Tesco or Pigsback Visa

litirspam

Hi All,
Just a quick question. Does anyone know which is the best value?
Tesco or Pigsback Visa?
I pay off what I owe each month so I am looking to see what I can get back?
Any help appreciated.
Thanks
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okidoki987

Pigsback only give piggypoints as opposed to Tesco which gives cashback.
Also look at Bank Of Irelands Blue card (I think it's called), it also gives money back.

0utshined

That's the Amex blue from BOI. You can get a 1% cash back on it but read up on the T&C first to see if it's for you.

litirspam

I was told that Amex Blue is not accepted everywhere, so if that is true it is no good to me. Tesco don't give cashback but vouchers to be used in their stores.
Pigsback has online banking and Tesco don't but still don't know which to go with.

callumk

I had a pigsback card. They never give the correct amount of points every month. And don't forget, its run by the dreaded bank MBNA, stay clear of MBNA

0utshined

American Express probably isn't as widely recognised in Europe as it is in the States but there are still plenty of shops that use it. If you pay off your balance in full you should be getting some benefit so it's certainly an option.

litirspam

Hmmmm. Think I should probably go with Tesco then, only thing that annoys me is that they don't have internet banking which I find very useful.
Thanks for help so far.
Keep it coming.

byte

I've a Tesco Visa since last November. It's grand at the moment while the 0% interest lasts I have received about €13 in vouchers from them, though I did spend a grand in one day! As you say though, the lack of internet banking to keep track of things is a downfall.

drdre

never EVER go near mbna, they are actually fraud. but you only find out when u have been screwed by them.
my dad didnot pay them direct debit for 1-2 months on time (by mistake) and they told the credit check office and now it is very hard to get a loan for him.
the same thing happened to me 2 weeks ago and now i am trying to get a car loan and its very hard (i am only 21)that is a real bi**h.

anyway its your own choice,thats just my story

Paddy20

RE MBNA !,

To be fair, I have been using MBNA for years. They have even reduced my APR RATE, and I got a personal unsecured loan at a low rate that my bank could not touch .

So, a touch of "Swing's and roundabout's" methink's :cool:

P.

podgeen

Ive been with Mbna for a year, if you miss one of the minimum payments you get charged about 15euro. I had about a few euro on my card at the end of one month and didnt make the minimum payment. They charged you 15euro if you miss the minimum payment. I moved house and didnt get my bill and was still waiting on an internet connection so didnt check it online. I told this to them and they dropped the charges. So far in my experience with them has been good.
I rang them up the other day about something and they offered me a personal loan at a very low rate. I was tempted but turned it down. They really do their best to get you in debt but i suppose thats their business

podgeen

back to the topic - I've been considering changing from my ryanair mbna gold card to the pigsback gold card or maybe the tesco card.

I did not know that the tesco does not have online banking. That rules tesco out for me so as I do all my banking online.

The reason i rang MBNA last was to see about changing to the pigsback one, it turns out i would have to pay the government charge on that card as well even though i just paid it on my current card.

I heard on the radio a few weeks back that the tax was going to be dropped if you were changing cards as it hindering competition in the credit card market. Anyone know what the story is here?

litirspam

Yeah I thought that the tax was dropped. I will not change if I will have to pay €40 again.
You can pay Tesco Visa as a bill through Ulster Bank, don't know about others, but you can't see what you have spent on a day to day basis.

Saruman

I have been using the MBNA pigsback card for a while.. i had the ordinary mbna card for a few years before that.. I pay by DD every month so its a chargecard. I find them fine once you get past the selling of other products...

When i added my Wife to the card i got 2 new cards along with some welcome pack for another product.. I called to activate and said i did not want the protection plan thing they bundled with it. Anyway i got it anyway... it was not run by them but some british company.. its an ok idea but i did not need it. It was €45 per year... so i called the british company and cancelled it so was refunded the €45 they put on my card (without my authorisation!!)..

Apart from that stuff MBNA are fine.

Anyway i find the piggypoints handy.. i get TGI fridays vouchers or Pizza hut etc.
Pigsback is great but needs more stuff.. they used to have better rewards but have gone downhill.. still you can get some good deals on there.

okidoki987

The reason i rang MBNA last was to see about changing to the pigsback one, it turns out i would have to pay the government charge on that card as well even though i just paid it on my current card.

I thought you are only liable for ONE 40 EURO charge now?

Saruman

I thought it was per card? Well more so per Account? I had to cancel my old mbna and get a new pigsback account.

I would say they chance their arm.. i remember my old card was in credit after a refund for concert tickets was put on it. Took me a lot of hunting with Ticketmaster to find out it had been refunded but to the old card(forgot i bought on old card ) So i called mbna and had them transfer to new card.. that was fine but they did not volunteer the info, contact me or anything.. they left an old cancelled account in credit and waited for me to notice

paldude

okidoki987 wrote:

I thought you are only liable for ONE 40 EURO charge now?

thats right, in the last finance act (which I think came into effect on 1 april this year) you only have to pay the charge once each year.

podgeen

I rang mbna and they said it had not come into effect yet so i was still liable for an additional 40euro charge.

litirspam

podgeen wrote:

I rang mbna and they said it had not come into effect yet so i was still liable for an additional 40euro charge.

So does anyone know when it does come into effect?

0utshined

1st January 2006

link

govinda

litirspam wrote:

You can pay Tesco Visa as a bill through Ulster Bank, don't know about others, but you can't see what you have spent on a day to day basis.

I'm another Tesco Visa user, and it is a pain not having Internet statements etc. - but you can pay the bill via UB as litirspam said, or by handing the card over at a PostOffice. They also have an Irish freephone number (1800 555 743) with one of those automated systems that 'reads' all transactions since your last statement to you. Anytime I've had to talk to a customer care people (same as Ulster Bank credit cards, these are all Royal Bank of Scotland cards - and you get the same team on different numbers for each card) - they've been really helpful and polite. I've been with them for 3 years now, never thought about switching because I'm really happy with the card/service. HTH.