Of course there’s no reason people on low incomes shouldn’t have the same access to protections and services. But there’s still the fact that £500 would be around a weeks wage for an average person in work - but a month’s for a person on that low an income. With a very high interest rate, It would be easier and faster to get into trouble.
If for some reason I only make the minimum payment on a card one month, it doesn’t really matter to me because in all likelihood, if I wanted to, I could pay the whole thing off next payday if I wanted.
If I’m on £500 a month and have a card maxed out with a £500 credit limit. It would be much much harder to pay off. Because out of my £125 a week a much higher proportion is going to be gone. As a person on a low income has the same gas, electricity, water, phone/broadband, TV license, etc bills as a person on an average or higher income living in the same sized space.
Could be someone living at home, someone working part time with a partner working full time, or receiving top up benefits which some companies don’t count as income. Myriad of possibilities. By denying credit you are pushing people to payday or doorstep lenders
Yeah, you’re right. I just think they have to be very careful, that’s all - and there’s nothing to indicate that they are. It’s also a bit wrong that people with lower incomes have the highest interest rates. (Although obviously that’s how all lenders work.)
Not impressed by Tandem at all but with the cash back and no FX fees it’s still my primary card for non-UK, non-Amex purchases and cash. The proposition won’t survive with customers like me but I’ll take it while it’s available.
The new iOS update is much snappier than before it seems actually usable now.
I’m moving form Amex as I like a single card. Avios just doesn’t cut it anymore and I want a no-fee card with cashback that I can use at home / abroad with little fuss.
Have they scrapped in-app chat with this new app? I want to ask them about paperless statements but the help page tells me to phone them and that’s the only option. Is it like godaddy where chat is only an option during their office hours, or have they scrapped a key feature for a retail fintech?
Seems a bit odd if they have scrapped it. If you already have a call centre, how hard is it to have the staff on intercom during the quiet periods?
To be fair whenever I’ve messaged them thinking they’re a fintech they’ve replied telling me to call in during office hours - so what’s the point? Just like having a fintech that doesn’t care for feedback - what’s the point of a community forum?
I closed my Tandem account the other day. I felt bad (I don’t know why), but I had the account for over a year (I think - I was in the first wave of cards that were sent out) and literally nothing seemed to change.
It was more legacy than a legacy bank/credit card provider. The app was extremely basic, just a list of transactions with a sometimes incorrect total at the top, you couldn’t even make payments through the app. They don’t even have online statements and insisted on sending me loads of paper through the post.
If you wanted to though, you could connect other accounts and have a list of those transactions with less information and worse layout than in the bank’s own app…
The only thing I can remember changing is when they added fingerprint login to the app.
I found out about Tandem, Monzo (then Mondo) and Starling at around the same time a good few (maybe 3?) years ago - Tandem was the best looking one, the one I was most excited about - such a huge shame.
It just wasn’t good and wasn’t moving anywhere, I have a 4% card with Tesco with £6 grand plus limit and 9% Amex with £8 grand limit. I hardly use either and just didn’t need the Tandem, which I’d got because of all the promise of innovation. The Tandem app is even worse than the Tesco Bank Credit Card app - at least Tesco do paperless…
It actually became a burden having the Tandem card
I am thinking about closing my Tandem account, the fact I have to call them everytime is a joke and the fact that when you get a notification you can’t ever read it as when you click on it it goes nowhere oh and that there is not badge option on iOS so if you miss said notification then well you missed it all that + no Apple Pay… I’m defo gonna close it.
The phoning them for everything was the worst! On their phone line that’s only open 9 - 5?!
In the early days it would always sound like they were having some kind of office party in the background and the person you were talking to always sounded distracted by it (when you could actually hear them).
I thought that might be a bad omen at the time, and it turned out it was.
I only use it abroad. Still don’t know any other CC that offers rewards plus 0% FX fees abroad. Curve surcharges at the weekends and has a limit of £500/month abroad on the standard card.
Not impressed by Tandem in many ways, but they still offer me a product that isn’t matched for my usage. I assume that they will soon change their terms to dissuade people like me, but in the meantime I’ll take my cashback.
Sadly Horizon from MBNA is still invite-only. When MBNA closed my airline card they only offered me a no-frills card with no spending rewards and standard 3% FX fees - it’s a mystery how they decided who to offer the Horizon card to but given that I’d never paid a penny in interest I can guess they weren’t very excited about keeping me as a customer. I’d have signed up for Horizon if they’d made it available.
I got the Horizon card and MBNA make very little money from me. They are great for balance transfer offers. Does mean I don’t use the card for spend though.
