Halifax online - strange restrictions.

I have a number of accounts with the Halifax - in particular a Reward Current a/c and a Websaver. (The latter used to be a decent deal, but is now rubbish, but I only have <£50 in it)

I wanted to transfer about £95k from Coventry Building Society into a Sainsbury Bank Account that I was just opening, so I parked the Coventry closing cheque into my Halifax Current a/c till the Sainsbury a/c was fully opened.

I decided to transfer the money to Sainsbury using online banking in £15k chunks. I did this multiple transfer successfully a few years ago, but this time their system blocked me from doing more than 1 transfer to Sainsbury in any day.

I rang telephone banking who said the Branch could do it. Went into Branch, but they wanted £25 to do that by CHAPS with no alternative BACS or free transfer.

Back to online who told me that although I couldn't transfer more than £15,000 from my current a/c, there was no upper limit restriction on transfers from my Websaver!

So, 4 x £20k transfers from my current a/c to the Websaver and then a £80k transfer from my Websaver to Sainsbury (and that was referred for further confirmation of identity and authorisation that I didn't mind) I managed to achieve my goal.

What I don't understand is why I am restricted to £15k on-line transfer from my current a/c yet I can transfer the whole of my Websaver online with no upper limit on any transaction? Makes no sense to me.
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  • opinions4u
    opinions4u Posts: 19,411 Forumite
    Guys_Dad wrote: »
    I have a number of accounts with the Halifax - in particular a Reward Current a/c and a Websaver. (The latter used to be a decent deal, but is now rubbish, but I only have <£50 in it)
    Take a look at Web Saver Reward paying 3.00%.
    I wanted to transfer about £95k from Coventry Building Society into a Sainsbury Bank Account that I was just opening, so I parked the Coventry closing cheque into my Halifax Current a/c till the Sainsbury a/c was fully opened.

    I decided to transfer the money to Sainsbury using online banking in £15k chunks. I did this multiple transfer successfully a few years ago, but this time their system blocked me from doing more than 1 transfer to Sainsbury in any day.

    I rang telephone banking who said the Branch could do it. Went into Branch, but they wanted £25 to do that by CHAPS with no alternative BACS or free transfer.

    Back to online who told me that although I couldn't transfer more than £15,000 from my current a/c, there was no upper limit restriction on transfers from my Websaver!

    So, 4 x £20k transfers from my current a/c to the Websaver and then a £80k transfer from my Websaver to Sainsbury (and that was referred for further confirmation of identity and authorisation that I didn't mind) I managed to achieve my goal.

    What I don't understand is why I am restricted to £15k on-line transfer from my current a/c yet I can transfer the whole of my Websaver online with no upper limit on any transaction? Makes no sense to me.
    Slightly bonkers. Different fraud risks for different account types.
  • noh
    noh Posts: 5,794
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    I have a number of accounts with the Halifax - in particular a Reward Current a/c and a Websaver. (The latter used to be a decent deal, but is now rubbish, but I only have <£50 in it)

    Halifax do have a Web Saver Reward available paying 3% to those who have a Reward current account that is funded with £1000 per month or 2.8% for those that don't.

    http://www.halifax.co.uk/savings/accounts/easy-access/web-saver-reward/

    The transfer restrictions have been discussed previously and it is you say unlimited amounts by BACs from Websaver accounts. !5K by BACs from bank accounts.
  • talexuser
    talexuser Posts: 3,494
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    The last time I did this with Halifax current was in December, sending multiple 15ks to both Northern Rock and Santander when closing and changing accounts.

    I had to make a new online transfer to the same destination for each 15k - then all was done in one day by BACS with no charges to get over the 15k limit.
  • No idea about the answer to your question, but thought I should point out that you're only covered under the UK compensation scheme for £85,000 per institution. At a guess you already know this, but thought I'd say just in case. ;)
    LBM February 2008. DFD March 2013 19 August 2011
    Debt at LBM £14,395.48. Debt Now £0
  • Guys_Dad
    Guys_Dad Posts: 11,025
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    Thanks for the comments.

