Getting good value from the retailers' financial services is a matter of knowing where to look.

Here's a guide to the best buys:

Tesco: Personal Finance division, a joint venture with Royal Bank of Scotland launched in 1997, has 15 financial products and services on sale and more than one million credit cards in issue.

Savings balances grew to £1.6 billion last year and 500,000 drivers have bought motor insurance since the launch in February 2000.

Besides the cheque deposit facility, customers like the Tesco Finest Platinum Visa card, available to over 21-year-olds with household income of more than £20,000 a year.

Users on web site Tesco.com earn one Clubcard point for every £1 spent (otherwise one for every £2 spent), vouchers on sales promotions and a five per cent discount on motor insurance bought through the card.

Pet insurance: 250,000 animals covered by more affordable policies. Cat cover from £4 a month, dogs from £7.

Life cover is top of best buy tables but, with simple term assurance, payout is only on death. Quotes available online.

Loans: online 7.3 per cent from £15,000; 15.58 per cent offline.

Sainsbury's: a joint venture with Bank of Scotland, now HBOS, launched in 1997, has five
product areas: personal loans, insurances, savings, mortgages and credit cards.

A big seller is the Sainsbury's Bank Visa card because it boosts the number of reward points given for spending in Sainsbury's stores.

A new motor insurance package includes compensation and counselling for carjacking victims. The travel insurance was awarded a five-star rating by independent analysts The Research Department.

Sainsbury's also provides 100 per cent mortgages, mostly sourced through HBOS and its subsidiaries, although cautious financial advisers warn house buyers could be squeezed if property prices fall.

Marks & Spencer
Chargecard: 5.5 million holders account for 20 per cent of total sales in M&S stores. No annual fee, 55 days' interest-free credit and access to commission-free currency exchange.

Non-Chargecard holders get commission-free currency exchange which tops best value tables.

Personal loans: flat rate 8.5 per cent APR deal ended on August 4. Now borrowers pay 9.9 per cent on £5,000-plus and 15.9 per cent on £500 to £2,999.

As a fund manager, using outside managers, M&S holds £1 billion. The High Income Fund is one of the best-performing in its class and four unit trusts are linked to the FTSE-100.

Car buying plan: customers defer up to 60 per cent of total loan amount, making monthly repayments more affordable than standard car loans and invariably cheaper than those from dealers.

The M&S web site, www.upgradeyourcar.com, runs in association with oneswoop.com.

Safeway: Specialises in simple saving products, particularly bonds. Mini Cash-ISA rates are
invariably very competitive.