Get a wee boost to your Christmas budget and gain a year's interest in a day. With supermarket and department store savings stamps you're supposed to save up all year, then they add up to a 10% bonus.
Yet most add this on a set day of the year, eg, Asda boosts cash by up to 4% on 21 November. So the trick is, only put cash in the day before and you'll STILL get the year's bonus!
In this guide
The specific schemes
What are savings stamps?
Savings stamps schemes are run by many supermarkets as well as a few other stores. The idea is simple and good; you squirrel away a little bit each month over the year to pay for a Christmas shopping spree, so it needn't all come out of December's income.
They can be booklets or electronic cards and usually allow you to save between £1 & £400. Schemes vary in how they operate; some only allow stamps to be redeemed at set points in the year while others'll let you spend at any time.
The key to this though is most supermarkets add a bonus on top of what you save, and this is usually paid out a month or two before Christmas.
Don't think this is a gift...
It isn't the supermarkets being generous, it's good business acumen. You save for a year, they earn interest on your money, and eventually give you a little back. And more importantly....
You have to redeem the stamps/credit at that specific retailer; so they've effectively locked in your custom
Therefore, you'll be unsurprised to hear there are some exclusions on what you can buy with the stamps, usually lottery tickets, petrol or goods from third party concessions (when a retailer has a space in a larger department store). Some also don't allow you to redeem online.
Also, Iceland and Morrisons' versions come as booklets where you spend the entire amount saved in one big shop; otherwise you lose the remainder so make sure you buy all the Christmas stuff in one go. Others issue electronic cards which are much less rigid, allowing you to redeem the amount in multiple transactions.
How safe are supermarket savings schemes?
It's important to understand they DO NOT have the same protection as savings in a bank (see the Safe Savings guide). In fact, this is exactly what happened with the Farepak debacle back in 2006. It's the reason we've always cautioned against savings clubs.
If you're planning to save up over a year, it's better to use the top Savings Account or Cash ISA, which are protected.
Yet as this technique's about having a small amount of cash in them for just a couple of days, the risk's reduced; the chance of a big supermarket going bust during that time is quite slim (though nothing's impossible).
Keep your collector card safe though, as stores don't tend to keep a record of your savings. The exceptions are Asda and Debenhams where you can register them online. For everyone else, if you lose it, your money's gone.
The loophole
Supermarkets tend to pay the bonus on a specific day, normally during November or December, and the interest earned only depends on how much is in there, not how long it's been there. Therefore you can simply...
Buy all the stamps/credit required the day before the bonus payment, get the bonus, then use the funds to shop
As the shopping must then be bought in the specific supermarket or store, only do it if you would've spent there anyway, especially if we're talking serious cash. Luckily these days, it's easy to get both food and presents from these shopping monoliths, so it's not difficult to spend serious cash there.
The specific schemes
No two schemes are alike and some are more Scrooge than Santa. The following are the schemes in order of moolah bonus. Greyed out boxes are expired. Ensure you make a careful note of the timings.
Debenhams' Christmas Savings Card is available until Sat 1 Oct 2011. You have to activate the card with a £1 minimum and have until Monday 31 Oct 2011 (the later you leave it the better) to add more funds. Ensure you register it online, keep it in a safe place and don't spend any of the cash.
Then on bonus day, Sunday 13 November, those with £100-£199.99 get a £5 bonus; for £200-£299.99 it's £10; for £300-£399.99 it's £20 and if you've £400 or more, you'll get £40. After bonus day, it reverts back to a store gift-card.
It can be used on any item in-store, but you can't redeem the funds online. The balance doesn't expire provided you use it at least once every two years and should you lose it after registering, you'll get the balance on a new card. Thus major Debenhams' lovers who have picked up the card can make quite a saving by stocking up now before the end of October. But treat the plastic like hard cash and look after it.
If you pick up the card but don't activate it with the minimum £1 spend, you won't be able to get the bonus payout even if you load funds on the card.
Wilkinson*
offers a £1 discount for every £24 saved. Bonus amounts are credited overnight so you can use the total the next day. You no longer need to give name, address or signature when you pick up your card.
Stamps can be purchased in denominations of £1 at the checkout. There's no limit to the number of cards you can have (though bonus payments apply to individual cards only) and they can be redeemed at any time. You don't have to spend it all in one transaction and you can use more than one card at a time. The card must be used at least once within 12 months to prevent it being suspended.
