Halifax Reward

YorkshireBoy

tasone wrote: »

so you can still stay with halifax, just move the account to another one without the charge.

You're only putting off the inevitable though. From the press release...

"It is intended that all Halifax accounts will move to a daily overdraft charging structure like this in 2009."

alared

After their latest cut on the "high interest" current account paying now just 2% after tax, a fiver a month seems like a good deal to me.
It`s more than you`d get keeping £2,500 in for a month.

cheggers

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

You're only putting off the inevitable though. From the press release...

"It is intended that all Halifax accounts will move to a daily overdraft charging structure like this in 2009."

HBOS know what there doing, going to make a load more profit from the new fee structure.:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

cloudstrife_2

I think it will provide clarity to customers, which like others have mentioned, is what the OFT have asked the banks to do. No longer having to work out what charges are been incurred or debit interest etc. Its very simple now, if I use my overdraft I know its £1 a day upto £2500 then £2 a day, this way I know exaclty what it costs!

Look at many other countries, even Ireland, who are charging customers a monthly fee or a fee per transaction to cover the costs of running an account. We are one of the very few countries to still offer 'fee free' banking, which is obviously going to start changing with the current court case and Halifax are simply starting now before the rest?!

If you have a Moneyback just do I as I have been telling customers, sit down with an adviser and let us work out whats best for you, you can still take the Moneyback earnt to date and move over to the HICA or standard Current Account (which for now at least does not have the new fee structure). Or even the URCA (I understand someone has already mentioned the £300 interest free OD but costs £12.50 a month which could work out cheaper).

Or even bag yourself a 0% credit card and use that for your monthly expenditure and pay off in full each month, that way you get the £5 if you pay in £1000+ and don't pay any interest or fees!! Someone even mentioned a Cashback Credit Card which is even better still!!

Anyway if you have any questions about it all, I can see there are Halifax peeps here or even pop into your branch and just see what all your options are - all staff should have been fully briefed by Feb!

Cloud

burge23

I've been with Bank of Scotland 16 years and my account and our joint account have both, for the last 2 years, been the moneyback account. On seeing the announcement of this on the BBC news website in December I called BoS, was put through to the "approriate" team who said we wouldn't be affected. On pushing they said absolutely not. Somewhat cynical OH just rolled his eyes and went "yeah right wait and see". Prophetic words. Came home on Monday to the mailshot saying we were being moved. We are NEVER over our agreed overdraft but this account increases our fees by 150% :mad: . Called in and they tried to move us to another account but politely declined. Now in the process of switching to Alliance and Leicesters Premier Account. £100 for switching my account, MAX £5 overdraft fee per month, overdraft matching service if you meet the criteria which we do. I'm opening the standard account as the joint account. All the same perks minus the £100 but you can only be named on ONE Premier Account. This way if OH also switches he gets £100 PLUS we both get an extra £25 for me "recommending" him. A & L are giving HBOS and object lesson in business. Even the nice HBOS lady in the call centre said they'd maybe underestimated how many people they'd hit with this as all her calls that day have been exactly the same as ours.

cheggers

Went into the Halifax to complain about the new overdraft charges, the staff have been on some training course I bet.

Said they could switch me from my Moneyback account to another account that may suit me better with lower charges, I then pointed out this did not help as Halifax are bringing in the £1 overdraft charges on all accounts later in the year, so moving would only help me temporary, mentioned I'd been a customer 20 years but got no response. Even when I said I close my accounts I got a blank expression.

I hope everyone switches away from HBOS they don't deserve any customers.

rb10

cheggers wrote: »

I hope everyone switches away from HBOS they don't deserve any customers.

See it from their point of view - they have to make money somehow.

Previously, they, like most other banks, took ~£28/£35 from people when they went over an arranged overdraft limit, or had unpaid transactions etc. People complained about that, so with this new account you will never get one of these charges again, saving many people a fortune.

So if you don't like occasional big charges, then the only alternative is more regular smaller ones.

I see this change as a direct impact of the whole 'reclaim bank charges' thing. It's what the customer effectively asked for.

And I can't see switching away from HBOS being the best idea ever. Although other banks haven't announced plans to change their charging structure, it can only be a matter of time before they follow suit. So a rather more effective and money-saving strategy would be to work out a way of keeping your current account in credit (or at least, overdrawn for <5 days per month, so this would balance out the £5 monthly payment to you).

For people who bounce between being in credit and overdrawn during the month, a credit card is a simple answer, as it can cost you nothing. I appreciate that for many others this isn't possible, but banks do always say that overdrafts are for short term borrowing. If you have a relatively large overdraft that you sit in all the time, I'd consider getting a loan to pay it off. This could well have a lower EAR than the overdraft rate anyway.

opinions4u

cheggers wrote: »

Went into the Halifax to complain about the new overdraft charges, the staff have been on some training course I bet.

They probably got told about it in 10 minutes on a Wednesday morning before the branch opened. And the part-timers probably didn't make it to that meeting!

Said they could switch me from my Moneyback account to another account that may suit me better with lower charges

Well that's good isn't it?

I then pointed out this did not help as Halifax are bringing in the £1 overdraft charges on all accounts later in the year, so moving would only help me temporary

Yes, but at least it would give you a chance to see how the market develops, adjust your reliance on overdraft to levels that can make the account work for you and then make a decision when you have a clearer picture of how it works. Better than jumping out of the HBOS frying pan and in to the as yet unannounced <insert competitor name> fire.

mentioned I'd been a customer 20 years but got no response. Even when I said I close my accounts I got a blank expression.

Did you expect them to magic up a special account for you and nobody else? What were they meant to do? Polish your shoes and say "we won't charge you for your overdraft"?

I hope everyone switches away from HBOS they don't deserve any customers.

Well, I'm quite looking forward to my £60 a year net for having the new account. Disappointed to lose the Moneyback, need to keep a closer eye on my overdraft use, but overall I think I'm on a winner with this one.

I would guess there are more winners than losers, and most of the losers could do something to mitigate any increase in costs.

Kavanne

cheggers wrote: »

I hope everyone switches away from HBOS they don't deserve any customers.

Honestly?

This account is FANTASTIC for me. I have 2 current accounts with Hfax and I am going to switch both over to reward on 9th Feb. This is a free £120 a year for me as I am never overdrawn and with a couple of standing orders I can easily fund each account with £1000pm. Job done. I am a very happy customer. Plus I have fixed rate savings with them at 6% for 12 months and a regular saver at 10%!! What more could I ask for? (except fixed rate savings at 7% lol)

LongTermLurker

Just seen this here

Thejollyboys said: I'm with FirstDirect at the moment and I've just had a letter saying they were going to charge me £25.00 for the use of my overdraft of £250. I do use the overdraft most months towards the end of the month for about 10 - 14 days per month.

So, he/they will be charged £25 by FD, but under the Halifax scheme of things, I make it up to £9.00 (14 days @ £1/day less £5 credit).

Halifax isn't so bad after all then.