Pois (Foresters) Quidco incentive

Nurse2047

Never heard of Pois before however on Quidco at mo (see below) does not say min you need to invest for the cashback. Could I invest £1 and poss get the £60 cashback via my Quidco? Checked the T&Cs and can’t see a min

update- when you click via Quidco each product says what you need to invest monthly etc for the cashback on top of their cashback ..

friolento

I have seen them on TopCashback, too: https://www.topcashback.co.uk/search/merchants/?s=pois

I have not pursued it as they have a confusing array of cashback offers, tied to various different plans/products you have to commit to. It's also part of Foresters Friendly Society which sounds cuddly but is almost certainly not the best way to invest or save.

Albermarle

lcooper said:

I have seen them on TopCashback, too: https://www.topcashback.co.uk/search/merchants/?s=pois

I have not pursued it as they have a confusing array of cashback offers, tied to various different plans/products you have to commit to. It's also part of Foresters Friendly Society which sounds cuddly but is almost certainly not the best way to invest or save.

Normally friendly society investment plans are poor value for money.

dunstonh

Never heard of Pois before

Its a trendy name for the Foresters Friendly Society.    IT appears they are following the trend of relegating their traditional brand for something short with a simple logo that looks better on mobile devices and appears to younger people.

Typically, friendly society plans suffer very high charges for modern options and often use investments that are considered by many to be obsolete.     Those that have moved to unit linked funds tend to offer a limited range, often just one.     

in this case, they offer just one fund which is 90% global equities and 10% bonds and cash with an ESG slant.

The reduction in yield (RIY) due to charges is an eye-watering 3.15% over 10 years.    For context, a stakeholder pension with a 1% AMC has n RIY of 1.1%.      Modern charging plans with a global equity tracker or multi-asset fund with a 90%/10% split would have a RIY of around 0.5%    (assuming smaller values as Friendly Society plans are aimed at low values).

And if you don't hold it for at least 10 years, the RIY increases to 66.25% for one year or 5.03% for 5 years.    

The product is similar to an old endowment policy in terms of charges and the bundling of a small amount of life assurance into it.

Personally, I take issue at their disclosures as I feel that they do not meet consumer duty standards.  For example, if you look at the table on charges it says no entry or exit costs and the only charge is 3.15% p.a.


However, if you look at the example on £1,000 invested

How does a 3.15% annual charge equate to a 66.25% if there are no entry or exit costs?

(also, RIY is usually around 0.1% higher than each 1% AMC.  i.e. a 1% AMC is 1.1% RIY.   a 2% AMC is 2.2% RIY.    But the document uses the RIY as ongoing costs 

Full document is here:  https://www.pois.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/POIS-KID-TESP-06.23-web.pdf

Nurse2047

Thankyou all thought as much will stay clear and continue with Vanguard and Fidelity. 

EthicsGradient

"POIS" stood for Post Office Insurance Society, which Foresters took over in about 2014. It also stands for an unfortunate medical condition, for which the symptoms are intimate enough that it's better not to link to a description here. You'd think they'd use a brand name that doesn't show up, as the 2nd result on Google, "How do you get rid of POIS?".

Albermarle

EthicsGradient said:

"POIS" stood for Post Office Insurance Society, which Foresters took over in about 2014. It also stands for an unfortunate medical condition, for which the symptoms are intimate enough that it's better not to link to a description here. You'd think they'd use a brand name that doesn't show up, as the 2nd result on Google, "How do you get rid of POIS?".

EthicsGradient said:

"POIS" stood for Post Office Insurance Society, which Foresters took over in about 2014. It also stands for an unfortunate medical condition, for which the symptoms are intimate enough that it's better not to link to a description here. You'd think they'd use a brand name that doesn't show up, as the 2nd result on Google, "How do you get rid of POIS?".

Of course curiosity got the better of me . It sounds pretty unpleasant !