a mutual.

shopndrop wrote:

Got some money in a Brittannia savings account and understand after 3 years that they pay some sort of bonus? Anyone know how it works.

For the majority of members it goes something like this :

1) Britannia takes your personal details as a condition of joining the scheme, so that they can reduce you to a particular consumer segment. They are the envy of the Plc world in this aspect of CRM (Customer Relations Management).
2) When you talk to a Britannia adviser in branch they will have on their screen whether you can be safely ignored or whether they should keep you talking at all costs . You are a number from 1-10 which goes roughly from "I'm a bloody Money Saving Expert like Martin Lewis so move onto the next customer PDQ" to "I'm a rich ignorant idiot who is waiting for you to take advantage of me".
3) If you are a mortgage customer (who get the best Britannia deals anyway unless you are on their SVR) then the scheme simply adds to your bonuses & is worthwhile, as observed above. Of course if you were simply given better mortgage rates there would be no tax to pay, unlike on the reward scheme .
4) If you are a saver then the scheme makes a very pathetic & entirely unsuccessful attempt to make up for Britannia's regular appearance in the bottom quartile of the Building Society savings sector.
5) The main aim of the scheme, as hinted at by Chadsman, is to encourage Britannia members to take up all their company's savings' products, insurance, life assurance etc. etc. In other words the main aim is to stop Britannia members becoming savvy Money Savers.
6) In 2006 there will be an double number of savers joining, so that may act as a drag on the scheme.
7) Britannia has never used the scheme as a genuine "mutual dividend" that acts as an incentive for the management to grow profits. The amount per point awarded to members has remained constant at £0.22 and not grown like a Plc company dividend would have done.
8) Britannia last year took the extraordinary step of raising the qualifying amount for savers from £500 to £2,500 without consulting their members or their supposedly ground breaking member council.
9) The press will never criticise the Britannia Members' Reward Scheme because it looks like "free money to members" and is always a "free story" to hard pressed journalists when the Britannia press office reveals the details in late January/early February.

In fact, only Martin Lewis has any chance of exposing this annual scam.

shopndrop wrote:

Is bonus paid on a balance at a certain date. How much is paid?

With an account opened for 3 years I would expect that you would get your first bonus paid in late January or early February 206.

Based on last year you can probably expect 22p for every £100 invested up to £22,000, as long as you have a minimum of £2,500 in your account.

But that is unlikely to make up for the lower than average interest rate that Britannia has paid in the past compared to other mutuals.

ffacoffipawb

People's_Will wrote:

I'm glad that someone has the brains to make the Britannia Members Reward Scheme work for them, Chadsman. Keep up the good work .

In fact, your post reveals the key role of the scheme in helping Britannia to sell extra products on the basis that it is blindly trusted as a mutual.

I have £102 (ish) in a Manchester United Savings Account earning 2.05% gross.

I have held a £100 savings account with Britannia for many years, transferring to this one as it had a low balance requirement about 4 years ago. I would qualify for a windfall should they float on the stock market.

Is this likely though?

Should I close these £100 "faffy" accounts that I have with Britannia (and the Chelsea - though this one pays 4.9% on my £100 following a transfer of a 10 year old classic account into this ClickSave30 account)?