Halifax reward account online now, and the old accounts....

Re the funding of these accounts.

I have now got 3 of these accounts, 1 changed from the HICA to the Reward on 9th February, 2nd opened yesterday,(as current, then status changed today to Reward Acc), 3rd opened today, (as current, assume will change status tomorrow).

There appears to be different ways to fund, it is my intention to do the following; -

Deposit into original account,(from external source), £1010. (this will be via BACS, as FP can't be done (?), yet from Coventry.
Transfer that £1010 into 2nd account.
Then transfer £1005 into 3rd account.
Then transfer £1000 back to external source from 3rd account by FP.

Therefore I will have funded each account with the required £1000.

Reason for £1010, is to leave accounts with some money in,(£5), so not to go to zero, future transfers will just be the required £1000. transferred as above.

Will the above work?
Can I do that all on the same day as the first £1010 hits the original account, or would it be best to leave in each account overnight?

ceejm4 wrote: »

Hi you wonderful people.

I am intending to 'convert' my Halifax joint Current Account (into which mine and the wife's salaries are paid) into the new Reward Account to get the £5 pm.

Also to better manage our money I also wish to start another new reward joint account (with new debit cards/chequebook) to use as a daily/weekly spending account. I would setup a SO excess of £1000 into the spending account to get another £5.

I do not want to have to change all the DD and SO from my existing joint current account but I do want to maintain joint access on this new spending account for obvious reasons.

Is it possible to have two joint reward accounts with the Halifax to allow me to do this?

Thanks for any replies.

Hi ceejm4

That should work, although it may be better to apply for a new Reward account before converting your existing account as that can easily be changed over and apparently will do as a matter of course in the near future. It does look as though Halifax may be clamping down on the number of accounts they are allowing people to open, so at least get one new account in case they do start to limit. Better still, try for the maximum, you could still have one new joint and two new sole accounts each ;-)

I wish I had thought of doing it this way before rushing into converting my existing joint account, then opening the additional ones, as you can have three accounts, which could have been six accounts between self and OH, then a seventh when they converted the old current account = £35/month ;-) By converting first we only have five accounts but hey, £25/month is better than a poke in the eye.

I do wonder how long Halifax will keep this going, or allow people to keep their multiple accounts, if it is obvious people are just working the system. Banks reserve the right to cancel accounts so I wouldnt be surprised if we start seeing our "extra" accounts being withdrawn. May as well grab our £5's while we can :-)

ceejm4 wrote: »

Thanks Menhim,
By applying for a new reward joint account I would have to change over all my DD and SO etc which I am a bit apprehensive about doing. So maybe best to change over this account now to avoid having to do that.

However if I did apply for a new reward joint account then when they do change my existing current account over would they allow effectively two identical joint reward accounts to operate at the same time.

Would one be considered her joint account and the other my joint account depending on the order in which you fill in the application form?

Don't really want to have two separate spending accounts so my hope is the answer would be yes......two joint reward accounts = ok.

Cheers

No you wouldnt need to change your DD's, just leave the old account as it is, open the new Reward joint account and operate it the way you plan on doing anyway for your additional "spending" account.

Once that is up and running, then a quick phone call to Halifax to ask them to change your "old" account to a reward account ... everything stays exactly the same with all the DD's SO's etc and you dont need new cheque book or cards or passwords.

It would probably work changing existing first, but just in case they do decide to clamp down on number of reward accounts, opening a new one first may overcome that problem. They wont refuse to change your old account as they are going to do that as a matter of course soon anyway. According to current T&C you are allowed up to 3 accounts, which could be three in your sole name or three in joint names or a mixture. OH and myself have two sole accounts each and one joint. Joint being the main account which is also used to move money in and out of the sole accounts to satify the funding requirements. All our DD's have remained in the joint account, which was the old HICA before I switched it to a reward.

If they are both joint accounts, its up to you how you operate them, you both have access to them to do as you will, so no need to have his & hers joint account LOL.

ceejm4 wrote: »

Is it possible to have two joint reward accounts with the Halifax to allow me to do this?

As I've said before ..... I think Halifax have made a total hash of the T&Cs on the Reward account. If you look minutely at previous T&Cs of their current accounts .... this one (which pivots around a very ambiguous example in which someone has attempted to merge the Reward and Ultimate Reward and .. IMHO ... failed) neither sounds / feels nor looks right.

Nevertheless they appear to be working with what they have cobbled together, at the moment .... to the effect you can have 3 concurrent Reward accounts. However I doubt very much you will be allowed 2 x joint accounts of the same type? You can get a joint Reward and a joint Ultimate Reward ...... but that isn't your requirement (and the latter is chargeable).

I've got a joint Reward (converted from the HICA) .... and a converted singleton Reward, simply in the OHs name. Not quite sure how your requirement would fit to that? I can see it working if you pay the salaries in / DDs out .... of a singleton. And use the joint for spending. But that implies the hassle of moving DDs across etc. May be possible for them to convert the existing joint across as a singleton ... and that resolves the issue.

Does leave you with the conceptual oddity of one of you paying salary into an account in the OH name? But it does work ... if that's how it best fits.

Mikeyorks wrote: »

As I've said before ..... I think Halifax have made a total hash of the T&Cs on the Reward account. If you look minutely at previous T&Cs of their current accounts .... this one (which pivots around a very ambiguous example in which someone has attempted to merge the Reward and Ultimate Reward and .. IMHO ... failed) neither sounds / feels nor looks right..

I agree Mikeyorks, they really dont seem to have thought this one through very well at all. There again, having lost £10bn, it doesnt sound as though they think much through very well. By comparison a few thousand £5's a month is a drop in the ocean and it might just be the carrot to tempt people into/back/stay with HBOS after all the adverse publicity. Will be interesting to see what LTSB ultimately do with these accounts. Hopefully by that time interest rates will be a bit more attractive and people wont need to grasp every penny they can to earn a little extra cash ... although if it is there for the taking, I will be taking !!!!

I should image the take up on multiple accounts is pretty small, how many people actually do read the T&C's let alone notice the "loophole" If it wasnt for this site I wouldnt have known or thought of opening further accounts.

Maybe the banks should be offering Martin a 3/4 million/annum pension to retire early ... and close down the site. He cant be doing much for their profits