I had to laugh
I just came back from doing my shopping at one of my local supermarkets, but not the one I normally use for my groceries…
As I left, I was accosted by a gentlemen who was trying to pursuade me to take on their new store/points card. Firstly, it’s a proper “store” card (not a loyalty card) - so you have to spend money on it to earn the points. Secondly, it’s a store card - it can only be used in the one chain of stores. By this point, I already wasn’t interested - I don’t do store cards - so was looking for a polite exit - so I asked what the interest rate was, expecting the usual extortionate figure of around 18 to 20 percent…
TWENTY EIGHT PERCENT APR (website link if you want to check it!)
I actually laughed. I wonder how many people are so gullable (or just don’t ask the right questions) to sign up for a card where the penalties of not paying it off immediately are so severe - just for the sake of a few pounds worth of “bonuses” (in this case a 0.5% cashback - or for every £100 I spend in the store, I’ll get a huge 50p back!) - which are wiped out the first time you miss that payment… you’d be far better off with a “proper” credit card, with a nice competitive interest rate, introductory offers, and in some cases even cashback - like those from Cahoot or Capital One’s 6.9% APR - either of these will save you a fortune if you don’t pay it off immediately.
Disclaimer - I am not a qualified financial advisor, so don’t take my word for it on financial matters, simply check the figures for yourself, all interest rates quoted were from the official websites at the time of writing
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I’m impressed the bloke even knew what the interest rate was - try asking them the APR in somewhere like River Island: “oh, erm, I don’t think it has one of those … let me just ask my supervisor”! 88|
Well, this wasn’t the regular checkout staff, this was a special “stand” set up in the entrance - probably staffed by people who are trained in how to sell a card…
I only ever shop in Asda when I go to the post-office there anyway… (it’s the nearest one where I can get foreign money and do things like the car tax…)