Bye Bye Tesco Credit Card

homer911

So Tesco has announced the complete withdrawal of its Credit Card in the Irish market, with all customers balances due to be transferred over to AvantCard once regulatory approval has been granted.


While I will morn the loss of the clubcard points, these have been reduced to the point where there are probably inconsequential.


Anyone out there an AvantCard user who can speak about their services/experiences?


https://www.avantcard.ie/

jethrothe2nd

I've been with AvantCard (or MBNA as it was) for years now. I've never had any issues but having said that,  I'm not a particularly heavy user. I only really use the card for booking flights/accommodation etc and generally pay it off in full every month. I vaguely recall a few threads about them taking a particularly aggressive stance when it came to issues with repayments, but that was a few years ago when it was still MBNA and may not still be relevant.

They have just changed over from VISA to Mastercard - haven't really used the card since it changed but I am assuming that there won't be any/much difference.

wench

I've been with them for 20 years, and find them fine.
I haven't had to call them too often, but always find them efficient and courteous when I do.

They have a very good website, which updates in real-time with pending transactions, very handy.

As with Jethro above, I always pay in full so I can't comment on that side of things either.

ELM327

As an ex-tesco CC holder who cancelled almost as soon as I took it out because they have no online account facility (I mean, come on like) I can't say Im surprised

Mongfinder General

They’re one of the worst for interest rates. 22% on some cards but they do lower rates on balance transfers and money transfers. They’re easy to deal with and the website is good. I think that they are still going to honor tesco points

van_beano

They will be honouring Tesco points. Will all Avant customers get this benefit now, they can hardly just offer it to the people that have been transferred over.

https://www.tesco.ie/finance/

What happens to my ClubCard points after the transfer is approved?
Your Avant Credit card will provide you with the same earn rate as you have today, which is 1 point for every €2 Tesco Spend and 1 point for every €8 spend elsewhere. At transfer, we will issue you with a new ClubCard so you can still collect points and enjoy the benefits of ClubCard

it's the only reason I have a Tesco CC, points pay for Bord Gais bills. It this was stopped I'd move elsewhere for CC. I have never liked Avant, never had dealings with them just have some dislike feeling for them.

Avant provide only contactless cards, no non-contactless available, may be not an issue for many but I will probably have to do a DIY job on the card once it arrives.

Avant don't support Apple / Android Pay either, neither did Tesco.

It was only a matter of time before Tesco stopped supporting the CC, they got rid of the insurance market years ago and stopped accepting new CC applicants last year.

Yggr of Asgard

I wonder what will happen to customers who already have an avantcard, will they now have 2 or will they merge balance/credit limit?

homer911

Anyone know what their anti-fraud service is like? Would they be at least as good as other operators at spotting or questioning dodgy transactions?

van_beano

I'd imagine their Fraud Dept and systems should be somewhat adequate otherwise they'd be forking out refunds to fraud victims which might eventually hit their bottom line.

I wonder will transferring Tesco customers be able to avail of the introductory 0% balance transfer, technically speaking we should. Nothing wrong with free money for 6 months until it's needed to be paid back :rolleyes:

wench

homer911 wrote: »

Anyone know what their anti-fraud service is like? Would they be at least as good as other operators at spotting or questioning dodgy transactions?

They seem pretty active in the anti-fraud area, sometimes too much so!

I've had them contact me a few times about suspicious transactions. Only once has it actually been fraud, which they sorted quickly.
Normally it's just me trying to do some shopping which doesn't fit the "profile" they have of my patterns.

wonski

Got a letter in the post yesterday.

Online access means I will actually keep it.

I have relatively low balance and limit, and only use it for holidays, car rentals etc, so it is a positive change. And the club card points remain active which is a nice little bonus.

Does anybody know if the rates will remain the same, or are they going to increase/decrease them?

I guess this transfer is based on customers not losing money, but for how long?

TargetWidow

I'm going to be shopping for a new card provider. Avant are unbelievably aggressive if you are late paying or forget a payment. Was in hospital having a bit of the other half's brain removed when they were phoning 6 times a day from blocked numbers. And very cunty when I did answer. I loved Tescos customer service. Nice friendly people. No avent for me I'm afraid.

van_beano

TargetWidow wrote: »

I'm going to be shopping for a new card provider. Avant are unbelievably aggressive if you are late paying or forget a payment. Was in hospital having a bit of the other half's brain removed when they were phoning 6 times a day from blocked numbers. And very cunty when I did answer. I loved Tescos customer service. Nice friendly people. No avent for me I'm afraid.

Make sure to let Tescos know that you don’t wish to switch to Avant, they obviously won’t supply your info to them then.

How is this deal working anyways? Do Avant pay x-amount of euro to Tesco for the 27,000 customers? What happens if nobody wants to switch and instead just close the Tesco account beforehand? Do Tesco ride off into the sunset with a bag load of cash whilst Avant are left with a worthless list of names?

homer911

van_beano wrote: »

Make sure to let Tescos know that you don’t wish to switch to Avant, they obviously won’t supply your info to them then.

How is this deal working anyways? Do Avant pay x-amount of euro to Tesco for the 27,000 customers? What happens if nobody wants to switch and instead just close the Tesco account beforehand? Do Tesco ride off into the sunset with a bag load of cash whilst Avant are left with a worthless list of names?

I'm sure the pricing is based on a number of factors including the number of customers who remain after a period of time, as well as the rate of recovery of balances transferred. Having being involved with the outsourcing of a loan book for a bank, I can tell you these pricing models can get quite complicated..

lotsofthegreen

I can see on the CCPC that this takeover has been approved. Someone submitted an objection based on possibly losing the loyalty points lol but was disregarded.


