Source
r/AskUK•
pom

Is there a UK debit card or budget supermarket gift card that can be topped up online?

Edit: SOLVED! THANK YOU! I'm in Amsterdam and some of my UK friends have to choose between food and heating. I can easily afford to send some money every week, but if I use their bank account, they will get into trouble.

So I'm looking for a UK debit card or maybe a gift card from a budget supermarket that can be topped up from abroad, through PayPal or a credit card or whatever. Does anyone know if such a thing exists?

Edit: And thank you everyone who worries I'm being scammed; these are actual friends, decent people whose house I visited and I'll be there again next summer. If they're cutting down on showers now, I worry what will happen when the weather changes.

Posted Jul 8, 2022, 8:20 AM UTC · edited

1140
elalmohada26•

Anyone choosing heating over food in the middle of July has rather strange priorities

55
Zealousideal-Habit82•

I too thought the same but maybe they have ran up debt over the winter and are struggling to pay or are tying to build a war chest for when prices really increase in October.

12
[deleted]•

[deleted]

7
Flyawaylittlemonkey•

I would understand on a normal summer day, but it's 20+ degrees across the entirety of the country right now and we're heading into a heatwave. It's not a mild summer day. We're having some of the hottest weather we've had in history.

4
Yurak_Huntmate•

Some people use gas to heat up their hot water for baths, that can run up quite a bit of money

1
starsandbribes•

I hope these are “friend friends” and not recent online only friends? Theres so many scams and long-cons going around that i’m wary when people post things like this.

23
DECKTHEBALLZ•

Sounds like you are being scammed.. nobody needs heating in July and they could go to food banks.

14
Cam2910•

I can easily afford to send some money every week, but if I use their bank account, they will get into trouble.

Have they told you that? I'm struggling to think of why they would get in trouble by receiving money into the bank.

13
pomOP•

They're on some benefit scheme that'll be cut back when they receive additional funds, apparently.

5
Cam2910•

As far as I'm aware that only happens with money that is earned or regular income. So gifts from friends wouldn't count unless it was substantial and regular.

If you're dead set on gifting them money for specific shops you could just buy e-gift cards. Most supermarkets offer them. Aldi/Lidl are probably the most budget options and most people have one nearby.

10
pomOP•

They don't want to take any chances. My money would be weekly, so regular, and although it wouldn't be substantial for me, it would double the spending money they have, so definitely substantial for them.

The thing is, once they flag you, they can easily just withdraw your benefits for weeks at a time "while they're looking into it", leaving you with no way to pay rent.

0
Cam2910•

If this info is coming from them I would be very wary about sending them money or prepaid debit cards.

If you trust them and are dead set on doing it most supermarkets have reloadable gift cards so ask them where they usually shop.

Aldi/Lidl/Tesco/Asda are the more budget end.

Morrisons/Sainsburys are mid-range.

M&S and Waitrose are top end.

15
DECKTHEBALLZ•

Lies they are scamming you.

6
aintbroke_dontfixit•

They are scamming you. That only happens once they have more than £6000 in the bank.

3
hollsybolls•

Most UK supermarkets do online digital gift cards, so maybe ask them where they normally shop and see if they offer one? They should be reloadable if it's a digital gift card rather than a gift voucher.

11
pomOP•

They should be reloadable

Oh is that a common thing for you guys? Over here there is only one supermarket offering those. An affordable supermarket, thankfully, as I'm doing this for an Amsterdam friend as well.

What would be the budget supermarkets in the UK (specifically: England)? I've shopped at Waitrose and I doubt many poorer people would. And I know Aldi is in the UK but I can't seem to find a way to top up their cards.

5
TheClimbingBeard•

Aldi/Lidl/ASDA/Morrisons/Iceland are the cheaper ones that I use. I'm sure any other suggestions will be added in.

5
Flyawaylittlemonkey•

Nobody needs heating right now. It's bloody boiling. 20+ in most of the country, and we are heading into a heatwave.

