Existing customers treated worse than longstanding loyal ones

paulypost

Two examples
Santander balance transfer offer of x mths interest free and no fee thru money supermarket
Lloyds similar offer with x% bal trans transfer fee but x mths purchase interest free

I have cards with high limits with both banks (been with Lloyds since my teens)

Neither will give me the same offer on my existing cards.
I had checked with CS at Sant that the offer applies and did a 2k transfer only to find that a fee of £57 had been charged (I hate fees!). The CSR omitted to mention that the interest free period applied but with a 3% fee. I got the £57 refunded but not the offer.

Totally unfair but (like car insurance renewal?) these offers seem to be channel specific as described in one of Martin's recent podcasts.

fergie_

The offers are all personalised and there are a lot of 'new business' offers.

The banks make money off the fees - its basically front loading a fee rather than charging 'interest'.

Unless the market is reviewed or the laws changed, it will continue this way, but careful what you wish for. When car finance was reviewed, all the good deals and bad deals went to be replaced with very average deals.

steven141

I get the same it’s one APR rate through money saving expert but if you go direct it’s higher. It doesn’t make sense at all. 

jbrassy

It's called price discrimination in economics. Banks know a lot of people are unwilling to switch, so charge higher interest for those who don't wish to do so. If you are willing to switch bank, you will likely get a better deal. 

The same is true when it comes to lower prices through MSE vs going direct. Banks know MSE users are going to be more price sensitive and price accordingly. People who go direct have probably not bothered looking around, so banks know they can price higher. 

DullGreyGuy

paulypost said:
Totally unfair but (like car insurance renewal?) these offers seem to be channel specific as described in one of Martin's recent podcasts.

A bad example to compare to since the regulations have changed and existing customer can no longer be charged more for Car (and Home) insurance than new customer prices for the same product by the same channel. 

New customer discounts are vastly wider than just financial services and are nothing close to a new idea. 

NoodleDoodleMan

Is an existing customer not in the same ballpark category as a longstanding loyal one ?

Not clear on the distinction.

fergie_

NoodleDoodleMan said:

Is an existing customer not in the same ballpark category as a longstanding loyal one ?

Not clear on the distinction.

I think what OP means is the distinction between someone who is new to the brand (ie no products or accounts at all), a brand user (for example has a bank account, but not a credit card) and a product user who already has the actual credit card.

born_again

Existing customers treated worse than longstanding loyal ones

Makes little sense.

There is no loyalty in any service provider. Be that Insurance, banking, Mobiles, Sky/Virgin TV. I could go on.

Play the game switch & take the bribe. That is the whole point of MSE.

I would think that Op meant to say. Loyal customers are treated worse than new customers?

MABLE

Halifax cc had applied a 0% on purchases for 15 months and was never requested.  Also held the card for 8 years but not used this year.

Perhaps the are looking after their existing customers who they know.