Egg.com is owned by the US based Citibank group and to use the first of probably many egg based puns they certainly got egg on their face the day they decided to withdraw credit from roughly 160,000 of their custumers - Citi bank claimed that credit was being with drawn from users with a risky credit profile. Unfortunately this turned into an eggceptionaly bad bit of publicity for Egg.com when it transpired that a lot of these so called bad credit risks were people like myself who used the card regularly and paid it off in full each month.
Now I like my Egg Money card as it pays cash back - 1% on all spending up to a maximum of £200 a year and nooooooooo I've yet to get the full cash back pay out! Now if only I could pay my mortgage, gas, electric council tax etc etc on it. I like a card that will give me something for nothing. Prior to my sandwiching my Egg Money card between my cash card and my Tesco's Clubcard I was an avid collector of Nectar points via the Sainsburys Bank Credit Card. Unfortunately
due to them becoming rather stingy on how many Nectar points it paid out plus the situation that saw my Nectar card going into a negative balance - Yes I have a debit on a Nectar card! I gave up collecting Nectar points and went on the hunt to find an alternative and the card that eggactly fitted my needs was the Egg Money card.
Egg.com is solely an online financial institution, you will not receive a paper statement from them most communication can be done via their secure messaging system I have always found questions answered very promptly. Should you need to you can call their call centre which I have done on a couple of occasions you'll find that you are not on hold for hours and 99% of the time the Call centre staff can sort out your query there and then. The CCA that dealt with me when it transpired I'd some how managed to set up two accounts and get two cards in the same post was extremely helpful.
You could be forgive in thinking that the Egg Money card is a credit card it's actually both a credit card, a debit card and a rather poorly paid savings account all rolled into one - current interest rate on a positive balance is a paltry 4% gross. Now you might be wondering how it can be all 3 of these things plus pay out cash back Egg Money is a card that could be run similar to your bank account i.e. money is paid in, you spend it either by visiting the cash point to withdraw money or presenting it as a method of payment any place that accepts a Mastercard. Personally I couldn't be arsed to load the money I normally spend on my Egg Money card each month and it's much easier for me to sweep it into a linked savings account and transfer it back to my current account once the direct debit is due! Egg Money isn't well know for it's great credit limits this actually suits me down to the ground as it's used for every day purchases and paid off in full I have no need for a large credit limit on it unfortunately if you had been tempted to use it to transfer an existing credit card balance due to it's typical APR of 7.99% well under half the APR of some credit cards you could be disappointed by your paltry credit balance.
When I signed up for my Egg Money card it was a fairly painless process of filling out the online credit application, setting up a direct debit and hitting send to be told I'd been accepted in the next screen page. I was also told how much my credit limit was going to be. Once I received my card(s) and sorted out the minor problem of having two egg accounts I activated the card not online as is the norm with Egg but via the CCA who I'd rang to find out why I'd been given two cards! Once activated I found out my pin number via my online account being the kind of person that if I think about pin numbers I totally blank what the number might be I rather like the fact I can log into my account and once I've given additional security information I can find out my pin. Yes this might be questionable from a security point of view but in my mind so is waiting for that little paper envelope that everyone knows contains a pin number!
Spending on your Egg Money card is easy - you can either as I've said before load it via your direct debit or online banking with your own cash and treat it like a debit card or use it as a credit card either way it is a question of presenting the card when you make a purchase and remembering that darn pin number! I would never recommend anyone making cash withdrawals on a credit card but should the need a rise then cash withdrawals made via a cash machine attract the same debit interest rate of 7.99 (typical rate) unlike other credit cards which will hype up cash withdrawals to an often obscene level of interest. However it is worth noting that cash withdrawals attract interest as soon as you have made them i.e. you will not get an interest free period unlike transactions for goods and services.
Every month if you have an outstanding balance Egg will email you once your statement has been made up and it is a question of then logging into the site which unfortunately at times can be painfully slow to view your statement as I've said previously Egg will not send you a paper statement but you will find once you have successfully logged in you can view previous statements should you wish. All payments are collected via Direct Debit you have the option to pay in full each month, pay the minimum amount or make a set payment each month. You can also make additional payments via online banking but you can't send them a cheque! Direct Debits can also be changed to a different account very easily online.
Cash back is earnt at the rate of 1% and is applied to your account each month and paid out annually in March each year. To get your grubby mitts on the cash back you must earn at least £10 the maximum you can earn is £200 a year. Egg also have instant cash back with a number of suppliers I was under the impression to gain this instant cash back you would need to go via the links on the Egg site but I managed to earn instant cash back by just using my card on one of the sites. Instant cash back rates vary from supplier to supplier and can be as much as 15%. Obviously collecting cash back only works if you're not paying interest every month as even at 7.99% the interest will soon eat into any cash back you are getting! As I have said previously my card is paid off in full each month.
Apart from a few minor teething problems I would highly recommend the Egg Money card as it is relatively hassle free. Egg answers and deal with any problems very quickly, it has a very competitive APR and it gives me something for nothing, I'll keep on using it whilst they pay out cash back.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Advantages: Cashback, simple to use, interest on credit balances Disadvantages: Slow money transfer from external accouts, can work out expensive for some
Advantages: Cashback, simple to use, interest on credit balances Disadvantages: Slow money transfer from external accouts, can work out expensive for some
Advantages: 1% cashback, contacted me to discuss the application, online statements (good for privacy) Disadvantages: customer service non-existant, online email service does not work most of the time
Mar 29th, 2008
exceptional by (7%):
very helpful by (93%):
