Halifax Reward

Mikeyorks

cheggers wrote: »

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

With 2 x Regular Savers paying 12% + GSR paying 6.25% and 8 ISAs fixed at average around 5.7% for 4/5 years ..... you go. I'll stay and move my High Interest account to the Reward account you're complaining about. With the lowly average balance I keep in there since they reduced the rates .... the new account will pay me the equivalent of over 30%.

Things have changed dramatically this last few months .... you clearly don't intend to keep pace?

YorkshireBoy

Mikeyorks wrote: »

With 2 x Regular Savers paying 12% + GSR paying 6.25% and 8 ISAs fixed at average around 5.7% for 4/5 years ..... you go. I'll stay and move my High Interest account to the Reward account you're complaining about. With the lowly average balance I keep in there since they reduced the rates .... the new account will pay me the equivalent of over 30%.

Things have changed dramatically this last few months .... you clearly don't intend to keep pace?

Hmmm...maybe a mass exodus would bring about a £10 'reward' for new customers (and those that stay).

Mikeyorks

Please stop saying 'Reward' ...... I'm now beginning to expect one every time I remember to put the toilet seat down.

PROLIANT

Mikeyorks wrote: »

Please stop saying 'Reward' ...... I'm now beginning to expect one every time I remember to put the toilet seat down.

....or wipe in case you forgot.

cheggers

rb10 wrote: »

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.

Do you work in the PR department for HBOS?

I always thought the charges before were fair, it was simple arrange an overdraft then you would not be hit with the £30 charge for the letter and all the other charges, could never get my head round folks never did that.

cheggers

Mikeyorks wrote: »

With 2 x Regular Savers paying 12% + GSR paying 6.25% and 8 ISAs fixed at average around 5.7% for 4/5 years ..... you go. I'll stay and move my High Interest account to the Reward account you're complaining about. With the lowly average balance I keep in there since they reduced the rates .... the new account will pay me the equivalent of over 30%.

Things have changed dramatically this last few months .... you clearly don't intend to keep pace?

It's OK for the folks with a load of money and savings but not everyone is your postion.:cool:

YorkshireBoy

cheggers wrote: »

Do you work in the PR department for HBOS?

Because (s)he puts a balanced view/opinion (and even some solid advice) forward?

I always thought the charges before were fair, it was simple arrange an overdraft then you would not be hit with the £30 charge for the letter and all the other charges, could never get my head round folks never did that.

To plagiarise your own subsequent reply to Mike, not everyone has the income or credit rating to enable them to obtain an overdraft facility.

The ONLY reason for Halifax's decision to go the way of the new charging structure is to maintain revenue in light of the OFT/court case/reclaiming charges issue. They're now going to generate this from a larger group of customers but, crucially, the income generated will not reduce...I guarantee it.

This has been predicted by many of us on here, because it was so very, very, obvious...right from the off!

rb10

cheggers wrote: »

Do you work in the PR department for HBOS?

No.

I have just read about the new account, and these are my personal thoughts on it.

I always thought the charges before were fair, it was simple arrange an overdraft then you would not be hit with the £30 charge for the letter and all the other charges, could never get my head round folks never did that.

Even though you thought the previous charges were fair, such large numbers of people kicked up a fuss about it that this is surely why HBOS have changed it. And as the fuss is still continuing, that is why I wouldn't be surprised for more banks to go that way in the near future.

withnell

tasone wrote: »

i called halfiax and their moved my account to a normal account, to which i will not get the £5 interest paid to me, but i will also not get charged the £2 per day stuff.

Interesting, yesterday I went in to my nearest branch and asked if I could open an account that would automatically convert to Reward on 9th Feb, and was told that the normal c/a will convert aswell as the moneybacks!

For me its a great account, as most of my salary is gone within 10 days of payday for D/D and credit card, and I've always been of the opinion that you don't spend what you don't have

Mikeyorks

cheggers wrote: »

It's OK for the folks with a load of money and savings but not everyone is your postion.:cool:

Hard won.

And significantly helped by ensuring - despite the pain over many years - that interest, with the exception of a Mortgage, only ever comes in my direction.