Zilch - New(ish?) - anyone any experience?

MrFrugalFever

I noticed today when browsing 'cashback and rewards' accounts that Zilch are offering a somewhat unique product. I wouldn't be interested in their BNPL (pay in 4) option as that doesn't generate anything other than a £2.50 transaction fee if not spending with one of their preferred retail partners, however, I am interested in the 2% cashback reward for spending with their preferred partner and 0.5% cashback for spending everywhere else (up to £2,000 per single transaction).

Being as sad as I am, i've read their T's & C's and although they are registered with the FCA and the underlining company Monavate is too, the card when purchasing in 1 payment to earn rewards is an unregulated purchase so CCA 1978 does not apply, therefore no S.75 protection.

It appears that only a 'soft search' is carried out, although both Experian and Equifax could be reported to for any missed payments, with a CPA set up to fund the purchase whether that is Pay in 4 or Pay in 1.

I wouldn't be making lots of money back just now on my purchases as I am trying to keep these to a minimum to maximise my house deposit but every little helps as they say and the type of purchases I would make would either be eating out/takeaway on the odd occasion, gifts and presents for friends/family and I like to do the occasional day out somewhere. My fuel and supermarket spend is subjected to 3% cashback from Pockit pre-paid mastercard so got my cashback covered there for approx c.£350pm.

Just wondering if anyone has used it and feels it is a benefit?

jasonwatkins

Hope the thread-bump is ok but I signed up to Zilch a couple of days ago and I've used it a couple of times.   I was given an initial £100 limit, which is fine for what I'd use it for, and I've basically set it up as a 'bridge' card to my Starling account.

You can add Zilch to Apple Pay (and, I assume, Google Pay) and if you've got it set to "Pay in 1", as I have, then whenever you make a purchase it still gets debited from your main account but it gets sent to the merchant via Zilch so that's where you get the cashback.

The £100 limit should hopefully help me keep my spending in line (which was getting a bit silly..) and hopefully the cashback pot will build up over time for the odd voucher here or there.

MrFrugalFever

jasonwatkins said:

Hope the thread-bump is ok but I signed up to Zilch a couple of days ago and I've used it a couple of times.   I was given an initial £100 limit, which is fine for what I'd use it for, and I've basically set it up as a 'bridge' card to my Starling account.

You can add Zilch to Apple Pay (and, I assume, Google Pay) and if you've got it set to "Pay in 1", as I have, then whenever you make a purchase it still gets debited from your main account but it gets sent to the merchant via Zilch so that's where you get the cashback.

The £100 limit should hopefully help me keep my spending in line (which was getting a bit silly..) and hopefully the cashback pot will build up over time for the odd voucher here or there.

Hi, thanks for sharing!

Life got in the way and I completely forgot about Zilch so thanks for jogging my memory!

£100 is quite a low limit but I guess that in itself has its advantages.

The_Urbanite

I was using it regularly when it was extremely easy to max it out and get £100 free cashback on spending a month, sometimes more when they had a cashback rate promo on.

However, they’ve capped what you can earn now, since they did that I stopped using it. I’m sure the lending feature is very good but I’ve not tried it myself. 

emperormessia

Zilch is fine I was given £120 then it moved to 140 which I find ridiculous, Also I do not like the idea of having to go to the app to activate for each use. I might they have started reporting to Reference agencies like Experian because I saw it there

MrFrugalFever

emperormessia said:

Zilch is fine I was given £120 then it moved to 140 which I find ridiculous, Also I do not like the idea of having to go to the app to activate for each use. I might they have started reporting to Reference agencies like Experian because I saw it there

Does it sit under loans or credit cards?

[Deleted User]

How long did it take you all to get fully verified and access the the ‘Zilch card’?

jasonwatkins

emperormessia said:

Zilch is fine I was given £120 then it moved to 140 which I find ridiculous, Also I do not like the idea of having to go to the app to activate for each use. I might they have started reporting to Reference agencies like Experian because I saw it there

I don't have to activate it for each use since I added it to Apple Pay if that's what you mean ?.   I've set the Zilch card as my default payment card and it comes straight out of my main bank account.

Rather randomly, I've just looked at the app and I've had my credit limit increased to £120 already.   

MrFrugalFever

Does it work I’m a similar way to Curve? The ‘how it works’ and ‘help’ section of their website isn’t the clearest IMO.

From what I can gather, there is NO physical Mastercard, just a digital card in their app that can be added to Apple/Google pay.

You are given a credit limit (via soft credit search) and can spend what you like but have to cover the amount over the limit in full at first payment if using ‘Pay in 4’.

The ‘Pay in 1’ isn’t entirely clear…..

jasonwatkins

MrFrugalFever said:

Does it work I’m a similar way to Curve? The ‘how it works’ and ‘help’ section of their website isn’t the clearest IMO.

From what I can gather, there is NO physical Mastercard, just a digital card in their app that can be added to Apple/Google pay.

You are given a credit limit (via soft credit search) and can spend what you like but have to cover the amount over the limit in full at first payment if using ‘Pay in 4’.

The ‘Pay in 1’ isn’t entirely clear…..

I've got mine set to "Pay in 1" but Curve is actually the closest in terms of what it does I suppose, although you're right in that it's just a Virtual Mastercard.

Whenever I buy something using Apple Pay, I'll get a notification from Zilch that will say something like "We've just received £2.40 for your purchase from GREGGS.".

Then, immediately afterwards, I'll get a notification from Starling saying "You've just spent £2.40 at Zilch"

So it is essentially a 'bridge' to your main current account.

I do believe that your cashback rate is higher if you choose the "Pay in 4" option as well, although I haven't read that part of the T's & C's. 

Hope that helps.

MrFrugalFever

Thanks, makes more sense now.

Can you connect a credit card to it or does it operate via open banking and therefore requires a current account?

I believe the cashback is 0.5% for pay in 1 anywhere outside of their partnered retailers from what I can fathom on their website.