IF - Credit Card Service ends 8th July 2005 (No more Offsetting!)

Suggs · 20 May 2005 at 3:21PM

Just recieved this letter in the post from IF......

"In line wth all UK credit card providers, we are required to provide cardholders with a chip & PIN credit card by the end of 2005 and unfortunatley our current system cannot do that. As a result we are unable to support your current credit card and under condition D13.2 of the Intelligent Finance Credit Card Conditions, we are giving you notice that your existing argeement will come to an end on July 8th 2005.

We appreicate that this maybe disappointing, but we would like to assure you that you are a valued customer. We would like to offer you a new Intelligent Finance Credit Card, provided by Halifax Card Services, starting on 9th July 2005, that offers the following.

0% pa on purchases and balance transfers from other card providers.....
Chip & PIN enabled
No annual Fee"

Not sure if this is old or new news, but it was news to me and I cannot find out if the offsetting aspect of the acccount remains, a feature I make good use of.

Just spoke to customer services, it appears that irrespective of whether you you take up the new card or not, the credit card aspect of the IF plan will cease to exist, as does the offsetting aspect of the card.

Time to move on then!!!

charlie12 · 20 May 2005 at 5:25PM

Hiya,

Out of interest, what exactly is the offset feature?

smartsaver · 20 May 2005 at 5:33PM

I don't think this is the end of the IF credit card. They are just changing your current card to one with a chip and pin feature

Suggs · 20 May 2005 at 6:13PM

smartsaver wrote:

I don't think this is the end of the IF credit card. They are just changing your current card to one with a chip and pin feature

There will still be a IF credit card, provided by Halifax card services, but this new credit card will remain outside of the IF plan, which means it is not going to be allowed to be offset by interest held in saving account.

Suggs · 20 May 2005 at 6:16PM

charlie12 wrote:

Hiya,

Out of interest, what exactly is the offset feature?

From the IF website.....

Offsetting makes your money work smarter
The balance in your Intelligent Finance savings and / or current account reduces the balance on which you pay interest on your mortgage - and, because you don't receive interest on your current account and direct access savings when offsetting, there is no tax to pay on the amount being offset.

Even if you don't have any savings, you could pay your regular salary into your Intelligent Finance current account and benefit from offsetting that money against your mortgage. It doesn't matter that the amount of money in your current account will vary - whatever's in there from day to day will go towards offsetting the amount you owe on your mortgage.

david78 · 20 May 2005 at 7:18PM

But you can still put the money from the new Halifax card into an offset savings account. Just have to pass the money through an Egg card or other SBT card.

duncansby · 20 May 2005 at 7:28PM

I got the letter as well and its fairly plain that you can no longer offset the credit card balance against your savings, meaning the end of a permanent interest free card for me. I also see from their web site that you can no longer offset loans. All in all a rum deal and hidden behind a "we can't do chip and pin" excuse. Pathetic when they don't just tell the truth i.e we're not making enough money from this scheme.

smartsaver · 20 May 2005 at 7:52PM

As posted by David78 - I dont see how they can stop you as long as they allow BT. If you BT to EGG then into your current account - then into your offset savings account - how will they know where the money came from? Still

Milarky · 20 May 2005 at 9:00PM

This I don't really get. The balance on the IF card would be 'offset' during the interest-free period [up to 56 days] anyway! If you use your savings instead - let's say they exceed the card balance at all times - to offset the balance on the CC and just make min payments then you effectively get a 'debit' card since the money to offest the CC will come straight out of your bank balance instead of just at the end of the IF period.

[What am I missing?]

daveboy · 22 May 2005 at 8:10AM

Am I missing something here?

A credit card provider that can't produce chip and pin cards?

I've heard it all now. :T

It's like a bank that doesn't have any money.

lswwong · 22 May 2005 at 12:59PM

Oh crumbs for the second time in 2 days! I am an IF customer who has just transferred my current account out of IF and to A&L. I have kept the IF credit card, though not used in the last 2 years, just so that I will still have the ability to offset any debit balance on the cc with any savings that I might still hold with IF. I have done this cc and savings offsetting thing in the past when my finances hit a slightly sticky patch and it was a lifesaver! Obviously, when Halifax takes over the operation of the card, I will lose this handy feature as duncansby pointed out above. Curiously, I don't think I have received a letter from IF yet informing me of the end of this feature.

Such a great pity as I was very happy with IF. I will see what happens next.

IF - Credit Card Service ends 8th July 2005 (No more Offsetting!)

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