Lloyds Save the Change?

antispam246

What's the best savings account to use with this?

I just opened a current vatnage account and noticed the offer re: save the change. I'm wondering what's the best current savings account to open for this?

apt

It's not worth doing as you get more interest on the Vantage account.

antispam246

Figured as much. Just to verify. Having the money you would be spending in your vantage account will accumulatem ore interest than you could ever get by spending the money in it to "save the change", correct?

antispam246

Erhm just to resurrect this. You get 4% on 5-7k. Anything over earns you the standard rate 0.1% I think, so if I was to go slightly over and spend amounts only on £7000.01+ and say I was only around £100 over at any given time, e.g. total maximum balance £7100 would it be worth it then?

Edit: Another thought, say I kept £15 extra in there, so £7015. Then every day I purchased something worth 50p. Lloyds would round up to £1 and I'd get 50p back, take 30 days and that's £15 so I'd have £15 back, effectively making those purchases free. I must be missing something here because surely this is open to abuse? I know I must be missing something... I'm looking at the Save the Change page and it states

Every time you use your Lloyds TSB VISA debit card we’ll round up the amount you spent to the nearest pound and transfer the difference into a Lloyds TSB savings accounts.

I keep reading this but I can't see what I'm overlooking, is there a small print in the t+c's on minimum purchases that apply or something? Because surely if I'm genuinely spending using my card on purchases that I genuinely would need (not just to get the save the change) I'd be quids in?

Arghhh, what am I overlooking?

Edit 2: Looked through important information, still can't see a catch. Asked someone else, they couldn't see a catch. Help! This is bugging me.

Edit 3: Is there a minimum amount of purcahses you can do a day, again, taking it further, re: abuse, you could keep buying anything worth 50p or less all day long and it's effectively free.

Careful_ly

Hi Antispam246

There is nothing to gain from save the change. If we use your example of a 50p spend, LLoyds round this up to £1 and deduct the £1 from your Vantage account. 50p is sent to the retailer and 50p is added to your savings account.
So 50p is no longer earning the 4% it is earning the rate of the savings account instead.

This account was promoted a year or so ago, and Lloyds matched the change, then it was a good offer and was widely used by many. Unless they offer the same again steer clear, I can see no advantage.

HTH

antispam246

Ok, I think I understand and see the catch. Just to clarify. When lloyds say they will round up the amount spent, what they are failing to clearly say is that the amount rounded up will be deducted from your account not the actual amount you spent. Hmm, that can't be right, that's verging on theft surely? You spend 50p, they round it up to £1 take that £1 from your account, even though you only spent 50p, then they give your 50p back, into a savings account. I know your getting your money back, but that's verging on stupid, which i guess it what you've all been trying to say (:

Ok, I believe I totally understand, it's quite literally all in the name. They're simply saving on your behalf by moving the change to another account, a savings account. Got it.

50p wouldn't be earning 4% as it would still be 7014.50, not that that matters anymore, thank you (:

Icesaver

antispam246 wrote: »

Ok, I think I understand and see the catch. Just to clarify. When lloyds say they will round up the amount spent, what they are failing to clearly say is that the amount rounded up will be deducted from your account not the actual amount you spent. Hmm, that can't be right, that's verging on theft surely? You spend 50p, they round it up to £1 take that £1 from your account, even though you only spent 50p, then they give your 50p back, into a savings account. I know your getting your money back, but that's verging on stupid, which i guess it what you've all been trying to say (:

Ok, I believe I totally understand, it's quite literally all in the name. They're simply saving on your behalf by moving the change to another account, a savings account. Got it.

50p wouldn't be earning 4% as it would still be 7014.50, not that that matters anymore, thank you (:

Every time you use your Lloyds TSB VISA debit card we’ll round up the amount you spent to the nearest pound and transfer the difference into a Lloyds TSB savings accounts. So how can you say this is theft? Lloyds are not keeping your change they are transferring to your nominated savings account not keeping it for themselves.

Is it worth it? All depends on which current account you hold and the balance. As you say if you regularly keep over 7000 in a vantage current account then it is worth it as you get 0.1% on balance over 7000 in a vantage account but you get at least 1.6% in e-savings.

Porcupine

Seems a rather pointless gimmick to me.

Let's assume you make 30 debit card transactions in a month (one per day). At an average of 50p per transaction, the 'change saved' is £15 per month. Which is hardly going to keep you in beer in your old age.

The less you spend, the less you accumulate. So if you're on a low income, where £15 is a big deal, you're unlikely to have 30 card transactions in a month.

If you have an ordinary current account, a better plan would be to arrange a standing order to transfer whatever you can afford at the beginning of the month. Then you can transfer to whichever account you like, and it doesn't have to be with Lloyds.

My guess is it's a psychological gimmick... make people think they're 'saving' with their debit card when in fact they're actually spending. And Lloyds gets a nice Visa fee from the merchant every time you use your card so they want to encourage that.