Hi everyone, I’m Ben and (for full disclosure) I am a Co-founder of Homewards, launching later this year. Our aim is to help people – specifically LISA customers – to get onto the ladder quicker through cashback on their, and their families, spending.
It’s great to see so many people are clued up about the LISA and the various providers. But, what I’d be curious to find out is how many people hit the maximum £4k limit to get the full £1k government bonus.
On the whole, are people managing to hit it with just their earnings? And what do people think about being able to increase their LISA savings with cashback on your spending rather than just your own contributions as such?
Sounds like a unique and interesting concept. Just signed up as due to personal circumstances I may be up for starting a LISA sometime this year. Here’s my ref code for anyone else: Viral Loops | Viral & Referral Marketing Software
Would you be looking at a VIP launch before Q3-ish, or much later?
So there will be two methods - one for online, and one for in-store.
Online is through click-throughs - purchases tracked through cookies. Same as the big cashback sites. This way we can offer more than 4000+ online retailers from launch.
In-store will be through a linked existing card. As you make a purchase on the linked card with the any of the retailers signed up to Homewards you’ll automatically receive cashback
Our main USP is getting the family involved - it is probably the only financial goal that families will get involved with together (hence Bank of Mum and Dad).
However, I would presume that most family members e.g. parents would not sign up to TCB/Quidco, make purchases through them, cash out and then transfer trusting that you’re definitely going to put the money into a Lifetime ISA.
So we simply that process so that 1) the process for your family to earn your cashback is easier for them to engage with 2) the cashback they earn on your behalf goes straight into your LISA.
On top of that we are focusing on not only online cashback, but offline (in-store) too which accounts for as much as 90% of your spend.
Thanks for these detailed answers. I think you do make a valid point about your USP. Just to add to @gl196’s question, I presume this card is a standard debit card with PIN?
Thanks @dk1. To clarify, no extra card is required. It is just a case of linking your existing payment card e.g. Monzo/Starling with Homewards. Then as you pay with that card at our partner retailers you’ll automatically receive cashback.
Appreciate the clarification. I have a further question regarding the logistics. Say I put in the full £4000 at the start of the tax year, surely I wouldn’t be eligible for any further transfers that year? That money can only roll over to the year after? I hope this isn’t all too obtuse.
So we got asked this the other day. We haven’t yet decided the best solution for this. Our thinking initially is to allow it to overflow into another savings account e.g. Cash ISA.
Do you have any thoughts on where you’d like it to go?
Yeah, I would agree with you there. Guess you could decide exactly what products are part of the ecosystem etc. Anyway, wish you all the best til launch!
Typically cashback providers make a commission from the retailer then pass back a cashback % started on the website, but we’re working on other revenue models in the longer term that aligns with getting more people onto the housing ladder.
Hi Ben, this is an amazing proposition you’ve created. One question have you built the cashback platform or are you using a 3rd party white label? If it’s being built by Homeward having 4000+ retailers on launch is an amazing accomplishment.
If your using a 3rd party are you confident the cashback process will run smoothly and do you have a process if cashback isn’t applied? This will be your main pain point for users if they have to constantly chase missing cashback payments.
