Saving money? Rounding your bank card purhcases

[Radek Pilich]

A bank card which automatically rounds up customers' purchases to the nearest pound and then pushes the extra cash into savings is being launched.

The Lloyds TSB Save the Change scheme is being marketed as a modern equivalent of a penny jar - an easy way to put money away for a rainy day.

On a £19.73 debit card transaction, the card holder would be charged £20, with 27p going into savings.

BBC NEWS | Business | Bank card to 'top up' savings pot


Looks like good idea, what you think about it?

[Dimitry]

That is the most brilliant idea I've heard in a while heh...I'd sign up if my bank came out with that.

[Brutha]

What is the advantage of this over putting simply 10%(or some other number) each month into savings?

[Doku]

I think that it's a great idea for the banks.

First off, it deposits into a savings account at their own bank... so it forces you to invest more money into their bank, which they make money on. It is very hard for banks to get people to open accounts with them. This is a way to easily get hundreds or thousands of new accounts opened.
Secondly, depending on how they handle it at the credit card level, stores are charged a processing fee which is a certain percentage of the transaction... The stores may scream bloody murder, but the banks might be charging them the processing fee on the extra "rounded up" money as well.

[MamaDuck]

Bank of America in the US has been doing this for over a year now. It's nice, plus they have a matching plan where they match the amount you put into savings via this plan up to a certain amount.

[birger]

Originally Posted by Brutha

What is the advantage of this over putting simply 10%(or some other number) each month into savings?

I guess it's easier to calculate your spendings from the card statement.
Plus, it's forced saving, which is good, for those people who can't put away money by their own free will...

[mattinglot]

I think this is brilliant too. It's another way to save money that would otherwise just disappear without you retaining any noticeable value from it. I would definitely use it if it were available to me, but on top of the 10% savings not instead of.

As for advantages over other methods, beyond the obvious forced-savings: I see this as the creation of a self-imposed "spending tax" that discriminates against small "insignificant" purchases that add up overtime (53 cents change is a relatively big percentage of 5 dollars, but not of $50), helping to perhaps dampen the effect on the wallet from the unnecessary little purchases like fancy coffee drinks and eating out too much that most of us make.