Do you have an 'Egg Money' card?

LeroyBoyce

I've looked for this on the forum, so apologies if someone has thought of this...

Also, correct me if I'm wrong...

I use my Egg Money card for the cash back.

However, on this card, you can put money on to it. You can earn 4% interest, for 12 months, and earn a maximum of £200 per year.

Doesn't this mean I can invest £5000, at the (now a pretty decent) rate of 4%, without having to open any more accounts?

Also, it can all be managed online, so as soon as interest rates increase I'll be able to take it out of the account.

Is it me, or is this all a little too good to be true?

apt

There are several threads discussing using Egg Money as a savings account to take advantage of the 4% interest. The £200 limit just refers to cashback. If you had the money you can have a positive balance of upto £100,000. The catch is that the rate is variable so could be slashed at anytime, but so far it has been impervious to base rate changes.

LeroyBoyce

Ah, thanks Apt.

So, it's very good AND true then?

whowants2brich

I have an Egg Money card and noticed this the other day as well. Fortunately, I opened an Egg Savings account in the summer last year, 6.3% fixed for 12 months. I wonder if, when that rate finishes, the Egg Money card interest rate will fall, as lots of people will try to move money from their savings accounts across.......

In the meantime, I wonder how quick they will change the rate, if a lot of people pick up on the 4% credit rate. Now it's been mentioned on here, I wouldn't give it long!

mbailey

LeroyBoyce wrote: »

Also, it can all be managed online, so as soon as interest rates increase I'll be able to take it out of the account.

Is it me, or is this all a little too good to be true?

I can see how you can transfer money onto the card, but I don't see how you can transfer the money off the card again?

Anything coming off the card would have to be normal transactions surely?

MarkyMarkD

You can do balance transfers from the card which is effectively withdrawing money and which doesn't incur any fees as long as you are in credit.

withnell

In the current climate, 4% isn't that great a rate for Citibank to pay for funds - and it's likely that most people will make purchases with the money as way of withdrawal rather than a bank transfer - so extra fee income!

YorkshireBoy

mbailey wrote: »

I can see how you can transfer money onto the card, but I don't see how you can transfer the money off the card again?

Log in to your account, select Egg Money, and then click the "Need help?" tab at the top of the page.

opinions4u

withnell wrote: »

In the current climate, 4% isn't that great a rate for Citibank to pay for funds - and it's likely that most people will make purchases with the money as way of withdrawal rather than a bank transfer - so extra fee income!

While the second part of your comment is entirely accurate, 4% is a ridiculous amount to pay savers in the current climate and will, on its own, be losing them money.

As you rightly state, they need other income to make it pay.

mbailey

MarkyMarkD wrote: »

You can do balance transfers from the card which is effectively withdrawing money and which doesn't incur any fees as long as you are in credit.

OK, I had assumed doing a balance transfer would incur a fee of 3% or something like that.

whowants2brich

I'm 99% confident that if you're in credit on the Egg Money card, you don't pay any fees for using your card to withdraw money out of a cash machine. That would be the best/quickest/easiest way to get money out of the card, although it would obviously be limited to a few hundred pounds per day...

PS If you withdraw money and it pushes you into a scenario where you start owing Egg some money, ie a negative balance, then you will have to pay a fee. If you do not have a negative balance, either before or after the withdrawal, then there should be no fee.