As a Tesco Bank customer of many years ; online access and estatements can’t come quickly enough

I see the clubcard points being dropped within 12 months of Avantcard takeover. That’s my prediction.

van_beano

lotsofthegreen wrote: »

I can see on the CCPC that this takeover has been approved. Someone submitted an objection based on possibly losing the loyalty points lol but was disregarded.


As a Tesco Bank customer of many years ; online access and estatements can’t come quickly enough

I see the clubcard points being dropped within 12 months of Avantcard takeover. That’s my prediction.

I don't know why Avantcard would discontinue the clubcard points though mainly due to the fact is doesn't cost them anything, it's Tescos that honour the points. Avantcard just have to provide some sort of monitoring of collecting the points.

Saying that, it wouldn't surprise me in the least if the points were gone in 12 months. I've had a good run with it, Tescos have paid loads off my gas and electricity bills,

zell12

KBC are offering a switch offer
€30 off their credit card (paying the duty),
1% cash back on grocery and online purchases
To get free banking, you have to lodge €2,500 into your KBC Extra Current Account each month.
https://www.kbc.ie/our-products/credit-card

Transfer €2.5k from a savings account to current account and reverse

That compares with 0.5% back in points on TescoCC on Tesco purchases

van_beano

zell12 wrote: »

KBC are offering a switch offer
€30 off their credit card (paying the duty),
1% cash back on grocery and online purchases
To get free banking, you have to lodge €2,500 into your KBC Extra Current Account each month.
https://www.kbc.ie/our-products/credit-card

Transfer €2.5k from a savings account to current account and reverse

That compares with 0.5% back in points on TescoCC on Tesco purchases

It looks as though you'd have to open a current account with them, wouldn't be worth the hassle of switching bank accounts just to get a Credit Card.

The 1% back is to a max of €10 per month and is only applicable if "...retailer must be categorised under a ‘grocery’ merchant category code with MasterCard.". I would take from that that paying for a holiday wouldn't get the 1% cashback.

homer911

van_beano wrote: »

I would take from that that paying for a holiday wouldn't get the 1% cashback.

It wouldn't currently get you the 0.5% from Tesco CC either - this would only qualify for the 0.125% rate

van_beano

homer911 wrote: »

It wouldn't currently get you the 0.5% from Tesco CC either - this would only qualify for the 0.125% rate

Yeah only 1 cent per €8 on the non-Tesco spend, used to be far better when it was 1 cent per €2 spend on anything.

connaugg

Tesco currently charge a foreign currency conversion fees of 1.75%. Avantcard are raising this to 2.65%! Buy the equivalent of €100 worth of stuff on Amazon.co.uk, pay with your Avantcard and they will charge you an additional charge of €2.65. Avantcard is also going to levy a new processing fee of €0.97 per payment in a Post Office! Seriously considering moving.

van_beano

connaugg wrote: »

Tesco currently charge a foreign currency conversion fees of 1.75%. Avantcard are raising this to 2.65%! Buy the equivalent of €100 worth of stuff on Amazon.co.uk, pay with your Avantcard and they will charge you an additional charge of €2.65. Avantcard is also going to levy a new processing fee of €0.97 per payment in a Post Office! Seriously considering moving.

That's where a Revolut card comes in handy!

I'll leave Avantcard the minute the clubcard points are stopped.

Bojill

Got a letter from Avant this morning with account number and details of the switch on 12th Oct.
250 tesco points if you use your new card three times in November.

van_beano

Tesco sent me a letter telling me my CC is about to expire and they’ll be sending a new CC in the next week. A week later they sent another letter saying that they’re not renewing the card as I’m being moved to Avantcard and apologized for the inconvenience.

Don’t think they have a clue what’s going on.

Anyone know if existing Avantcard CC holders be getting Tesco points or are we the special ones? By special I mean they’ll slowly erode the points bonus as soon as they can.

lotsofthegreen

Just opened Migration Letter - was able to register for Online Banking & update details with my Avantcard Account number on the letter. All set up with with my 1st Choice of username etc... so a good start here

wonski

lotsofthegreen wrote: »

Just opened Migration Letter - was able to register for Online Banking & update details with my Avantcard Account number on the letter. All set up with with my 1st Choice of username etc... so a good start here

Anything is going to be better than Tesco. Typing in credit card number on the phone only to be asked for credit card number minutes later and lack of any form of online banking was a joke really.

van_beano

Just spotted Avantcard has been acquired by the Spanish bank Bankinter

https://www.independent.ie/business/personal-finance/bankinter-enters-irish-market-through-avantcard-acquisition-37360056.html

Wonder what they're like to deal with compared to Avantcard

maximoose

Were new cards issued by avantcard?

Haven't received any migration letter but tried to use my tesco card this morning and it was declined.

van_beano

maximoose wrote: »

Were new cards issued by avantcard?

Haven't received any migration letter but tried to use my tesco card this morning and it was declined.

I used my Tesco card this morning and it worked fine. I don't think the card will stop working immediately once you migrate over, they give something like 21 days to start using the new one, once you start using the new one the other one doesn't work or something like that.

Haven't received an Avantcard yet either.

AndrewJRenko

Two shiny new Avantcards arrived at home yesterday. Along with two shiny new Tesco cards ordered to replace a lost card.

van_beano

AndrewJRenko wrote: »

Two shiny new Avantcards arrived at home yesterday. Along with two shiny new Tesco cards ordered to replace a lost card.

If you've tried out the new cards can you confirm if the card works as a clubcard as well or do you need to scan a separate clubcard?