    Web Saver Reward a/c. I will give that one a go, thanks, but another a/c that only pays 3% for 1 year. Getting fed up shifting money around and having to keep a calendar to remind me to do it. Have a 2.5% Web Saver Extra, but only 1 withdrawal per annum

    Keeping the Web Saver standard to allow large movements of money because of no limit on transfer. Got the reward current a/c and getting reward credit card too - receiving £10 per month combined for nothing!

    Yes, aware of £85k limit - thanks.

    Talexuser - I did similar some time back as I wrote, but they have changed their system to restrict it to 1 £15k transfer to any non-Halifax a/c from your current a/c. Can't see the reason myself when no upper limit on Savings a/c
  • talexuser
    talexuser Posts: 3,494
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    Hi,
    just to be clear, you tried making multiple (e.g. four) new online transfer accounts to sainsbury in your online transfers page and used each one (e.g. of the four) only once for 15k, and then used the next transfer account for the next 15k?

    Sorry if I haven't been clear but if this no longer works they have either changed the system since they changed the webpage or it something particular to do with Sainbury's as a destination?

    If it no longer works then that's an excuse to start looking for another bank!
  • Guys_Dad
    Guys_Dad Posts: 11,025
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    talexuser wrote: »
    Hi,
    just to be clear, you tried making multiple (e.g. four) new online transfer accounts to sainsbury in your online transfers page and used each one (e.g. of the four) only once for 15k, and then used the next transfer account for the next 15k?

    Sorry if I haven't been clear but if this no longer works they have either changed the system since they changed the webpage or it something particular to do with Sainbury's as a destination?

    If it no longer works then that's an excuse to start looking for another bank!

    I'll clarify.

    On a Reward Current a/c and, I believe, an ordinary Current a/c, Halifax will only allow you to make 1 online transfer in any 1 day between the Halifax a/c and any 3rd party.

    You can make any number of online transfers to separate 3rd parties from your Current a/c's - subject to a £15,000 maximum on any 1 transfer, so you could transfer £15,000 to Santander, £15,000 to Barclays, £15,000 to Tesco Finance all on the same day.

    They used to allow any number of transfers to the same 3rd party in any 1 day and in that way, you could transfer £100,000 to any savings account you had, say, in Santander simply by doing it in £15,000 chunks all on the same day. Now you can't

    If you wanted to transfer £100,000 today online, then you would have to transfer from your Current a/c to your Halifax Websaver in £20,000 chunks, and then do 1 £100,000 transfer to Santander.

    Again, you can only make 1 online transfer to the same 3rd party from your Websaver, but, unlike the Current a/c, there is no upper restriction on the amount, although you will probably be asked to ring the online help desk to confirm your intent and identity.

    I find that differentiation between Current and Savings a/c's strange strange.
  • talexuser
    talexuser Posts: 3,494
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    I see, thanks. It's only a couple of months ago when I created multiple transfer accounts to the same 3rd part destination and used each one for the max 15k on the same day thus you could transfer £100k on the same day from current account via 7 identical transfer accounts and just delete 6 of the accounts afterwards etc.

    I thought they were incorporating Lloyds systems and options should get better - not worse!
  • rb10
    rb10 Posts: 6,334 Forumite
    talexuser wrote: »
    I thought they were incorporating Lloyds systems and options should get better - not worse!

    I would imagine that the merger of the two systems - the HBOS system and the Lloyds TSB system - is what has prompted this change.

    Unfortunately though LTSB's system does appear to be far more basic and restricted than the one we used to have at Halifax. They don't necessarily take the best system - they take the most cost-effective!

    Some of the features that have disappeared (e.g. paper-free credit card statements) are due to return in the next 12-18 months, but I don't know whether the ability to make larger online transactions is one of them.
  • Azrael_1701
    Azrael_1701 Posts: 450 Forumite
    rb10 wrote: »
    I would imagine that the merger of the two systems - the HBOS system and the Lloyds TSB system - is what has prompted this change.

    Unfortunately though LTSB's system does appear to be far more basic and restricted than the one we used to have at Halifax. They don't necessarily take the best system - they take the most cost-effective!

    Some of the features that have disappeared (e.g. paper-free credit card statements) are due to return in the next 12-18 months, but I don't know whether the ability to make larger online transactions is one of them.

    The limit is going from 15k to 10k
    100% G33K
    :D:D:D:D:D
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