If you're planning a big Wilkos shop and have the money, load up £96 and you'll get a £3 bonus, taking the amount to £99. This triggers an additional £3 bonus so there'll be a total £102 on your card for a £96 load. You can't protect your card by registering it and it can't be redeemed online.
Asda's Christmas Savings Card is an electronic scheme. Simply pick up a card in-store and pay into the account at any till.
On bonus day, Mon 21 November 2011, those with between £49 and £96 get a £1 bonus; those with £97 to £143 gain £3; and those with £144 (the max amount you can load onto a single card) get £6.
There's no limit to the number of cards you can have, to their use in a single transaction or to how much money you have to load in order to activate. So simply load up in denominations of £144 before 21 Nov to max out the bonus. Plus, register your card online and your balance can be transferred to a new card if you lose it. You can also check the balance and top it up online but it can only be redeemed in-store.
Like many other retailers, you can't use the balance to pay for petrol or lottery tickets.
Use all year! Iceland offers a £1 bonus stamp at the £29 and £49 levels (thus you get £2 per £49) which can be redeemed at any time. You have to buy a £1 saving stamp to get it started.
The disadvantage is Iceland's stamps need to be purchased from a dispenser and stuck on to the booklet by hand. Yet the scheme runs all year round, so whenever you shop in Iceland and spend over £29 you can save money. The only restriction is, you have to spend the total amount (including the bonus) in one go. E.g., buy £29 of stamps and receive the £1 bonus so your total is £30. You must then spend £30 or more in-store only and in one transaction.
It's a paper savings scheme and you can't register it to protect the amount so keep the booklet in a safe place.
The Co-op pays out £2 any time in December 2011 when you collect £48 in your savings stamps book. There's no limit to the number of cards you can have or use in one transaction and cards don't expire.
You buy the stamps at the checkout and can receive change up to 99p - anything over is given back in stamps. When the card is spent your name and address will be asked for reference, but they won't be used for marketing.
Cards can't be used in Co-op concessions (eg Peacocks and Greggs) or on petrol, anything from the coffee shop or lottery tickets. The funds can only be used in-store, not online.
Make sure you look after your booklet, you can't register it online so if it gets lost, you lose your money.
Use now! Morrisons pays out £3 if £97 is saved. One stamp is awarded immediately when you hit £49 and two more at £98. Stamps are available from checkouts and can be redeemed all year round but the bonus is only valid November and December so wait until then to get the bonus.
If you're keeping it for a Nov-Dec shop it has to be redeemed in a single transaction. If you're saving below the bonus threshold, for example you have £20 on your card, you don't have to redeem it all in on go and can spend eg £15. The remainder will go in a new booklet.
A maximum £100 (including the £3 bonus) can be saved per card and it's a maximum of five cards per household.
You can use the funds to buy petrol and lottery tickets but you can't redeem online or use more than one card per transaction.
Tesco* runs an old fashioned saving stamps scheme where you buy stamps from a dispenser which takes £1 coins only.
Collect a maximum of £49 on your card and you'll get an extra £1 when you redeem it any time in December. There's no limit to the number of cards you can have or use in one transaction and anything you don't spend on it, you'll get back in cash. Plus there's no expiry date on the card.
You can also use it to buy petrol and lottery tickets but you can't redeem the card online and you can't register it to protect the funds. Tesco advises customers to leave the card at home and attach the stamps after shopping.
Using this with your year-round savings
The above may make you think "that's not a bad way to save for Christmas all year round!" yet actually, there's a better strategy.
If you're planning to save for NEXT Christmas, then make use of the Top Savings Accounts around to stash your cash into and read the Start Saving guide to decide what type of account will be most rewarding.
Then, you'll be earning consistent high interest, and can simply take the money out just before the redemption period, put it in the stamps scheme and earn more on top!
Earn cashback and find the cheapest deals too
For those wanting to save more on their shopping, it's also worth having a Cashback Credit Card to use when adding funds to the saving schemes where you can buy credit at a till point.
Though always double check with the plastic provider if your transaction will count as a 'cash advance', rather than a purchase. If so, you'll be charged big interest from the moment you enter your PIN, which will gobble up any potential savings. So avoid that at all costs.
Plus if you're looking to buy bigger goods, the supermarket may not be the cheapest place compared to Cheap Online Shopping using Cashback Websites.
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