Credit Card, Car Insurance, and Hospital Plan - Taking everything to Discovery?

[challengers]

Hi,

I need a credit card, car insurance, and a hospital plan and hoping to get all of those in the next month.

Been abroad for a long time and came back recently, started working and now all I have in terms of financial products/services is one of those simple transaction accounts at Standard Bank.

Ever since I came back to SA I have been hearing so much about Discovery and how people benefit from it with rewards and cash backs and things.

I was wondering, would it make sense to get all these products at Discovery perhaps? Are the rewards worth it?

PS. Not looking for a fancy medical scheme for now, probably just a hospital plan.

Thanks!

 

[Other Pineapple Smurf]

Get a broker, never go direct for your insurance, never.

As for rewards, well it all depends on how you use their products. For us it was not worth it but I know of others who score a lot.

 

[noxibox]

For Discovery medical aid you cannot go direct, they'll pass your details onto a broker. The credit card might be worth it, but you'd have to look over the rewards and your own purchasing habits to determine that.

For short-term insurance, like for your car, try to go direct if you can. Brokers are just a waste of time, and why line the pockets of someone who is likely to do nothing for you.

 

[bromster]

Discovery give you free stuff, then gradually take it away whilst putting your premiums up. They are thieving bastards. If my company wasn't forced to use them, I would be out tomorrow. Plus they really drag their feet when it comes to hospital claim time.

I.e. 2010, I used to get 75% of money spent on healthy food at pick 'n pay paid back into my medical savings account. Great value. Wow. I love Discovery!

Then they take the medical savings booster away altogether. Now I only get 25% back.

Then they introduce the smart shopper multiplier, whereby you get up to 10x points on healthy foods. Overall, you end up with far less than you got on the Medical Savings Booster, but they make themselves out to be such heroes. They also included Woolworths in the Healthy foods program, but you can only get 25% discount at one and 10% at the other.

After thousands of complaints, they are forced to offer 25% discount at both stores.

Now, in 2014, not only do we no longer carry any vitality points over from the previous year, you have to activate your discovery miles benefit to qualify for the smart shopper multiplier benefit, at a cost of R275, which negates the first few months of savings...

And so it goes on. It is daylight robbery. But we have come to expect nothing less in South Africa.

 

[Other Pineapple Smurf]

....

For short-term insurance, like for your car, try to go direct if you can. Brokers are just a waste of time, and why line the pockets of someone who is likely to do nothing for you.

BS big time.

Check out the countless threads about why going direct is a waste of money. And you do not pay more, you're more likely to pay less and get better cover.

But you're more than welcome to continue drinking the Outsurance cool-aid, just don't pass it around.

 

[challengers]

Thanks for all the advice! After all the great discovery stories Ive heard it is nice to hear another side of it - I guess with all the benefits they have to get it back somewhere somehow. I will shop around a bit.

As for car insurance, friends and family have been telling me to avoid the outsurances of this world and go for someone like Santam and Mutual and Federal, and I have also heard that brokers is a good way to go. I guess I will have to shop around a bit.

Very happy to have found this forum, seems like one gets good feedback and advice on here

I will try to post on this thread again with what solutions I went for in the end.

 

[Hemi300c]

For Discovery medical aid you cannot go direct, they'll pass your details onto a broker. The credit card might be worth it, but you'd have to look over the rewards and your own purchasing habits to determine that.

For short-term insurance, like for your car, try to go direct if you can. Brokers are just a waste of time, and why line the pockets of someone who is likely to do nothing for you.

Please don't follow this advice.

 

[MagicDude4Eva]

My experience/opinion:
- I think (although expensive) Discovery is the best option compared to other medical aids. Never had a problem with them and heard some horror stories from other medical aids. I use Vitality which gives me cheap access to gym, good discounts with Kulula and (negligible) money back from Woolies
- For short-term I use Santam - also never had an issue with them (use a broker though) and all claims were always paid out quite quickly. With my broker I review the policy twice a year and generally policy costs drop. I use short-term for car & household
- For credit card many go with FNB - I personally don't like the potential lock-in (i.e. getting subsidized devices when holding a certain account). I do think the ebucks has it's merit, but I have always been with SBSA and never experienced any issues (especially now with private banking its just bliss). Standard Bank's uCount is the equivalent to eBucks - I find that I get about R400-500/pm back in money spent via uCount so not too bad.

I personally would not use Discovery/FNB as a one-stop shop - it does not give you much flexibility in future...

 

[NarrowBandFtw]

2 cents ...
credit card: virgin money, free internet banking, no annual fees, no fees whatsoever in fact if you remain within your 60 day interest free period
insurance: santam without question, been elsewhere, never had service and fees comparable to santam
hospital plan: your employer may force your hand towards discovery, like many employers in ZA, if not i've heard good things about Cape Medical Plan (provided you live in the cape) as well as Profmed (provided you have a degree)