Serial Switching for Rewards. Not good.

System

dreaming wrote: »

Didn't Jesus also say (if you believe the stories in the bible) "let he who is without sin cast the first stone"?

Yes. Indeed. But this shouldn't be used as an excuse not to challenge something you feel is wrong. It's a bit like teaching young children about telling tales. If the motive is just to get someone into trouble and no other then it's telling tales.

Jesus also said 'Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?'. I am so aware of these questions/statements. I am not a Christian but I see the wisdom in the reported sayings of a range of religious leaders.

masonic

scgf wrote: »

Yes. Indeed. But this shouldn't be used as an excuse not to challenge something you feel is wrong. It's a bit like teaching young children about telling tales. If the motive is just to get someone into trouble and no other then it's telling tales.

Agreed, but the only way to have an impact is through reason and discourse as to why it is wrong, you can't leave it as just "I think it is wrong" (or "it is wrong because of this quote: *insert scripture*"). The question of why it should be considered wrong has so far gone unanswered in this thread.

Nicholas

If it was so wrong, then why do the banks continue to encourage it? Because they know that quite a few, or maybe even the majority would take advantage just for the cash reward. But at the same time they are hoping that they retain a sizeable minority of those that switched and gain money out of them and keep them as customers for years to come. The banks are trying to play the long game.

Of course, there are those that took it a step further with First Direct a few years back. £100 to switch to FD and even more to leave if you didn't like the service within the first 6 months and could come up with a good excuse as to why.

Sea_Shell

As someone who's just bought my DH a new mobile phone on Amazon using the "dirty" vouchers from Santander...I guess I'm doomed to eternal damnation.

Oh well, them's the breaks!!!


(It'll turn up broken now, you watch....karma that is!!!)

Terry_Towelling

dreaming wrote: »

Didn't Jesus also say (if you believe the stories in the bible) "let he who is without sin cast the first stone"?

I think this biblical story is generally taken to be a warning about hypocrisy and not taking the moral high ground but I have information that suggests otherwise.

Having spoken with Jesus' parents at length over the years, his father remains tight-lipped as to his son's real motivation in that story. However, his mother has said, 'He's not the Messiah, he's a very naughty boy!' This leads me to suspect that Jesus was simply trying to jump the queue and get his stone thrown first.

If I don't post anything later, you'll know I have been struck down for blasphemy.

MisterMotivated

scgf wrote: »

It is clear that by feeling a need to justify what you do there is a suggestion that you know there is something not quite right about what you're doing.

Interesting tactic, trying to prevent people from providing an opposing viewpoint by suggesting that defending/justifying their actions (which are really none of your business) is somehow confirmation of a guilty conscience.

It's also interesting that I am being criticised for giving my opinion in the first place.

Given that your opinion was unwarranted and not provided as part of an existing discussion, but rather you felt the need to start a brand new thread just to express it, I'm not surprised at the response you received. I abhor smoking, but I've never deemed it appropriate to approach smokers in the street and tell them I don't like them (regardless of whether or not I would expect to enter into a more in-depth conversation with them at which point I would explain it's not them personally that I dislike, but their actions).

I think discussions on what we feel is right and wrong are very useful to help us hone our own moral compasses.

And you believe the best place to do that is on a sub-forum centred around Budgeting and Bank Accounts? Nevertheless, I'm very happy with my moral compass and have no qualms about accepting a reward offered freely by banks (I won't mention that it's coming out of the billions they make in profit generally at the expense of the less financially-savvy in society, through devious sales tactics, equity/interest market manipulation, taking cheap government loans and using the funds to help boost their own profits rather than to help stimulate the economy as per its intended aim, etc). Whether I then continue to use the services of those banks, which in some cases I have done, is completely up to me. I may find, after switching, that the bank offers substandard service, or that some of the benefits of the account (such as Nationwide's linked 5% regular saver) are being withdrawn.

I think it has been an interesting debate and I'm glad I posed the initial question. I've certainly learned plenty.

Your initial question was "am I in a minority of one?". Have the subsequent posts given you a firm answer on that front? How has that insight affected your opinion on the matter? Do you continue to stubbornly stick to your original assessment of the people who regularly switch, or are you open to the possibility that it's not as despicable as you previously thought?

One final question if I may... How do you feel about people who, when they are in the supermarket and are offered a free sample of, let's say, cheese, which they gladly accept even though they have no intention of buying any of that particular brand of cheese during their shopping trip, having tried it many times before and knowing exactly how it tastes? There's no implied obligation to buy the cheese if you find it ebjoyable.

Nicholas

I think he didn't get the attention he feels he deserves last time around:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/72083857#Comment_72083857
OP, you actually had a thank you for that post from someone, so perhaps you are not in a majority of one after all.

If everyone was in your position with a lucrative pension, then perhaps you might be in a better position to judge, but to some the switching reward can be substantial.

System

MisterMotivated wrote: »

How do you feel about people who, when they are in the supermarket and are offered a free sample of, let's say, cheese, which they gladly accept even though they have no intention of buying any of that particular brand of cheese during their shopping trip, having tried it many times before and knowing exactly how it tastes? There's no implied obligation to buy the cheese if you find it ebjoyable.

To be honest I would only try the sample if I felt I might buy some for myself, assuming I liked it.

What I have found interesting is that you see my post as unwarrantied. A forum such as this exists to facilitate discussion on budgeting and bank accounts and because I expressed a view you do not share you feel it was not welcome.

Your analogy of approaching smokers to tell them you do not approve of smoking by extension suggests all members of this forum indulge in serial switching just for the rewards. Absolutely not the case.

I think this forum is the ideal place to place my post. Where else should it go other than in a forum where users discuss switching for reward?

To answer your question about whether the responses have changed my point of view, I have to say no. I still feel strongly that money gained from serial switching is tainted. I don't even like money gained from the stock market or interest from large investments. A rather puritanical view, but that's how I feel. Money earned from working is something I'm comfortable with.

System

Nicholas wrote: »

If everyone was in your position with a lucrative pension, then perhaps you might be in a better position to judge, but to some the switching reward can be substantial.

I receive a teacher's pension of some £22K per annum. I have paid into the teachers' pension scheme for 38 years and one of the reasons for choosing teaching as a career was the pension. I'm not sure I would describe it as lucrative though. I don't even earn enough monthly to be eligible for an HSBC Advance account.

masonic

scgf wrote: »

Your analogy of approaching smokers to tell them you do not approve of smoking by extension suggests all members of this forum indulge in serial switching just for the rewards. Absolutely not the case.

I'm struggling to make sense of this logic. If I'm not mistaken, your position is you are only condemning the act of serial switching just for the rewards, not serial switching where the switcher is evaluating a number of banks with the intention of a continued relationship if they like what they see at any point? Because in your eyes one is immoral and the other isn't, or one is less immoral than the other?

In which case, why couldn't that be equated to the condemning of another action someone finds immoral such as smoking, while leaving the act of vaping out of the condemnation?

I don't even like money gained from the stock market or interest from large investments. A rather puritanical view, but that's how I feel. Money earned from working is something I'm comfortable with.

Can we look forward to a thread on the Savings & Investments and Pensions forum condemning the actions of its denizens too?