They won't get in trouble for you sending money to their bank account. They just don't want you to have their real details. You can have several thousand pounds of savings before your benefits are affected.

You are a kind person who is being scammed.

10
pomOP•

I'll ask again, maybe they're just being paranoid. I believed it right away because it's the way things work in the Netherlands, and I'm prone to thinking whatever happens in the UK is worse. But don't worry about me, I'm not being scammed! These are intimate friends, I know where they live, and I've seen what they already had to give up.

1
Jonny-Burns•

Revolut card

6
pomOP•

Revolut card

<Googling> I think we have a winner. Thank you!

4
innitdoe•

Great and noble gesture! But why will they get into trouble if you deposit some cash into their bank account? Surely it won't be enough to look like money-laundering?

3
SpudFire•

You can get prepaid cards https://www.moneysupermarket.com/prepaid-cards/everyday/ which you can topup funds via a bank

On that list, either FairFX (if they don't need withdraw cash) or Cashplus (if you don't mind the upfront cost of the card) seem to be the best options. Obviously you want to avoid ones with monthly fees or transaction fees (unless it has free ATM withdrawals and your friends withdraw cash instead of paying with the card).

2
pomOP•

Thanks!

1
Most_Doughnut_9634•

Hmm, I use https://giftcards.airtimerewards.co.uk

It does ASDA and Morrisons (sort of budget), Sainsbury's (middle-range) and if you want, M&S and Waitrose (higher end).

If you download the app and attach your phone number you get 4% of the gift card value back as credit on your mobile phone too. So everyone in the UK who shops at these supermarkets and doesn't have access to another scheme (such as Perks at Work) should use this.

It looks like it has to be a UK card for the phone thing to work. I don't know the precise steps for someone in NL to get a UK card that you can top up from NL, but between Revolut, Curve, Wise and Monzo/Starling it should be possible.

2
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1
Unl0vableDarkness•

If you can access Iceland online maybe that would be a way? You can top up Iceland cards via the website now.

Either that or a pay up front "credit" card

1
pomOP•

Iceland

Looking into it! Is Iceland an affordable supermarket?

And do you maybe have names for pay up front "credit" (=debit) cards that are accepted in UK supermarkets?

I'm sorry, I love the UK but I haven't been there often enough to know these things.

1
struds•

Yeah Iceland is affordable. Not quite Aldi and Lidl but close. It's why mum's shop there.

5
avartee•

if I use their bank account, they will get into trouble

​

Depends on the nature of this money.

You can share your spare bank card with them virtually so they could add it to their Gpay/Apple Pay and use with their phones.

1
pomOP•

Interesting idea, this may work. Google says Android Lollipop is required so I guess even very old phones can do it.

0
aintbroke_dontfixit•

some of my UK friends have to choose between food and heating.

No, they CHOOSE to do that because they're busy spending money that should be spent on food and heating FIRST on stuff like loan/credit card/car payments or Netflix, Sky, mobile phone etc.

Very very few people get so little money that they cannot afford food and heating when spending money in the proper priority order.

-11
Flyawaylittlemonkey•

There are more people than you think.

A mobile phone is a complete life necessity now - you can't claim benefits without a mobile. It's not back in your day when it was a luxury. Most bill paying, banking, and jobs require one.

That said, I do think heating shouldn't be anyone's first priority right now - it's bloody boiling.

1
aintbroke_dontfixit•

A mobile phone is a complete life necessity now - you can't claim benefits without a mobile.

You can get them for under £100 for a new smartphone, under £10 for a dumb phone. £12 gets you unlimited calls, texts and 100GB data. Nobody should be spending more than that a month on a mobile.

0
Flyawaylittlemonkey•

Aaaaaand that's called changing the goalposts, my dude. You've gone from "a mobile phone" to "a very specific expensive type of mobile phone that I have now described".

1
aintbroke_dontfixit•

You've gone from "a mobile phone" to "a very specific expensive type of mobile phone that I have now described".

Who is cherry picking now?

0