Martin Lewis and his MSE team is urging shoppers to get instant money off Tesco, Asda, Iceland, Sainsbury’s and other major supermarkets thanks to Christmas saving schemes.
Each of the major retailers offer schemes which pay out cash bonuses at the end of the year, just in time for the all important – and often expensive – Christmas shopping.
In previous years, Martin Lewis has called out the Christmas savings schemes on his ITV Martin Lewis Money Show Live and the tip is also at Money Saving Expert.
These saving stamp schemes have now gone digital and run through apps instead, but in each case you can get cash worth up to £50 to spend on your big Christmas food shop.
Asda’s Christmas Savings Card will boost your savings by 5.35 percent, with cashback levels depending how much you save, starting at £1 for the first £79, up to £15 for saving over £280, and you can also get an extra fiver for using the Asda Rewards app.
Iceland offers a £50 bonus, with £1 for every £20 saved, and the bonus is paid within 24 hours and can never expire.
Sainsbury’s offers £25 max, with £2.50 for every £50 saved, while Co-Op offers £2 for every £48 saved with no max bonus limit, although you have to buy in store to get it, not online.
Finally, Morrisons Digital Christmas Saver gives you £6, or 3.1 percent, up to £197 saved and the bonus can be spent on your More card or via e vouchers.
And Tesco will give you £12, or 6 percent, as a bonus, on £200 saved.
Of course, the downside is that you don’t get paid interest on these saved amounts and they aren’t protected by Financial Conduct Services Authority, so you shouldn’t store cash in them for long periods of time.
But there’s nothing to stop you paying in and then taking the bonus within a few weeks, and then spending it – effectively the bonus is free money if you were going to spend it at Christmas anyway.
Each supermarket has a different deadline to pay in by to qualify for the bonus – Tesco’s is October 17, and Asda’s is November 10, while Sainsbury’s is November 1, and Morrisons is October 31.
