The wheel's falling off my trolley (Tesco Personal Finance)

Member Name: LouZ

Product:	Tesco Personal Finance
Date:	10/05/03 (1279 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Club card points and vouchers

Disadvantages: APR only good for 1st 6 months

Shopping List: Bread, Milk, Butter and £5000.

Gone are the days when your local supermarket was just your local grocer ... butcher, baker, delicatessen, tailor, hardware, music and video store. Ok, so the Supermarket giants have been giving us almost all we need under one roof for a long time now. But moving into the business of providing personal finance has been a more recent development, and one which Tesco seems to be leading the way in. You'll have seen the adverts recently - animated talking trollies worried about their future -which pull on the heart strings of the viewer (unfortunately for the marketers, with not as much success as the unwanted mobile phone in the Carphone Warehouse ads, sob, sob).

I was queuing for my lunch in Tesco's one day, eyeing over the tantalising selection of chocolate goodies deliberately placed at easy grab height when I noticed a stack of leaflets. With my basket in one hand, my free arm reached out ... chocolate or leaflet, chocolate or leaflet? I snatched a Galaxy bar and discarded it in my basket leaving me free to read over the colourful, glossy selection of leaflets. Gosh, there's almost as big a selection as the chocolate! They do loans, mortgages, credit cards, savings acocunts, travel money and a wide range of insurance (home, motor, travel, life, and pet).

I'm the kind of consumer credit card companies love to hate - I move around lots, taking advantage of interest free periods and paying balances off in full. My current card had lost that 'new' smell about it so I figured I'd make Tesco the next victim of my custom! So the credit card leaflet and application was the lucky one that made it into my basket for me to read on the way home.

Here's the deal:

Application
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As I did, you can pick up a leaflet in-store, fill it in and post it off. Or you can apply online at www.tescofinance.com. Unfortunately, if you apply on-line, you
still have to print the form off, sign it, then post it to them!

It took a long time for my application to go through. They contacted me after about 3 weeks to ask me to send proof of ID and address. They really could have speeded things up by requesting this with the original form, but they said they had to complete the credit check first. I've been offered some finance in minutes, so I still think the delay was unnecessay. However, I did at least receive my card within the promised 28 days.

Choice of Account / card
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You can go for the Classic credit card or the Finest* Platinum Card. There are also two designs to choose from - Sunflower or Raindrops. The Sunflower picture is the one shown on this site.

For the platinum card (which is the one I have) you must be over 21 and earn a minimum of £20,000 per year. You get additional benefits such as:

"Earn 2 points for every £2 you spend at Tesco.com". I've not tried internet shopping with Tesco yet as I've heard you end up with things you didn't order when they replace the 'chocolate' on your list with 'celery sticks'!

"Exclusive offers on Tesco Finest*". This is in the form of money off vouchers, and usually on products I'd never buy like Mussels in Champagne.

"Offers on Tesco Insurance products". They've not yet bothered me with any insurance salespeople.

"A higher credit limit". Please, please, do not tempt me with anymore - I could already buy a house with the amount of credit available to me on plastic.

"Free legal and medical assistance when abroad and free delivery on Tesco Travel Money" So why would I need to buy travel insurance? I smell a rat.

Interest rate/ Annual fee
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0% pa introductory rate until 1st October 2003 on purchases and balance transfers then 14.9% APR standard r
ate (variable - i.e. it might be changed at any time).

Up to 56 days interest free credit. You must pay your balance off in full every month otherwise this is irrelevant to you. Any balance not paid off will be charged interest from the day of purchase. Obviously this is also not relevant if you're paying 0%.

No annual fee. This is typical of most credit cards -I wouldn't have a card that involved having to pay a fee as there really is no need.

Reward Scheme
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Earn 1 Clubcard point for every £2 you spend on all purchases (whether at Tesco or elsewhere, anywhere in the world). Use your points for Clubcard Deals and Clubcard vouchers (which you can save for up to two years and use them to get as much as 75% off the normal cost of travel, entertainment and other things). To be honest I find the reward system quite confusing, but it's nice to receive the vouchers through the post every now and again when I'm not expecting them.

Other Benefits
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Can obtain ATM cash worldwide.
Covered against fraudulent transactions.
Purchases are covered for 50 days (theft, loss etc).
Free travel accident insurance (upto £50,000 for Classic card, £250,000 for Platinum).
You can also take out additional insurances but I never opt for these as it is clearly the way the companies make their money!

You can maintain your account on-line or contact the customer services helpline who I have found to be very helpful (the Platinum contact number is 08456 04 04 06).

So I now also have a little silver Tesco Finest Platinum card in my collection. I was a bit annoyed that just after my application was processed they extended the interest free period to Oct (when I applied it was June) but I still managed a full six months 0%. Anyway this Littlest Hobo will just keep moving on.

Summary: