MSE News: Reaction to Halifax's changes

opinions4u

luscious_liz wrote: »

Hi folks, quick question here! I live permanantly from one month to the next in my overdraft, so like many others am considering changing to another account, however, i obviously have an overdraft to now consider, but, is the Halifax Reward Account not the one where they charge £12 a month for you to get certain 'rewards', ie mobile phone insurance etc., and then they give you £5 a month back? Im a little confused by it!

The Ultimate Reward account has a £12.50 a month fee, with £5 a month rebated if you fund the account with £1,000+ a month. No £1 charges for overdrafts below £300. The Reward account only has the 35 rebate part of that.

Annual travel insurance is the main "perk" alongside breakdown cover, mobile phone cover and home emergency callout (which is fab!). Price up the value of the benefits / charges saved before asking for it though. It's great for some people, but not so much for others who won't use those benefits offered.

Linky to the account details - it quotes the current pricing structure, not the 6th December onwards structure.

noh

luscious_liz wrote: »

Hi folks, quick question here! I live permanantly from one month to the next in my overdraft, so like many others am considering changing to another account, however, i obviously have an overdraft to now consider, but, is the Halifax Reward Account not the one where they charge £12 a month for you to get certain 'rewards', ie mobile phone insurance etc., and then they give you £5 a month back? Im a little confused by it!

The Reward Account costs nothing.
The Ultimate Reward Account costs £12.50 a month and includes additional benefits as you mention.

stugib

I'm in the middle of switching our accounts because of this.

We run our finances very well and have an excellent credit score, but the way we manage things on a month to month basis is to have a savings account and two current accounts, one that gets wages paid in and the bills get paid from, the other a cash account for daily spends. We usually deposit our budgeted amount and the start of each month and withdraw the cash to a zero balance almost immediately. Anything else we buy we just use £200-£500 of the overdraft and pay it off and the end of the month without fail.

I could of course just put more in so we don't use the overdraft, or go online every few days to balance things up, but what we do now works well for us and costs us about 50p a month overall. I'm not being inconvenienced or stung for ~£20 a month for the 'crime' of having money in one account rather than the other. So Halifax losing a customer of 20+ years and our wages being paid in. Their loss.

noh

stugib wrote: »

I'm in the middle of switching our accounts because of this.

We run our finances very well and have an excellent credit score, but the way we manage things on a month to month basis is to have a savings account and two current accounts, one that gets wages paid in and the bills get paid from, the other a cash account for daily spends. We usually deposit our budgeted amount and the start of each month and withdraw the cash to a zero balance almost immediately. Anything else we buy we just use £200-£500 of the overdraft and pay it off and the end of the month without fail.

I could of course just put more in so we don't use the overdraft, or go online every few days to balance things up, but what we do now works well for us and costs us about 50p a month overall. I'm not being inconvenienced or stung for ~£20 a month for the 'crime' of having money in one account rather than the other. So Halifax losing a customer of 20+ years and our wages being paid in. Their loss.

Or your loss.
You are in the position to be able to make money from them but you choose not to.

stugib

noh wrote: »

Or your loss.
You are in the position to be able to make money from them but you choose not to.

They'll give me £5 a month, possibly £10 if I can be bothered transferring money around. It'll cost me ~£20 a month to continue managing my finances - successfully - in the way that works for us. The inconvenience isn't worth £5 a month.

They'll miss access to our savings, balance, loan opportunities etc over the coming years than I'll miss £5 a month.

Half_Moon

Hello everyone, what an interesting thread!

I was surprised to get the letter about the change in charges. For me it would mean I would loose the £1 a month credit interest I usually get and an increase from about £2 a month in debit interest to upto a £30 a month charge.

I guess they have never made a great deal of money out of me and would probably like to.

So, I took it to mean that I wasn't the type of customer that the Halifax wanted anymore (after 4 years of custom), I'm taking the hint and switching to A&L.

I'm a thinking consumer, and I'm exercising my free choice. But, I do wonder if they aren't on a misson to reduce the number of non-profitable accounts they have, can't blame them for that I suppose, as the ex-banker said, they aren't a charity!:rotfl:

bristolleedsfan

:rotfl:

stugib wrote: »

.

They'll miss access to our savings, balance, loan opportunities etc over the coming years than I'll miss £5 a month.

Do you really believe that they will notice that you and your financial transactions have left. :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: :rotfl:

If Halifax ever need to fill "leaving" gaps all they need to do is to launch a 100.00 account opening + payments and credits switching incentive offer under the new charging/crediting system and the applications will flood in some of whom probably previously left thinking that the grass would be greener elsewhere. :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

stugib

bristolleedsfan wrote: »

Do you really believe that they will notice that you and your financial transactions have left. :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: :rotfl:

Of course not :rolleyes: An individual account is meaningless, they may notice more if thousands start to switch. But it's just not worth the hassle for my circumstances.

noh

stugib wrote: »

Of course not :rolleyes: An individual account is meaningless, they may notice more if thousands start to switch. But it's just not worth the hassle for my circumstances.

What hassle?
It will take less effort than you have put into making your last 3 posts.
Your choice of course not to take free money when offered.

stugib

noh wrote: »

What hassle?
It will take less effort than you have put into making your last 3 posts.
Your choice of course not to take free money when offered.

The hassle of having to keep our cash account in the black throughout the month rather than just balance it up at the end.

Anyway, I was simply relaying my reasons for switching, not seeking your approval.