MSE News: Halifax and Bank of Scotland to slash bank charges

jambosans

natweststaffmember wrote: »

Good to hear businesses are still be shafted senseless in these difficult times

I agree, I don't think they've went far enough. Particularly not changing the charging structure for Easycash or Cardcash accounts. Being basic accounts the majority of customers who have them will not have the best credit history (and therefore have been unable to qualify for a full current account). Someone with a poor credit history suggests their money management skills are not the best. That means a customer group very likely to incur charges will not benefit from the change granted to the "privileged" current account holders. Obviously what I've said is a complete generalisation, but the point is for one of the basic bank account's main consumer base.

rb10

Excellent post jambosans, neatly summarises the changes.

Only other thing I can add is that cheques will count for interest purposes from the moment that they are paid in, rather than the 2nd working day after being paid in, as with accounts at the moment (and most other banks).

jambosans wrote: »

*** The Halifax Website states that fees to this type of account "does not apply". However I would imagine that both Cardcash and Easycard (although designed not to go overdrawn) are still subject to the £35 Paid Item Fee and £28 Unarranged Overdraft Fee. Perhaps a member of staff can clarify this?

According to the T&Cs, they will charge an Unpaid Item Fee of £15 if they do not make a payment. If the account goes overdrawn, there is no mention of a charge, but there is debit interest at 29.8%EAR.

jambosans wrote: »

I agree, I don't think they've went far enough. Particularly not changing the charging structure for Easycash or Cardcash accounts. Being basic accounts the majority of customers who have them will not have the best credit history (and therefore have been unable to qualify for a full current account). Someone with a poor credit history suggests their money management skills are not the best. That means a customer group very likely to incur charges will not benefit from the change granted to the "privileged" current account holders. Obviously what I've said is a complete generalisation, but the point is for one of the basic bank account's main consumer base.

It would not surprise me if this changed fairly shortly. This is clearly the way that HBOS want to go with their current accounts.

scooby359

natweststaffmember wrote: »

Can Guy or any bank workers of HBOS confirm that this is the Reward account being rolled out across all customers rather than just the initial ones that they announced last year?
Are you sure that they have got rid of the Unpaid fee altogether as well?

A poster on here has pinpointed 2 dates: October and December 6th(I think) as the date this is happening.

Yes, it's the same Reward Account that was launched earlier this year. All overdraft fees will be going except as already described, the £1, £2 or £5 a day charges.

Letters are being sent to customers from October.

Customers have been banded into 3 groups - those who it will have no effect on, those who will need to make slight changes, and those who will suffer from the change. So there are 3 different letters being sent - all summarising the changes, but advising on what action you should take depending on which band you've been put in. They will be colour coded so branch staff should know at a glance whicih band you'll be in.

The actual changes will then come in on the 6th December, assuming it all goes to plan.

Headieboy

jambosans wrote: »

High Interest Current Account will be re-designated to the relaunched Current Account. In my opinion a rather silly move seeing the H.I.C.A. has (or used to have) a £1000 minimum monthly funding to gain a higher rate of interest. So I fail to see (other than the obvious savings) why HBOS did not simply re-designate these customer's to the Reward Current Account.

I'm a bit concerned about this as I currently have a High Interest Current Account with HBoS. I have no interest in opening one of the Reward accounts (& I told them that in a 'financial review' recently) as there was nothing Rewarding about them! Anything & everything they provide can be obtained elsewhere for less money!

noh

Headieboy wrote: »

I currently have a High Interest Current Account. I'm have no interest in opening one of the Reward accounts as there was nothing Rewarding about them! Anything they provide can be obtained elsewhere for less money!

I think you have mixed up the Reward Account with the Ultimate Reward Account.
The Reward account costs nothing and gives you £5 a month if you pay in £1000.

http://www.halifax.co.uk/bankaccounts/reward-current-account.asp

vix2000

Hi can someone clued up about this advise me please? At present I have 2 current accounts, a halifax current account with a £850 OD which is up to the limit all month, and a high interest current account with the same OD limit which is in the black about a week a month. I have tried to get these down but due to job problems I haven't managed it. I was wndering how this will affect me. I pay about £6 a month interest on my high interest account and rarely get charges, and on my current account I am charged approx £10-£12 interest. Does this mean I will be charged £31 on each account, ie: £62 a month from december? Thanks.

jambosans

vix2000 wrote: »

Does this mean I will be charged £31 on each account, ie: £62 a month from december? Thanks.

Yes.

I don't mean to sound rude, but I don't know how I could have made the above summary post any clearer.

vix2000

Sorry, you don't sound rude, its just me being a bit thick. Yes you made it very clear and informative, thanks.

natweststaffmember

Charges will go out at the end of January as well

jambosans

natweststaffmember wrote: »

Charges will go out at the end of January as well

Thanks, just to let you know, I've created an updated guide on Budgeting & Bank Accounts. I've given the guide it's own thread, so hopefully, those with general queries will post on there, and may help avoid having lots of threads about the same thing. Below is the link:-

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1986907