If you’ve got money in savings, there’s a way to gain up to £80 worth of freebies on top of the interest, by taking advantage of Tesco’s latest incentive. All you need do is deposit £1,000 or more in its savings account.
1 May 08: This offer has now closed but has been left here for information only
| What’s the deal? Sign up to a Tesco Savings Account account before 30 April 08 (extended from 2 April 08) and you will be awarded at least five hundred points on its Clubcard rewards scheme if you have more than £1,000 in the account on 31 May 08. Actual points as follows: Balance of £1,000 gives 500 points |
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While 500 points is only a discount of £5 if it's redeemed off your in-store spending, instead use it on Tesco's Clubcard Deals for things like days-out, RAC membership & magazine subscriptions and it’s worth £20 (see the Loyalty Points article for more info). And of course if you move the full £50,000 you will get 2000 worth £80 in clucard deals. If you don't have a Clubcard, just apply for one in your local store.
Something to be aware of: Tesco's run this offer a few times before, the previous one ended in Aug 07. This needed £1,000 to be in the account on the 30 April 08 to get the second installment of 500 points so don't get these two offers confused.
Is its savings account any good?
There are two no-notice accounts; the Instant Saver paying 5.75% interest if you've more than £1 (although 0.5% of this is a bonus for six months) and the Instant Access Saving with rates starting at 4.1%. Both are far short of the market leaders like Kaupthing Edge* which pays 6.5% (see Best Savings Accounts).
Yet remember you're only depositing the money to get the bonus. If you just put £1,000 in the account you’d have to keep the same money in the best savings account for about two years for the interest earned after tax to outweigh the bonus available with Tesco.
Can I put my money in, take it out, and put it in again
Absolutely, and that's the technically perfect way to manage this. Simply electronically move the money into Tesco just three days before the deadline, or a week before to be safe; as the idea is to have cleared funds there on that specific day.
Then withdraw the cash back to a top savings account just a few days later. Yet even if you dunk £1,000 in now and leave it there until May 08, you're only losing around £1 in interest, so it's not a big deal.
When will the points arrive?
The points will be awarded in your August 08 Tesco points statement and can be used after that. At this point decide what you want from the Clubcard Deals Brochure and simply send the vouchers with the application form to redeem it.
Is there any risk to this?
No. You’re simply putting money in a savings account, which as it’s a no-notice account you can withdraw at any time if you need it and close the account whenever you want. Just don't leave the money sittting there for too long.
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