Halifax 5 Pounds Reward Account Current Account Loophold Investigation Report

CharlieCai

Hello all,

I am working for an major UK bank and always interested in comparing different financial products offered by each bank in the UK.

Recently, I noticed a large amount of discussion about a loophole of one of the new current account offer in Halifax. I found it interesting, so invest two days worth of my spare time, reading the T&C, as welll as calling my financial advisers and contacts in Halifax. During this investigation, I am interested in findings of the concepts of the reward account and the catches.

After two days of serious investigation, I can ensure you that there are NO major catches discovered by any of my friend and contacts working in banks (One of them, even called the Halifax telephone banking and had a long debating in front of me).

Facts about Halifax Reward Account:
1. If you fund 1000+ pounds into the account, you get 5 pounds rewards in the next month.
2. The 1000+ pounds can be banked in and withdrawn anytime during the month.
3. The account last as it is.
4. Inner bank account transfer takes no more than two hours intra day and completed before EOD process
5. For any individual, subject to credit check, he/she can open maximum 3 reward account.

Loopholes:

Based on assumption, there are several loopholes.

1. Minimum investment if you dont have cash: Open three account for yourslf, and invest whatever you have now (Say 10 pounds), transfer the amount among the three bank account whenever you have time, and make you that you transfer enough rounds that you reach 1000 funding quota.


rewards: maximum 15 pounds per month

2. Infinite return: invite your family, relatives and reliable friends, open 3 accoutns each, and setup direct debit for the same day and transfer all the money in a circle on the same day. You can 5 pounds for each account for th e 1000 poudns in the circle each day.

rewards: depends how many trustful contacts you have

Catches:
1. This is a small catch. The reward account is a current account. Therefore, eveytime you open an account, you need to go through a credit check. Too many credit check may damage your credit history. Therefore, if you ever consider take out of debt in one years time, be careful of how many credit checks you want to carry out this year.

2. A certain amount of money in a circle may trigger the money laundry detection system. This will result in freezing one of your account. The standin order you setup then will transfer in overdraft,which is very expensive.

3. The ultimate solution (avoid money laundry detector): open as many account as you can. Before you save your salary into your savings account, setup standing order so that, the cash flows through each account before it reaches the savings account. You are then earning 15 pounds extra before you save the money into your saving account.

Good luck with your saving.

JimLad

If i had 3 accounts and then set up the following direct debits each month would it work?

1) £1000 from savings to halifax current 1
2) £1000 from halifax current 1 to halifax current 2
3) £1000 from halifax current 2 to halifax current 3
4) £1000 from halifax current 3 to savings

Could i do these all on the same day? or would the money not transfer in time

littlemrtinkle

sorry if i am being stupid but how do i go about opening 3 accounts. I have one account how do i approach getting account no.2 & 3 , hate to think i am missing out on free money :-)

CharlieCai

JimLad wrote: »

If i had 3 accounts and then set up the following direct debits each month would it work?

1) £1000 from savings to halifax current 1
2) £1000 from halifax current 1 to halifax current 2
3) £1000 from halifax current 2 to halifax current 3
4) £1000 from halifax current 3 to savings

Could i do these all on the same day? or would the money not transfer in time

Yes, it will work. You will get 5 pounds per month for account 1 2 3. You even dont have to transfer 1000 pounds in one round, but 500 pounds two rounds in a month or less money but more frequent.

Two things to be aware of though

a, Money transfering in a circle every month is considered as high possibility of money laundry. You might get yourself into trouble if you recycle the same money every month.

b. Halifax reserves the rights to review your accounts. If they close one of your account (with/without your notice), if you failed to cancel direct debit, you might end up with transfering your overdraft. That is very expensive.

Therefore, the best thing to do, is as I suggested. Paying your salary into your savings account after you transfer the money into your reward account one by one.

shazkhan111

jimlad i asked this question in the other forum, i believe you can

CharlieCai

littlemrtinkle wrote: »

sorry if i am being stupid but how do i go about opening 3 accounts. I have one account how do i approach getting account no.2 & 3 , hate to think i am missing out on free money :-)

According to T&C, you are allowed to have maximum 3 reward accounts. Of coz, each account is subject to your credit check. You can recycle your money among these accounts (1000 pounds to recycle one time, if 500, then twice... you do the math).

If you have a large family or have a lot of trustful friends, congratulations! You pretty much can have them all join the same recycle circle. Make an impressive return with the same money.

However, personally, I would not suggest you to do that, unless this really helps you out in your difficult time. Our financial system is weak now, very, so dont do more halm to it, unless your famly are starving, and you are desparate for cash.

Mikeyorks

Two pieces of advice :-

1. If you want to know in depth detail about the Reward Current Account ..... 'phoning the Halifax telephone banking and "having a long debating (sic)" is virtually guaranteed to give you incorrect information. They know very little about this product.
2. If you want to post information about the Reward Current Account ...... best to do it on the Current Account forum. Not on 'Savings and Investment'. Better still - just read the existing thread on there!

opinions4u

Is it me, or is this one of the most surreal posts ever on MSE?

bristolleedsfan

CharlieCai wrote: »

Recently, I noticed a large amount of discussion about a loophole of one of the new current account offer in Halifax. I found it interesting, so invest two days worth of my spare time, reading the T&C, as welll as calling my financial advisers and contacts in Halifax. During this investigation, I am interested in findings of the concepts of the reward account and the catches.

Good luck with your saving.

Did not try opening three Halifax reward accounts + three BOS reward accounts to see what the results were. :huh:

bristolleedsfan

littlemrtinkle wrote: »

sorry if i am being stupid but how do i go about opening 3 accounts. I have one account how do i approach getting account no.2 & 3 , hate to think i am missing out on free money :-)

You can apply for accounts 2+3 online, advantage of applying for them in a branch is that you are able to say to the Halifax staff the purpose of applying for the other two accounts resulting in them being able to override anything the computer might believe as being "iffy" and gaining you an instant decision.

littlemrtinkle

thanks for clearing that up bristol and charlie!! Two more accounts on the way for me.