is this a good deal

moonrakermagpie

Could I ask if this is a good deal or not, based on that I would not buy any wine but take all the money out after say a year.

Is it better that a high interest saving account or isa.:-

I could put £100 or £1000 a month in if it was worth it!!

Wine Bank

1. The Virgin Wines WineBank is NOT a bank in the same sense that Barclays and NatWest are. It is a scheme where you pay us money to buy wine.
2. The beauty is that instead of US choosing which cases of wine will be discounted, we give YOU the discount in the form of "WineInterest" every 3 months - so you can choose the wines you want (there are a few very reasonable exceptions where you won't be able to use your WineBank balance - see Clause 12h).
3. How it works:
   • We bill your credit card an agreed amount on the 1st of each month.
   • Every 3 months, if you are still a member of the WineBank, we pay an EXTRA instalment ("WineInterest") equal to your monthly payment, on the 28th of the month. So if you are paying £20 a month, every 3 months you will end up with £60 you've paid in PLUS £20 we've paid in.
4. Your money is safe. We keep any money you pay into the WineBank scheme in a trust account, separate from Virgin Wines, so you are protected.
5. We keep the teeny-weeny bit of (real) interest our own bank pays on your deposits. But then we are paying you 33% (!) of what you've paid in every 3 months in "WineInterest", so that's all right then.

Aegis

moonrakermagpie wrote: »

Could I ask if this is a good deal or not, based on that I would not buy any wine but take all the money out after say a year.

From what I've read in your post, no, it wouldn't be a good deal. You'd put in your money over the year and get out your money with no interest at the other end. I really don't see the point in this account at all unless you're going to buy a lot of wine from Virgin Wines.

If I'm translating right, for every £30 deposit you make you get £10 worth of discounts on their wine stock rather than real interest. They keep the real interest you make in exchange for this discount, and presumably the discount itself has no cash value if you wanted to redeem it for itself.

I suppose if they gave the discount as vouchers and you sold the vouchers for, say, half their face value you might turn a profit, but if the discounts are fort he account holder only, there's really no point if you wouldn't normally buy enough wine to take advantage of the discount.

By the way, you missed the rest of the terms and conditions:

1. You are free to cancel your WineBank membership at any point. We will gladly refund any money you have paid into the WineBank.
2. Cases bought partly or wholly with your WineBank balance are not eligible for free 13th bottles (normally associated with Wineclubs but also including 13th bottle promotions).
3. The WineBank is designed so that you can get a special offer on the wines you want to buy, rather than the wines we want to discount. It is not designed for you to get multiple discounts on the same products. Therefore, on certain deeply discounted products, you have the choice of either buying that product with the money you have paid in to your account (but not the WineInterest we have paid in) OR using your entire balance to buy something else.
4. Customers with a VAA Flying Club number registered on their account will not receive any Miles for orders bought partially or completely using WineBank, and the collection of monthly payments will also not generate miles.
5. Customers with an Egg credit card who normally receive cashback for placing orders will not be entitled to any cashback for orders bought partially or wholly using WineBank balance, and the collection of monthly payments will also not generate cashback.
6. We reserve the right to close the WineBank scheme at any time without prior notice. In such circumstances you will be refunded any money you have paid in to the WineBank, and any money Virgin Wines has paid in will be converted into vouchers on your account, which must be used within 6 months of the date the scheme is closed.

All in all, not great for just paying in to and taking your money back from!

cheerfulcat

I don't quite see the point if you aren't going to buy the wine - if you close the account, all you get back is the money you've put in!

From the T&Cs -

" You are free to cancel your WineBank membership at any point. We will gladly refund any money you have paid into the WineBank. "

Aaah, beaten to it...

purch

I think this is posted in the wrong Forum

It has nothing to do with Savings and Investments

based on that I would not buy any wine

So you intend to pay money into this scheme, and then do what ??

P.S. As far as I can tell without ever buying from Virgin Wines, they are overpriced.

Footsie_2

I have to say it doesn't look like it would be much good to anyone from a savings point of view.

Jonbvn

purch wrote: »

P.S. As far as I can tell without ever buying from Virgin Wines, they are overpriced.

Have you tried their wine auctions? I have my suspicions about them.