yougov.finance bribe

Nick_C

"How do you tell which accounts credit and which do not? Just by adding banks one at a time and waiting to see how many points are added?"

In my case, a bit of educated guesswork, but I have a high degree of confidence in what I found.

To be absolutely certain, add your accounts in tranches and make a note of the time.  Leave an hour between banks.  Look at the order in which the points they appear, about 24 hours later.

I am certain about which savings accounts worked though.  I added the closed Virgin accounts about 12 hours after all the others.

OceanSound

masonic said:

Nick_C said:

Thanks @Band7 for starting this thread, and @OceanSound for referring to it on the Easy Access Savings thread - I would not otherwise have know about this.

Easiest £100 I've ever earned.  I started linking accounts about midnight on Sunday, received my first £50 this morning, and the second is on the way.

I linked 29 accounts - 10 current accounts, 11 Credit Cards, and 8 savings accounts.  

As far as I can tell, all my current accounts have credited, including Monzo which I haven't used since Sept '21.  It looks as if anything with activity in the last two years is treated as active.

9 credit cards have credited, including a card that I haven't used since January '22.  The two that haven't are supplementary Amex cards that I have on my partner's account, but which I can view through my online banking with Amex.

Four of my savings accounts have not credited.  Three were with Tesco, have zero balances, and have not been used for nearly two years.  The fourth was with Halifax, also with a zero balance, and unused for years.  It looks as if savings accounts must also have some activity.  

Oddly, two savings accounts with Virgin Money Clydesdale - 08**** sort code) have credited, even though they were closed in Dec 21 and Aug 22.  

Santander e-Saver @2.75%, nil balance, unused since Dec 22, and Barclays Rainy Day Saver (with monthly activity) have both credited.

Total 9900 points plus 150 for short welcome surveys.

I'm tempted to stick £1 into each of the dormant savings accounts to see if they track next time round.

I also plan to create some activity on credit cards and current accounts each quarter that I would not normally use.  

I have no qualms about selling this data.  I already use the Emma app to help me reconcile my accounts, and I've earned 21350 Nectar Points in 14 months with Nectar Connect, by letting them spy on 3 of my credit cards.

How do you tell which accounts credit and which do not? Just by adding banks one at a time and waiting to see how many points are added?

As the points criteria is:

Current account = 500 points
Credit card = 500 points
savings account = 100 points

We could add as option (1):

one current account+ 4 savings in one go

OR option (2):

1 credit card account and 4 savings accounts in one go.

Say we do option (1), then wait and see how many points are credited. If 500 then it means only the current account was eligible. If only 100 points were credited then it means the current account wasn't eligible and only one savings account from the four was eligible (we wouldn't be able to tell which one - to get round this we could add one savings account each - unless we can do some guesswork and work out which savings accounts didn't qualify)

If 900 points were credited then it means all added accounts were eligible.

Edit: I posted the above without seeing Nick_C's post (for some reason I could only see the previous post). The method described there is tried and tested so I would personally go with that.

BTW, just logged in to YouGov site after a few days and the 3 current accounts (Halifax) I added on Friday 3 February have all qualified. I can see 1500 points added as a result. 

OceanSound

Nick_C said:

"How do you tell which accounts credit and which do not? Just by adding banks one at a time and waiting to see how many points are added?"

In my case, a bit of educated guesswork, but I have a high degree of confidence in what I found.

To be absolutely certain, add your accounts in tranches and make a note of the time.  Leave an hour between banks.  Look at the order in which the points they appear, about 24 hours later.

I am certain about which savings accounts worked though.  I added the closed Virgin accounts about 12 hours after all the others.

Take it those closed accounts still appear in your (Virgin) online banking platform? For how long do they appear once the account is closed?

The reason I ask is because once they disappear from the (Virgin) online banking platform there is no way to add them to YouGov Finance. 

A bit of a moot point really because I personally don't have the Virgin accounts that are YouGov Finance 'friendly'. I have the accounts with the additional digits in the customer number (as discussed in the previous posts in this thread). Maybe one day the type of accounts I hold with Virgin will become available to add on YouGov finance, then I can be prepared. I also have three credit card accounts with Virgin. Two of them haven't been used for a while. Before I became aware of YouGov Finance through the post's by @Bridlington1 and @flaneurs_lobster I was pondering on closing those two account. However, now, I've had second thoughts and may keep them open just in case if they become available for addition on YouGov finance. 

Nick_C

@OceanSound

My Virgin Savings closed accounts were Home Buying Coach Regular Savings Accounts.  The ones that, theoretically, you can only open from the Virgin Money Home Buying Coach app, and discussed widely on the RS thread when the interest rate made these a top paying account.

I only had two of them.  The first matured into an easy access Esaver in December 2021 and was closed on maturity.  The other was closed before maturity in August 2022 when the interest rate became uncompetitive.

Despite being closed accounts, they both show in online banking.  When you access them, you get a message "This account is currently 'read only'. You can view your statement, and interest and tax details, but cannot transact on this account."

