egg cash back

I got an e-mail today from egg saying something like that my statement is ready and a link to the login screen. I looked at the source and it seems to be genuine, but with all those phishing scams going around, it is definitely a bad idea.

Interestingly, egg changed the login screen so that now you just type in your date of birth, instead of selecting it from a menu. They say it does not affect security, whereas previously the reason for the menus was that they are more secure, as mouse click are harder to intercept.

Back to the original topic, I hardly ever use my egg card any more, since the cashback is not competitive, but the offer of free balance transfers is nice, I can combine the higher cash-back on another card with a free loan.

Steve

Without a hint of irony, rob@/remove/ghosh.co.uk (Rob Beattie) astounded uk.finance on 28 Feb 2004 by announcing:

Isn't the latter only on new accounts?

Is it true that your payments pay off your cash advance first, before any purchases you may have made ? Could catch out a lot of folks.

Without a hint of irony, Chesney Christ astounded uk.finance on 28 Feb 2004 by announcing:

Cash advance, or balance transfer? I think the general rule is that the lowest APR transactions are paid off first. Balance transfers first, regular transactions next, then cash advances. Egg's relevant Ts&Cs are:

5.1 Each month you must pay by direct debit at least the minimum payment given in your statement. The minimum payment will be:

the full Revolving Balance if it is less than 5, but otherwise the greater of 2% of the Revolving Balance and 5;

Plus for each Transferred Balance;

the full amount of the Transferred Balance if it is less than 5, but otherwise the greater of 2% of the Transferred Balance and 5.

&

5.4 If you do not pay the Statement Total on the Payment Date, we will apply the amount you do pay:

first to meet the minimum payment needed under condition 5.1;

second against Transferred Balances on which interest is charged at an initial reduced rate and Promotional Balances (in the order that they were put on the Account);

finally against the Revolving Balance (including any Transferred Balances on which any initial reduced rate is no longer charged).

I actually requested they allow typed numbers about a year ago as once pull down lists get too long, I find them a pain in the arse, and slower than actually typing.

Same here. I addition their interest free period is shorter than my other cards.

Daytona

You can normally assume that payments will be applied in whatever way is least favourable! The general rule is that for balance transfer offers you shouldn't use the card for anything else during the promotional period. Also cash advances on credit cards are rarely a good idea in any circumstances, with the partial exception of the Nationwide card. Even there it's a good idea to put the card in credit first, given that there is no interest-free period for cash.

On the face of it the optimum strategy is to take the b/t now, pay it off in June and then do another transfer.

My account is certainly not new, and they sent me the offer ...

Hmm, except it doesn't appear to say what the loophole is! Have you seen it mentioned anywhere else?

Without a hint of irony, "Stephen Burke" astounded uk.finance on 29 Feb 2004 by announcing:

Ok. Isn't it only on new & old accounts then? ;-)

By old, I guess older than 1 year. Mine's 2 months old & I don't get the offer.

Only "loophole" is this (done this before) .........

Assume egg credit limit is 10,000

Do a balance transfer (BT) to an "overdraft" (egg cannot check you are overdrawn) of 9,995.

After BT reaches bank account, trransfer it to your egg savings account (or cahoot, ING, whoever).

Make withdrawals as necessary to pay the minimum balance to egg every month (5% is 500, 3% is 300, whatever it may be).

On 31 July, pay off the full balance on the card to avoid paying interest.

Keep the interest earned on this money for yourself. I anticipate 150 gross, 120 net.

Rough Calc = 9995 * 0.045 * 5/12 * 0.85 (the last bit to allow for minimum repayment) = 159, say round down to 150 to be safe

(4.5%pa interest for 5 months on 85% of the money on average).

Repeat at anniversaries, so that is September 2004, 2005 and 2006 for me. Egg have confirmed that I can do this twice this year as my anniversary is September.

Result 4 lots of 120 profit (or more if interest rates go up).

Luvvly jubbly!

It turns out I'm in the same situation, I didn't think I'd spent anything but there was an amazon order which I'd placed a couple of months ago which was only just filled. I think the thing to do is wait until 18th. Once the statement is issued you can pay it off - the 2nd is just the last date you can do that. Then you should be able to do a b/t with no problem. A credit before the statement date is unclear, it depends how their internal systems work, if they only net off payments on the statement date then any credit would go against the b/t and not the spending.

It seems that even egg may be somewhat confused about who does and doesn't get it, so it's probably worth waiting.

Why is this called a loophole? As far as I am concerned, this is how an interest free loan is meant to be used!

Steve

Loophole is that the "overdraft" does not exist!

When you are doing a transfer, the website gives you the choice betweeen credit/store cards, loans and "bank accounts or overdrafts", so it is not even loophole. It is not assumed even implicitly that you have to have an overdraft.

Steve

Also that concept is already well-covered on the web site so I don't think it's the loophole in this case. Apparently whatever it is will be disclosed tomorrow ...