Post Office (UK) to launch new Christmas Club

The Post Office® today announced plans to launch a new Christmas Club offering customers a secure and convenient way to save for Christmas 2008, with additional membership rewards that will increase their spending power.

The Post Office® Christmas Club will fill a gap identified by HM Treasury’s Review of Christmas Saving Schemes by Brian Pomeroy, Chairman of the Financial Inclusion Taskforce, in March this year carried out in the wake of the Farepak collapse.

All funds deposited in the Post Office® Christmas Club will be governed by strict E-money regulations and held in a protected account under the control of Bank of Ireland. The funds will only be accessible to Club members.

The scheme will be available at all Post Office® branches from January 2008. Customers will be issued with a Christmas Club card which they can use to make deposits over the counter. The minimum single deposit will be GBP 5, and the maximum individual payment GBP 500, up to a total of GBP 1,000 savings per card per annum.

Funds will be locked away until 1 November 2008, when the Christmas Club card can be used as a pre-paid debit card with retailers signed up to the scheme or exchanged for gift vouchers at Post Office® branches.* The Post Office® has negotiated partnerships with around 200 retailers so far, covering grocery, wine merchants, fashion, travel and leisure, health and beauty companies. Top names include Argos, Boots, Debenhams, Halfords, House of Fraser, Peacocks, Sainsbury’s, Thorntons, Woolworths and WHSmith.