Free air miles are being offered to new borrowers by the British building society Cheltenham & Gloucester, in a scheme launched last week. No Irish institution has yet gone as far as this scheme to woo new customers.
the plethora of new `value' and `loyalty' cards on the market are is proof of this. But no Irish financial institution has gone as far as the Cheltenham & Gloucester Building Society in Britain the UK which last week offered free Air Miles to new borrowers.
New C&G mortgage customers will earn one Air Mile for every £5 they borrow: a typical £50,000 mortgage loan will earn 10,000 air miles, enough to "buy" two return trip tickets to New York and still have 4,000 air miles left over. The air miles scheme was first introduced in Britain nearly 10 years ago by NatWest and Shell as a loyalty scheme for retailers, but this is the first time it has been taken up by a retailer with such a valuable product to sell. and so many Air Miles to accumulate from one transaction.
In Ireland the idea of two-forone flight promotions was taken up by Bank of Ireland in association with Aer Lingus a few years ago.
Anyone who opened a new savings account and made regular set deposits over a period of months could purchase the cheap flights once the target amount was reached.
The scheme was a success, says the Bank, but it wasn't renewed the next year. Offers like this we were told "are great at attracting new customers" but don`t necessarily ensure that you keep them.
Loyalty schemes are not in force in any of the main banks or building societies at the moment though most lenders offer new borrowers a discounted first-year interest rate.
Rewarding loyal customers is under consideration at the First National Building Society, said a spokesperson. First National, busy preparing for its public flotation next year, is especially keen to keep its mortgage and savings book intact. It may feel that a loyalty scheme would be one way to reward all its customers and not just those members who will qualify for free shares.
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