Take the cd and run (Sony)

Member Name: brownp1

Product:	Sony
Date:	09/07/01 (192 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: free cd, pulsebeat scheme

Disadvantages: rates and rewards not wonderful

Fed up with receiving piles of junk mail every day?

Well sometimes it pays to have a closer look to see what you can get from them rather than just looking at the negative and seeing what the banks / loan companies / insurance companies what to squeeze you for.

An example of this is the new Sony Visa card, which is run by the Bank of Scotland. As a card it’s not the worst on the market as there is no annual fee but with a promotional rate of 3.9% for the first six months which then hikes up to 17.9% it certainly doesn’t qualify as the best on purely financial grounds.

The perk on this card is that it offers “pulsebeats” which can be redeemed against a range of Sony products. You earn 1 pulsebeat for every pound that you spend (or 3 pulsebeats if you’re buying Sony products). A catalogue is provided which shows the products you can redeem the pulsebeats for; and the going rate is 1300 pulsebeats for a cd, 2000 for a dvd and up to 90,000 for a stereo. This may look a bit steep but the perk on joining is that they will give you 1300 free pulsebeats so you can claim a free cd straight away. The other perk is that you are entered into a dream draw to win prizes if you spend any money on the card in that period – but since I haven’t won I can’t comment.

The pulsebeats scheme is not the best on the market as looking at the redemption values one pulsebeat is the equivalent of 1p (1% of your purchase value) and there is a limited range of choices. Whereas several other VISA companies already offer a 1% rebate in cash, and additionally some of these companies such as Egg also offer lower interest rates.

Whilst I've not had any significant dealings with the customer services they appear to be courteous.

Therefore my recommendation is that you take out the card and get the free cd. You can then choose whether to use the card or as I've decided to just hold onto it for
6 months so as not to mess up your credit ratings before cutting it up.

If you’re interested you can join online at www.sonycard.co.uk

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