The Halifax 7% Regular Savers Account

Milarky

Lady_K wrote:

Is this for 12 months only? 12 payments or 11?

It's a repeatable '12 monthly regular saver' - the account remains open upon each anniversary but the proceeds - including any interest get swept into a separate account -which Halifax requires you to open at the same time when applying. Thus the account starts a second (or third) year with a nil balance and you start from scratch.

Halifax wants you to keep adding to this account with new money each time but you can just sweep the money from the first year back again via a standing order. There are no lost-days interest when moving money between Halifax accounts so that you get an average of the two rates (7% fixed and 4.5% variable) on a fixed sum of up to £3,000 in that case of up to 6% gross.

I would guess that Halifax will keep the account available in future years as it doesn't cost them much in higher interest and is more convenient (after initial set up) than the higher paying one-year accounts.

Lady_K

I had the other reg saver its still in my online accounts would they use the same one? That one was for 12 months though but wouldn't it save time just restarting that one?

baldbloke_2

Judi wrote:

. On the first of the month (as the same as the previous year), £250 went from my websaver into my regular savings account and has done ever since..

Thank you to everyone who replied to my question. My SO is open-ended and I think I understand things a bit better now. The answers were much appreciated.

I have selected the above sentence from Judi because of the idea of the transfer from Websaver to Regular Saver. I understood the SO could not be made from another Halifax savings account and have gone down the cumbersome route of SO from Websaver to Current and then one day later a SO from Current to Regular. It all works well enough of course but Judi's remark intrigued me.

Milarky

Lady_K wrote:

I had the other reg saver its still in my online accounts would they use the same one? That one was for 12 months though but wouldn't it save time just restarting that one?

Not sure what you mean by ''the other reg saver''. If you mean that's a 7% HRS then 'yes' they will carry on using that to pay money into by standing order. If you mean the HFX 'monthly saver' then 'no' that's a different account. So to recap you need to:

- open a Halifax Regular Saver (if you haven't one already)

- open a nominated account to receive full balance each 12 months
the nominated account must be either a

Websaver

Premium Savings Direct

Saver Reward

Instant Saver

(so any other account, except from one of the above, will not do)

Some posters (i.e. Judi) report having a standing order set up on their Websaver accounts direct to the 7% HRS. My experience was that you could not set this up directly from home, so I got a current account from Halifax to allow me to move all payments back in two steps instead - and this works. But if they say you can sweep money by standing order directly from Websaver to the 7% HRS then I'll go with that. I think you'd have to phone and request the Halifax creates the standing order for you in that case.

grumbler

Milarky wrote:

... I think you'd have to phone and request the Halifax creates the standing order for you in that case.

Why not online?

Lady_K

I meant the Halifax Regular Saver but it was when the interest rate was 6% the 12 months was up around last May and the balance was then transfered by them to my nominated Halifax web account. I thought that was the end of that account so didn't put anymore money in it I just understood it was for 12 months only. I can still see the account and number in my online portfolio but it says closed and when I click on it it says info not available but I wondered if they could just reopen this one to say messing around going to sign things etc

schiff

"I thought that was the end of that account so didn't put anymore money in it I just understood it was for 12 months only."

Don't really understand that Lady_K.

In my case - and I think with the others - my RS a/c just rolled forward without any intervention from me, and the Halifax just continued to take the monthly contributions as before. Into a second RS a/c of course, as the proceeds from the first are moved into another Halifax designated a/c (in my case the Websaver, which works very well and has a reasonable interest rate).

If you don't want to continue or the rate is not enough or you can't afford it -I believe it is up to you to take the necessary action (advising the Halifax, stopping your standing order at the right time etc).

baldbloke_2

Lady_K wrote:

I meant the Halifax Regular Saver but it was when the interest rate was 6% the 12 months was up around last May and the balance was then transfered by them to my nominated Halifax web account. I thought that was the end of that account so didn't put anymore money in it I just understood it was for 12 months only. I can still see the account and number in my online portfolio but it says closed and when I click on it it says info not available but I wondered if they could just reopen this one to say messing around going to sign things etc

I imagine that had your SO continued then the Reg Saver would have continued - but once one calendar month passes without money being credited to it then it is automatically closed - which is presumably what happened.

Lady_K

Thanx I'll just ask them if they can just reopen it and see what they say

schiff

baldbloke - do you infer then that Lady_K stopped her SO after the first 12 months was up, otherwise the SO would have just continued - as it did in my case?