Switching from Halifax to Abbey

dreamypuma

After receiving a letter from Halifax advising me that the plan to charge a flat rate for overdrafts rather than a percentage, I've decided to shift my current account.

After looking around Abbey seem to be offering £100 to switch to them (I can't use First Direct as I have an ISA with them).

Has anyone got any experience of Abbey's switching facility? Are they as bad as I'm led to believe?

I'm a bit nervous as my mortgage Direct Debits will also need to be shifted.

withnell

dreamypuma wrote: »

After receiving a letter from Halifax advising me that the plan to charge a flat rate for overdrafts rather than a percentage, I've decided to shift my current account.

After looking around Abbey seem to be offering £100 to switch to them (I can't use First Direct as I have an ISA with them).

Has anyone got any experience of Abbey's switching facility? Are they as bad as I'm led to believe?

I'm a bit nervous as my mortgage Direct Debits will also need to be shifted.

If you're in your overdraft enough to warrant moving for that along (remembering that 5 days overdrawn are free when you take the Reward payment into account) then maybe you should be looking for overdraft interest rate as the criteria to move for, not just what bonus is offered

co123456

I used to take negative comments about Abbey with a pinch of salt until I tried their service. Still, if they're offering £100, worth taking their money.

dreamypuma

Thanks, I rarely keep any thing more than £100 in my current account (transfer most of my salary into a high interest Instant Access Account with faster transfer in and out)

Because I keep so little in my account, I sometime slip into my authorised overdraft for a few days for small sums of say £10 to £20. This doesn't really bother me as It tends to cost my about 5-10p per month, which is less than the interest I get on the current account of about £1-2.

I hadn't factored in the £5 reward. Even given so I'd lose the flexibility of going into my overdraft for anything more than 5days without being in a loss situation. This is why I'd prefer an account with a traditional overdraft charge.

withnell

In that case why not open a 6% account (up to £2500) - you don't need to use the switching service to be eligible

I've not had much of a problem with Abbey - as long as you only do simple transactions things seem to work for me!

dreamypuma

withnell wrote: »

In that case why not open a 6% account (up to £2500) - you don't need to use the switching service to be eligible

I've not had much of a problem with Abbey - as long as you only do simple transactions things seem to work for me!

I don't think the £100 cashback applies to the 6% account does it (cake and eating it). Although 6% is quite tempting under the current climate.

When you say simple transactions what do you mean? I do carry out a faster transfer once or twice a fortnight, like the flexibility of chopping and changing standing orders and DD's. Would that be ok?

Rarely use branch or cheques. Visa Debit is essential.

noh

dreamypuma wrote: »

Thanks, I rarely keep any thing more than £100 in my current account (transfer most of my salary into a high interest Instant Access Account with faster transfer in and out)

Because I keep so little in my account, I sometime slip into my authorised overdraft for a few days for small sums of say £10 to £20. This doesn't really bother me as It tends to cost my about 5-10p per month, which is less than the interest I get on the current account of about £1-2.

I hadn't factored in the £5 reward. Even given so I'd lose the flexibility of going into my overdraft for anything more than 5days without being in a loss situation. This is why I'd prefer an account with a traditional overdraft charge.

If currently you are only dipping into your overdraft £10 to £20 a month it really doesn't make any sense to shift to Abbey with all the potential problems associated with the switching of the DDs.
Makes more sense to shift a couple of hundred pounds from your savings into the Halifax account change it to a reward account and collect your £5 each month.
You will lose about £6pa in interest from your savings but gain £60 in reward payments.
If you want to bag the £100 switching bonus from Abbey(or A+L), apply for one or two more Halifax Reward accounts(usually done instantly online) get a DD set up on one of those and then switch it to abbey for the £100.
You can then get the £5 pm on each of the other reward accounts by moving money between them so that each is credited with £1000 pm.

withnell

dreamypuma wrote: »

I don't think the £100 cashback applies to the 6% account does it (cake and eating it). Although 6% is quite tempting under the current climate.

When you say simple transactions what do you mean? I do carry out a faster transfer once or twice a fortnight, like the flexibility of chopping and changing standing orders and DD's. Would that be ok?

Rarely use branch or cheques. Visa Debit is essential.

You can't do FP from Abbey, only into it

I mainly used mine for standing orders - now I just push in and out 1k a month for the savings

97trophy

go to a proper bank.. its just not worth the agro dealing with Abbey.

dreamypuma

Thanks for all your replies, given some the negative feedback over Abbey, I think I'll give them a miss.

I think I'll just switch to a rewards account a keep a little more in my current account to avoid charges. Either that or read up a bit more on the Nationwide offer.

MarsdenCuckoo

Can you actually have more than one Halifax Reward account?