Homewards App

IanJDBrown

I have recently read about a new app which allows individuals to save in a LISA by accumulating cash back from specific retailers. There are no fees and you can have as many peiple (family friends) linked to your account as you like, meaning you can accumulate more ‘free’ cash back. The App is called homewards and is currently still in development and therefore you can only register interest. Has anyone got any information regarding this and if it is a ‘to good to be true’ initiative. Thank you in advance for your help!

Mr.Saver

So, a hybrid of automated cashback and a LISA?

How much does the person (and the linked people) need to spend every year to get the full £1k bonus? If the cashback is 5%, they will need to spend £80,000 a year to get the full £1,000 bonus. I bet they don't need to use LISA to buy their first home.

IanJDBrown

It is advertised as a way to save for your first home. From the website on average each individual will earn roughly £300 per year ( of course that is dependant on the person). It is not clear the % cashback or what retailers and this point. I am imagine it will depend on what each company is willing to give.

As an example, I currently have a LISA. I would link this to the ‘homewards’ app. Every time I purchase something from one of the retailers, that % of cashback goes into the LISA. I can also add other family members or friends to my account meaning any time they spend with one of the retailers, the cash back still goes into my LISA.

AnotherJoe

Just geta cashback credit card and get cashback on all purchses instead of a random selection of companies.

Alexland

Putting cashback directly into ISAs seems a waste when it can usually be converted into higher value gift cards on Quidco or Topcashback. You can then do your everyday spending on the gift cards and use your cash income for ISA contributions. We do a high proportion of our spending on discounted gift cards.

short_butt_sweet

it's not too good to be true. it's marketing, a.k.a. the brainwashing side of capitalism.

they could pay to advertize their products. or they could pay you cashback. the offer of cashback will ensure that people spend more time looking at their products, and will be more likely to buy them. either way, it comes out of their marketing budget. and the marketing budget is built into the price of the products, so it's not "free money", it's just part of what you've paid for when you buy a product.

and the family/friends linkup is aiming to get them some free word-of-mouth advertizing, as people tell their friends to sign up.

they want you to spend more. which is exactly the opposite of what you should do if (for instance) you're saving up to buy your first house.

and they want you to spend on their products, rather than on their competitors'. it's possible that you could gain from this part, provided that you use this scheme appropriately, viz. only buy things you'd buy anyway, and carefully compare the prices of products with and without this cashback (and with other forms of cashback) to find the product which gives you the best overall value.

if you're already keen at chasing down the cheapest way to buy things, this might work for you. otherwise, it might encourage you to spend too much. if only to "help" friends and family with cashback.

eskbanker

^ Ben, you need to be verified by MSE to post on behalf of a company, as per the forum rules: https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/site/forum-faqs/#companies

MallyGirl

just press the Report button till he follows the rules

ColdIron

I just pressed the spam button as I do for all new users posting an email address, especially as the .io top level domain extension appears to be for the British Indian Ocean Territory