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  1. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jag_Warrior
    I guess as long as not too many people get on this bandwagon (buying EVERYTHING on a card, paying the balance each month and racking up the points/rewards), the companies will keep this gravy train going. It just gives me a warm, happy feeling knowing that I'm getting over on the banks.
    Oh no, the banks are getting one over on you They more than make up what they pay you through the fees they get from the businesses you buy from.

    I've resisted supermarket reward cards because its one huge data-mining exercise and it doesn't suit my paranoid nature. Over ten years ago I met someone at a dinner party who ran a company that sorts out a loyalty card scheme for a major UK supermarket and frankly it scared me exactly how much information they could get from seemingly innocuous information like what brand detergent you buy. I read recently that things are so advanced that they can predict two or three years ahead that a woman is planning to have kids and will subtly shift the advertising she receives to reflect that she would be preparing for this (like home improvement products etc).

    Since I've already got my mobile phone and search engine spying on my every move I don't want to add to my corporate surveillance with a loyalty card.

    When it comes to credit cards however as they say everyone can be bought for a price, and my price is 1.5% cashback on my Amex card. The problem with this is that very few shops take Amex in the UK because of the exorbitant fees they charge businesses.

    I've also used credit cards that charge 0% for a year as cheap loans in the past, then closed the account once I've paid it off. I'm not sure exactly how the banks make money on those deals but I'm sure they do somehow.

  2. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by Malbec
    Oh no, the banks are getting one over on you They more than make up what they pay you through the fees they get from the businesses you buy from.
    But the banks doesn't get anything from the consumer in that instance, they take the return to the consumer from the business you purchase some. If more businesses were smart they would offer cash discounts so they could screw the banks as well.

  3. #13
    Senior Member Jag_Warrior's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by airshifter
    But the banks doesn't get anything from the consumer in that instance, they take the return to the consumer from the business you purchase some. If more businesses were smart they would offer cash discounts so they could screw the banks as well.
    Exactly! What goes on between the banks and the merchants doesn't concern me. Until the merchants begin charging more for using credit cards, I'll keep using credit cards... and cashing those neat little rewards checks they send out from time to time.

    As for any concerns about the rewards cards being unique, with regard to data mining, they are babes in the woods compared to Acxiom. And it really doesn't matter where you live, as Acxiom, with 32 billion records, is the biggest data miner in the world. Even governments access Acxiom when they want to know something about you. Though it's something that I'm also not very comfortable with, I don't think much about it anymore, as there is no way to live in the modern world and avoid being data mined.
    "Every generation's memory is exactly as long as its own experience." --John Kenneth Galbraith

  4. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by Malbec
    I've resisted supermarket reward cards because its one huge data-mining exercise and it doesn't suit my paranoid nature. Over ten years ago I met someone at a dinner party who ran a company that sorts out a loyalty card scheme for a major UK supermarket and frankly it scared me exactly how much information they could get from seemingly innocuous information like what brand detergent you buy.
    My view exactly, coupled with the fact that I never use stores that offer loyalty cards often enough to render it even slightly worthwhile.

  5. #15
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    Slightly off tangent here, but does anyone use and make money out of the Santeander 123 current account? Most of the utility bills come out of my account as SWMBO does not work. They keep asking me to switch in branch, but hate to pay a wunch of bankers anything for an account.
    Opinions are like ar5eholes, everyone has one.

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