Paying with Member cards

Forbury Lion · by **Forbury Lion** » 03 Aug 2017 11:26

The club seem to want everyone to deposit monies with them in order to spend at the ground.

I'm not taking part as I prefer to keep my money in my own bank, But on behalf of STAR members/supporters do you think STAR may want to look into this (and maybe raising as a nationwide issue for other supporters trusts as I'm sure all clubs will look at doing this) as in the unlikely event of our club (or any other club) going into administration, I wouldn't want to see fans lose their hard earned money deposits sat on these cards.

From the clubs point of view it makes sense, they get a free short term loan as they can dictate with the caterers when they pay the spent money over and they can charge the vendor transaction fees.

STAR Liaison · by **STAR Liaison** » 03 Aug 2017 14:17

Forbury Lion wrote:The club seem to want everyone to deposit monies with them in order to spend at the ground.

I'm not taking part as I prefer to keep my money in my own bank, But on behalf of STAR members/supporters do you think STAR may want to look into this (and maybe raising as a nationwide issue for other supporters trusts as I'm sure all clubs will look at doing this) as in the unlikely event of our club (or any other club) going into administration, I wouldn't want to see fans lose their hard earned money deposits sat on these cards.

From the clubs point of view it makes sense, they get a free short term loan as they can dictate with the caterers when they pay the spent money over and they can charge the vendor transaction fees.

Yes, OK, worth a look. Technically speaking what does a supporter's deposit (yeah, yeah) count as? A credit balance on a credit card?? It's not a bank deposit so not covered under those regs?

West Stand Man · by **West Stand Man** » 03 Aug 2017 14:34

It sounds much like what most golf clubs already do. You just don't preload it with too much loot so if there is a problem with the club going out of business no one individual loses a significant amount. Will they, like golf clubs, offer a discount to members who use a preloaded card to make purchases?

richardmlldk · by **richardmlldk** » 09 Aug 2017 02:46

Im not sure about paying the minimum payments until march for the card with 0 APR , if i would pay anything extra now I will have less to pay later one .

WAZZOCK · by **WAZZOCK** » 17 Aug 2017 07:32

I wouldn't worry about money not being honoured in the unlikely event of administration/financial meltdown.

I would hazard a guess that the scheme is being run by an agency and Reading will have no access to accounts, other than being able to add funds.

Silver Fox · by **Silver Fox** » 17 Aug 2017 11:43

The letter actually says you can link your debit card to your ST card, which suggests to me money won't actually be on the card, in the same way that you don't add money to your phone to use apple pay.

Obviously it's all speculation until they set the whole thing up

Top Flight · by **Top Flight** » 17 Aug 2017 12:55

Forbury Lion wrote:The club seem to want everyone to deposit monies with them in order to spend at the ground.

And everything at the ground is so expensive. I bought a coffee and two diet pepsi's and was a little taken aback by the £7.10 cost of three little drinks. An instant coffee and two soda drinks. Quite shocking really. That's why I generally don't buy the food and drinks at the ground. Way overpriced. I might have to start doing what all the old boys do and bring my own flask of coffee to the game.