No idea how long they will remain viewable on line, but I expect YouGov will only count them while there has been activity in the last two years. 

Edit: The accounts I listed below are not accessible through open banking 😟

Virgin Money have a couple of savings accounts available through the 7 character logons which could be worth opening with small amounts for the YouGov payments. 

1 Year Fixed Rate E-Bond Issue 517

https://uk.virginmoney.com/savings/products/1_year_fixed_rate_e_bond_issue_517/

Pays 4% AER, payable monthly.
(3.93% monthly interest) 
Maturity Date:  20 February 2024
Monthly interest is paid on the 7th day of each month, and will be available the next working day.
Only one account can be opened per customer per issue. 
Minimum to open £1.
For your initial deposit you are able to pay money in with your debit card. Any money paid in will receive interest immediately.
Minimum additional deposit £1.

A £5 balance should generate at least a penny a month in interest, making this an active account. 

There is also... 

Defined Access E-Saver Issue 17

https://uk.virginmoney.com/savings/products/defined_access_cash_e_isa_issue_19/

2.25% variable interest, which can be paid monthly.  

Might be worth opening with £10

Nick_C

Virgin Money credit cards can already be seen by YouGov.  I have two of them.  No Web access, but YouGov establishes the open banking link using the app on your phone. 

k_man

OceanSound said:

masonic said:

Nick_C said:

Thanks @Band7 for starting this thread, and @OceanSound for referring to it on the Easy Access Savings thread - I would not otherwise have know about this.

Easiest £100 I've ever earned.  I started linking accounts about midnight on Sunday, received my first £50 this morning, and the second is on the way.

I linked 29 accounts - 10 current accounts, 11 Credit Cards, and 8 savings accounts.  

As far as I can tell, all my current accounts have credited, including Monzo which I haven't used since Sept '21.  It looks as if anything with activity in the last two years is treated as active.

9 credit cards have credited, including a card that I haven't used since January '22.  The two that haven't are supplementary Amex cards that I have on my partner's account, but which I can view through my online banking with Amex.

Four of my savings accounts have not credited.  Three were with Tesco, have zero balances, and have not been used for nearly two years.  The fourth was with Halifax, also with a zero balance, and unused for years.  It looks as if savings accounts must also have some activity.  

Oddly, two savings accounts with Virgin Money Clydesdale - 08**** sort code) have credited, even though they were closed in Dec 21 and Aug 22.  

Santander e-Saver @2.75%, nil balance, unused since Dec 22, and Barclays Rainy Day Saver (with monthly activity) have both credited.

Total 9900 points plus 150 for short welcome surveys.

I'm tempted to stick £1 into each of the dormant savings accounts to see if they track next time round.

I also plan to create some activity on credit cards and current accounts each quarter that I would not normally use.  

I have no qualms about selling this data.  I already use the Emma app to help me reconcile my accounts, and I've earned 21350 Nectar Points in 14 months with Nectar Connect, by letting them spy on 3 of my credit cards.

How do you tell which accounts credit and which do not? Just by adding banks one at a time and waiting to see how many points are added?

As the points criteria is:

Current account = 500 points
Credit card = 500 points
savings account = 100 points

We could add as option (1):

one current account+ 4 savings in one go

OR option (2):

1 credit card account and 4 savings accounts in one go.

Say we do option (1), then wait and see how many points are credited. If 500 then it means only the current account was eligible. If only 100 points were credited then it means the current account wasn't eligible and only one savings account from the four was eligible (we wouldn't be able to tell which one - to get round this we could add one savings account each - unless we can do some guesswork and work out which savings accounts didn't qualify)

If 900 points were credited then it means all added accounts were eligible.

Edit: I posted the above without seeing Nick_C's post (for some reason I could only see the previous post). The method described there is tried and tested so I would personally go with that.

BTW, just logged in to YouGov site after a few days and the 3 current accounts (Halifax) I added on Friday 3 February have all qualified. I can see 1500 points added as a result. 

It doesn't need to be quite so complex as getting the total to 900, rather than say 1000, in each batch, as each account that adds points tracks individually in Account History
So if you added 5 x savers, and 1 x current/credit, these would show as upto 5 x 100 and upto 1x 500.
So even if only 1 current, or all 5 savers tracked, and 500 points were added in total, the breakdown is shown.

If not all track, you still can't see which it was though.

As above though, one at a time with a period between each one would make tracking easier, but may take a while!

OceanSound

When redeeming the 5000 points, yougov website asks for address and it has a text box saying 'street'.

Do I enter my street name only, without entering the house number?

ZeroSum

Nick_C said:

Virgin Money credit cards can already be seen by YouGov.  I have two of them.  No Web access, but YouGov establishes the open banking link using the app on your phone. 

I just get '414 request URI too large' error page when I try to link mine

atlantis187

is this the same yougov company that nadhim zaharwi owns?

MikeJXE

YES it is.......................