Tesco deals

thelawnet

Not sure if this has been discussed before, but has anyone looked at the value of these? Tesco pays 0.5% of spending on the card, and you can swap them for deals vouchers at 4x the price. So 2% effectively, which could beat out any credit card, providing you want the deals they have.

They've got lots of days out, like zoos, National Trust, which are ok, but you can generally get discounts off these elsewhere, so if you could spend the vouchers on something else that you can't get discounted otherwise it's a better deal (like £6 of tesco vouchers buys a daypass to legoland, supposedly worth £24, but you would be better off spending £18 (assuming that's what you can get it for) of your own money on that and using the voucher for £24 off somehting else).

The restaurants look slightly better value, as discounts are harder to find, but they are not exactly classy places to eat your dinner.

Anybody got some picks from these deals?

I am actually most interested in holiday deals, but it doesn't look like any of the operators they have are worth using - they all seem to restrict you to specific brochures, which are undoubtedly inflated in price. Are there any where you can buy a flight + cheap accommodation for little more than the cost of the flight to get around their 'no flights only' rule.

The airmiles are the most flexible, but I'm not sure if it's a good deal: £2.50 for 60 miles. This is £500 spending for 60 miles, or one mile for every £8.33 spent. This compares to 1 mile for every £20 with the actual air miles card, but it's debatable whether air miles are worth having in the first place.

For instance a flight from London to Bangkok going out on 19th October and returning on the 29th of October costs 5160 miles + £68.90 in taxes and fees, on Qatar airways. The same flight costs £473.48 inclusive of £55 fees. So 5160 miles is worth in this case £473.48 - £68.90 = £404.58. The miles would be earned by £43,000 in spending.

So for £43,000 in spending you get a flight worth £404.58. This is an effective cashback rate of 0.95%. This compares to 2% on the other holiday deals, but I suspect these are worth less than that due to the holidays not being worth what they are selling them for (plus I only ever book flights and sometimes a couple of nights five star accommodation - the rest is done on the ground).

In practice the lack of flexibility and choice of only being able to book with airmiles makes it worth somewhat less than 0.95% in cash terms, as you might want an airline or dates airmiles doesn't offer - they only have 35 airlines. For instance to Bangkok I would look at Phuket Air, Eva Air, Thai or Malaysian, but none of these are available. In some cases these would be cheaper than the alternative. So I guess the value of spending on tesco card is worth not more than 0.9% if spent this way, and maybe less. Not bad, and cashing in tesco points for airmiles is 'safe', in the sense that they are run by a large well-established company, and they are in the bank.

The only question is whether you would be better spending elsewhere..... On £43k with Bank of Ireland you would get £415. So the Tesco card, cashed in for airmiles compares pretty well, although in fact you would be better off with Bank of Ireland.... The advantage in my mind is that you *will* spend airmiles on a holiday, whereas if you had the cashback it will go unnoticed among your other spending.

But are there better deals to be had?

Reaper

thelawnet wrote:

But are there better deals to be had?

See this on the different reward schemes and in particular this table.

thelawnet

Reaper wrote:

See this on the different reward schemes and in particular this table.

good stuff.

I think the Tesco info is outdated though?

Tesco £1.65/£0.50 per £100 spending. Use its Clubcard points towards a discount off your Tesco shopping and it’s a paltry 50p per £100 spending. However, use the points to redeem on days out vouchers and other gifts and the return is an average £1.65 per £100.

That should be £2. I don't see how you get £1.65, it's flat 4-for-1. If the Worldpoints card is worth £4.35, taking BAA upgrades as having their face value, then £2 off MFI or a day out at Alton Towers should be taken as worth £2 too....

The tesco card should be the best buy unless you want an overpriced new car surely (and the BAA card is pretty much useless).

The Thomas Cook card pays 1.5% off Thomas Cook holidays, which isn't as good as 2%, but maybe it's more flexible than the Tesco holidays. The 2% is usable at Cosmos and various other tour operators, but I think only against specific (undoubtedly overpriced to moneysavers) deals. It's no good to me, as they are run by MBNA and will charge cash advance fees to bookmakers and casinos.

But 1.5% is not bad considering it looks like you can take it off flights as well as overpriced packages.

I have heard of people booking holidays with their clubcard points, but have any of them not been packages (excluding the airmiles). I am not really interested in overbundled packages.

Xbigman

But if you shop in tesco's itself and use the credit card you get 1.5% (if you can find a deal you like it could be worth 6%). I know you can have another cashback card and a non credit card clubcard, but there is also an unknown factor involved as you get other offer vouchers with your clubcard points. These vary between useless and quite valuable. When Morrisons converted the local Safeway I picked up four £6 off coupons. Not bad.
I also think (on limited evidence) that the extra vouchers you get are not universal. I've recieved better vouchers when I've put more through the card. Another value booster is the (occasional) money off petrol offers. Tesco's doesn't have a petrol station near me so they are useless. I do however have a Morrisons card, worth 1.7% (ish).

So if you shop and buy petrol at tesco's and put a lot of money via plastic (paying off each month of course) you should have a Tesco CC because the basic clubcard points are hard to beat. 'If' you can find one of the deals you like they look unbeatable.

That said, the smart MSE should always be flexible. Personally I've become a total price !!!!!! with no loyalty to any card or supermarket. If I want something I go for the cheapest overall option.
Regards



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Xbigman

Xbigman wrote:

. Tesco's doesn't have a petrol station near me so they are useless. I do however have a Morrisons card, worth 1.7% (ish).

Morrisons card plus .5% for paying with Tesco CC, actual more like 2.2%.
Regards


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