Can I buy beans at the bank? (Tesco Personal Finance)

Member Name: janharper

Product:	Tesco Personal Finance
Date:	13/05/01 (395 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: easy access

Disadvantages: doesn't fill me with confidence

Tesco sells much more than milk and eggs these days. You can buy a pair of jeans, a TV, a vacuum cleaner and even a mobile phone in store. What is not so clearly displayed unless you actually look at notice boards when you in store, is their financial services department.

It's not just building societies that can become banks, supermarkets can try to do it too!

Personal loans are available for any purpose. You get a low rate of interest at just 9.6% and if you borrow over £5000 you get it even cheaper at 8.2%. This is excellent. If you look round and compare you find that this is one of the best interest rates.

Tesco credit card facilities are offered at 6.2% for all transferred balances. You get Tesco points for every £2 you spend on your credit card too.

You can open a savings account and pay in at the till, or withdraw with a plastic card whenever you like. Its easy access. This does make it easier to save. If you have a little extra cash after doing your shopping you can put it into your savings account.

You can set up an ISA account through Tesco and save paying tax on your savings, get you car insurance, home insurance and even life insurance from just 20p per day. There's pet insurance, foreign exchanges services, and even travel insurance.

This all sounds very good but something about a supermarket setting up a financial services section bothers me. It doesn't quite feel right to buy myself an ISA and insure my house while I'm stacking up a trolley with milk, cereal and baked beans. I might be old fashioned but I wouldn't expect my bank to start offering me six eggs and a packet of soap powder, now would I?

Summary: