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"JLP" aka Just Lost Plot.

1
Thanks to Newday telling me I am ineligible for the new JL Partnership card despite excellent credit score, 5 figure credit limit, etc, etc 31 October 2022 will mark the end of my JL Partnership card and circa 50 years loyal relationship with JL/W. Thereafter I won't be think of JL or W as my first port of call whenever Ii buy anything, No more recommending JL and/or W. It'll be just another shop which once upon a time had what it took but is no more. I have extolled the virtues of Newday on this board and other sites so the high esteem in which I hold Newday is renowned. As a gesture of goodwill to anyone that may not know this - I didn't until last week - a credit score fluctuates, depending upon how much of one's credit limit has been used at the time. For example if your credit limit is £10,000 and according to the soft check (meaning that your credit score isn't affected) the score is excellent, it doesn't matter that you pay the whole of the balance on each statement. What matters to the credit score is how much of the credit you have used at the date/time you check your credit score. Paying the whole of the balance is past performance: it does not create a binding precedent for the future. Until you receive your next statement and pay the balance on that statement, as far as the credit score is concerned you owe x% of the limit with no certainty whether the amount owed would be repaid in full by the payment date. The existing JL Partnership card can be used as an ordinary credit but really it's a store card that, because it is provided by HSBC, can be used as credit card anywhere. (Unlike Newday's version which can't.) JLP is not the most worldly organisation so probably would never have envisaged let alone intended that its cardholders would spend perhaps the bulk of the credit limit elsewhere and only a relatively small proportion at JL/W. But by so doing cardholders get JLP vouchers regardless, meaning that over the course of a year a high spending cardholder could easily accumulate more than £100 in vouchers to be redeemed at JL /W without having bought anything at JL/W. (I used to get more than £200 vouchers which I saved for use at Christmas.) It is advisable to close your credit card account with JLP before the expiry date otherwise the credit score might be told the bank has cancelled it in which case your credit score would be affected adversely. Just for fun, I am considering this paying all but £1 of the balance due and leave the £1 outstanding and gathering interest for years to come. Or until HBC write it off which the earlier. Reviewed on: 9th October 2022
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genius

JLP and Newday in cahoots.

1
Told I'm ineligible - despite >50 years loyal JLP customer, 5 figure credit limit and score excellent - I have after communications with JLP managers concluded that this oust has been orchestrated by JLP. From sources including JLP and Newday websites,, I speculate: JL stores are in financial difficulty, currently supported by Waitrose itself on the brink. It’s not that JLP doesn't want higher spending loyal customers, it sure does; but what it wants is custom that doesn’t sap profits. 

 With the HBSC JL Partnership card, each £1 spent qualifies for a point, whose number depends upon whether spent at JL and/or W or elsewhere. The more elsewhere the less JLP gets the more it costs JLP. I think it used to be one point for every £1 spent in JLP, two for every £1 elsewhere. Nowadays for some eligible purchases at JL and W 5 points for every £4 spent; and for other eligible purchases at JL and W 1 point for every £4; 1 point for every £4 spent elsewhere. Fewer vouchers for spending elsewhere is not a deterrent. For example, if a card-holder with £5,000 credit limit spends £4000 a month elsewhere then JLP issues vouchers. Vouchers can only be used in JL or W but it doesn't follow the purchase price has to exceed the vouchers value. A cardholder could amass a substantial sum in vouchers without having spent a penny at JL or W. When using vouchers to buy in JL or W not have to buy anything involving any extra payment for the difference between the vouchers and price. JLP would make a loss. JLP says that over the last five years £230m has been issued in vouchers. How much of approximately £126,000 a day average has gone to customers that haven't paid JLP anything. By enlisting Newday to either render higher credit limit existing Partnership cardholders ineligible or where the applicant is eligible a substantially lower limit JLP is reducing the value of vouchers issued. JLP is probably getting a share of any interest paid by new card-holders and paying a lower commission on receivables (transaction sales). JLP I suspect envisages that where an existing Partnership cardholder is rejected that person would obtain a desired credit limit from another card provider and continue to buy from JL/W whenever. Whether enough existing Partnership cardholders would want to continue loyal to JLP is a separate issue. A JLP partner qualifying for discount told me that for most goods and services there are cheaper deals elsewhere. Not a deposit-taker Newday hasn't any revenue beyond credit cards. It borrows to re-lend, loan note interest between 2% and 6+% a year - with interest rates rising costs will go up: for how much longer its business is sustainable is anyone's guess. To finance JLP's transaction, Newday has taken out a loan of £650M. Any cardholder paying the whole balance monthly is getting an interest-free loan from the date of purchase to balance payment date - if you time it carefully then up to 45 days - so for that reason alone an existing JL Partnership cardholder is ineligible. Newday plans to float shares on the stock market next year so boosting the number of cardholders is to impress shareholders. A £5000 credit limit to one card holder (unlikely to pay interest) is akin to £500 limit to 10 card holders (likely to pay some interest). The net proceeds of a stock market float (rumoured capitalisation £2.5Bn) would provide a injection of interest-free cash. The sad part is that JLP could increase its profit margin and number of loyal customers without having to resort to destroying long-term customer relationships with JLP. Instead of the vouchers issued regardless of where a JL Partnership cardholder spends, the vouchers should be linked to the myJohnLewis and myWaitrose cards. Show or scan a my-card before paying and have the voucher value credited to the my-card - and since printing on paper is costly to administer, to issue every JL and W customer a my-card which can be produced by the customer at the check-out for credit and debit with the points/voucher value. Reviewed on: 5th September 2022
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genius

Good service, friendly helpful and respectful

4
For years my insurance brokers were an independent. they were taken over by Oval and then then by Arthur G Gallagher etc. The persons i dealt with all that time ago continue. Reviewed on: 30th August 2022
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genius

Reasons for ineligible or derisory credit limit?

1
Told ineligible for the newday JL Partnership card - despite >40 years loyal JL/W customer, credit score excellent, £12,000 credit limit and superb payment record - I have commented on Trustpilot and Linked-in and direct to upper echelons of JL. I was upset and livid to begin with. Composure regained - withdrawn my application - I have been thinking about why ineligible and why paltry credit limits. Newday is akin to a parasite, not a lender in its own right, it has to borrow to lend. It pays interest between 2% and 6%+ on its borrowings - source: loan notes listed on London Stock Exchange - so cannot afford to subsidise cardholders that do not pay interest. Newday is a puppet, its strings pulled by funds advised by Cinven and CVC Capital Partners. With plans to float on the stock market, newday wants to increase the number of cardholders to boost its standing in the minds of investors. One cardholder with for example £5000 credit limit and paying the whole of the balance monthly (no profit for newday) equates to 10 cardholders each £500 limit, mostly incurring interest (profit for newday). Newday has taken out a loan circa £650M to pay JLP for receivables (source: newday results presentation August 2022) - a loan carrying interest will ultimately have to be paid for by cardholders. The presentation highlights perceived benefit of the JLP account. "Higher customer transaction volume and loyalty. Diversifies customer base towards prime. Delivers growth and attractive profit profile." Newaday’s 28.9% cost to income ratio maintained only if existing and new cardholders pay at least the same amount of interest. Ineligibility is I would think also orchestrated by JLP. A JL manager assures me JLP would have been satisfied with its due diligence. JLP is in financial difficulty. Its overheads and operating costs are unsustainable: top-heavy with overpaid managers and ceo, not attracting enough retired part-time workers for saving on National insurance it is suffering wage inflation, most generic products and services on offer are a soft touch for competitors. With profit margins shrinking, JLP strategy is for JL Financial Services to become an important profit centre in its own right. As agent for insurers, JLP gets commission. Likely a cut of the interest paid by cardholders. I would think JLP wants to reduce the cost of the vouchers cardholders get when using the card whether or not in JL and/or W. A form of cash-back, the idea of the vouchers was that cardholders would mainly buy from JL and/or W, not as I suspect most do to mostly buy elsewhere. The points differential is not enough to deter. As JL Financial Services knows how much cardholders spend, what they buy when and where, I suspect JLP has analysed every existing credit limit and told newday to get rid of what JL regard as unprofitable cardholders via ineligibility or derisory credit limits. Although it appears that JLP has alienated its core customers, from JLP's perspective it could be argued partly our own fault for not regarding JL and W as our sole suppliers. I am proper loyal to W in particular but I gather my attitude is unusual. If f i were to buy elsewhere something that JL or W sells then what I spend elsewhere wouldn't be helping JLP so rather than shop around I only shop at Waitrose. I doubt JLP rates newday for customer service, more likely for ruthlessness. JLP is I suspect using newday to do its dirty work. In its presentation newday says "Moved to the latest version of Customer Management bureau data and tightened growth strategies for existing customers" and "Tightening of affordability criteria and initial credit limits for new customers". On balance if what i reckon is correct or something along those lines then that doesn't say much for JLP's ethics but then again JLP is not what it was. Reviewed on: 30th August 2022
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genius