Incentives to Switch Bank

meer53

I'm happy to be called a bank tart. £250 or £125 for doing nothing ? It's a no brainer for me. Whats the difference from Tesco selling me stuff 3 for the price of 2 or Jet2 offering me £60 off my next holiday ? It's called an incentive. You can take it or leave it, why would you leave it ?

colsten

Katiehound wrote: »

If you want an ethical bank then possibly the closest to that is the Co-op.

Excuse me whilst I am ROTFLMAO. Just because they are marketing themselves as "ethical" doesn't mean they have higher standards than other banks. For example, they were as involved in the PPI scandal as others. Not only that, they even got fined for mishandling PPI claims! Not to talk about Paul Flowers' drug episodes, or of a huge black hole in their accounts.

bigadaj

tempus_fugit wrote: »

I don't think he is being derogatory. If you watch his shows you will see that he often says things like this with a twinkle in his eye. He approves of it as he has always said that we have to play the banks at their own game. I reckon the use of the word "tarts" is to refer to those who switch more regularly than most, but as I say I reckon it is very much tongue in cheek. I certainly don;t take any offence from it.

It's said in a playful way, and Martin does love performing, he'll use any excuse to dress up in women's clothes as well.

tempus_fugit

bigadaj wrote: »

It's said in a playful way, and Martin does love performing, he'll use any excuse to dress up in women's clothes as well.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

bigadaj

colsten wrote: »

Excuse me whilst I am ROTFLMAO. Just because they are marketing themselves as "ethical" doesn't mean they have higher standards than other banks. For example, they were as involved in the PPI scandal as others. Not only that, they even got fined for mishandling PPI claims! Not to talk about Paul Flowers' drug episodes, or of a huge black hole in their accounts.

And you've not even mentioned the current owners, the us vulture funds....

Katiehound

colsten wrote: »

Excuse me whilst I am ROTFLMAO. Just because they are marketing themselves as "ethical" doesn't mean they have higher standards than other banks. For example, they were as involved in the PPI scandal as others. Not only that, they even got fined for mishandling PPI claims! Not to talk about Paul Flowers' drug episodes, or of a huge black hole in their accounts.

Silly me- I obviously believed all the hype!! and I'd forgotten that the CEO or whoever had to leave. I was too busy thinking about the RBS fiasco.... seems banks have fiascos on a regular basis...

Okay- I think Credit Unions are fairly harmless!!?? Interesting that they never took off here like they did in Ireland

Glad you enjoyed my blooper- I had to google ROTFLMAO!

RG2015

meer53 wrote: »

£250 or £125 for doing nothing ? Whats the difference from Tesco selling me stuff 3 for the price of 2 or Jet2 offering me £60 off my next holiday?

The difference is quite simple. Banks pay switchers for doing nothing. Tesco and Jet2 offer a discount for a product or service being purchased.

binaryuniverse

And a bank account is not a product or service?

Zanderman

RG2015 wrote: »

The difference is quite simple. Banks pay switchers for doing nothing. Tesco and Jet2 offer a discount for a product or service being purchased.

You're being a bit too purist in my view! And the difference isn't simple.

If Sainsburys send me a voucher for £5 off a £40 spend I might visit them and spend £40 just to get the free £5 worth of goods. I might, or might not, ever shop there again. But they had my custom for a while at least. With Sainsburys it might just be that one day and one visit.

If a bank offers me £100 to move my account to them I might take them up on it, and move my account. I might or might not stay with them. But they had my custom (their use of my money and the fees they get from shops for my transactions) for a while at least. Unlike Sainsburys the period I am with them (the bank) will be months at least so there might be many transactions, not just the one.

You don't seem to see that a bank account IS a purchase and you are the bank's customer. You may not be paying the bank directly but you're giving the bank your money to look after (which they will invest) and they get a cut of any transaction you make with debit cards.

True, one can minimise the benefit to the bank by switching an account that is hardly used (and switch away again quite soon) but that's a risk the bank takes, just the same as the risk that Sainsburys takes with the £5 off £40 voucher - as you don't ever have to go back to Sainsburys again.

Both schemes are essentially the same - trying to woo new long-term customers with cash incentives.

RG2015

binaryuniverse wrote: »

And a bank account is not a product or service?

Not if you are never going to use it.