New Halifax ISA 2.8%-3.0%

blueberrypie

miller wrote: »

Has anyone calculated what interest rate was applied to the "ISA promise" adjustment?

I've worked mine out at about 0.85%

The two that I've switched were paid at 3% (Reward account holders).

Are you sure your calculations are correct?

Pastyman_2

Halifax are not being consistent with their calculation of 'promise interest'. They received my transfer form on 18/11/10 for a fixed notice account that was due to end on 15/12/10. They received the funds on 16/12/10. I make that 28 days between receipt of the form and receipt of the money. Halifax generously paid me 33 days worth of 'promise interest' at 3%.
My wife transferred hers at the same time with exactly the same timescales, but Halifax only paid her 5 days worth of 'promise interest'. When she queries this, Halifax said they would only pay interest from the end date of the notice period. By that logic, there should have been no 'promise interest' at all.
There is no mention in their 'ISA Promise' of waiting until the end of fixed term accounts before paying 'promise interest'. It clearly states 'from day one of receiving your completed transfer application' without any qualification.
Has anyone else had a similar experience of Halifax's inconsistency?

jennifernil

No, we both got 3% on ours, for 21 days, which was strange as we handed in the forms 27/11 and the money was credited 16/12, which is only 20 days. Our notice period on the previous account only ended 15/12.

miller

blueberrypie wrote: »

The two that I've switched were paid at 3% (Reward account holders).

Are you sure your calculations are correct?

Well I came at this from the wrong assumption. Form received 26/11/10 and cheque received from Northern Rock (like many t/fers out on here) on 16/12/10 (marked available: 24/12/10).

I assumed I was getting 21 days interest and worked out 0.85% from that.

However, having assumed the interest rate is correct at 3.00%, the sums work out at 6 days.

Pastyman wrote: »

Has anyone else had a similar experience of Halifax's inconsistency?

So reading between the lines and give or take a day here or there, they are calculating 2 periods, A+B.

A being the period between receipt of the transfer form and receipt of funds
B being the period where the funds are available

Pastyman got A+B ~33 days and his missus just got B ~5 days.
And I just got B too.

Which is not what I was expecting. The goalposts have grown some legs here I think. I will be getting my "A" part of the interest as the wording is beyond doubt on the correspondence.

miller

Pastyman wrote: »

When she queries this, Halifax said they would only pay interest from the end date of the notice period.

With respect Halifax, that is complete b*ll*cks. Show me where that is written down.

Lifes_Grand_Plan

Hi guys,

I have a Halifax reward CA and have just applied online for the 2.8% ISA with the 0.2% bonus.

When I opened it online I didn't see an option to transfer my old ISA's in... will I get some paperwork in the post about this?

Cheers

StephenM_2

Lifes_Grand_Plan wrote: »

Hi guys,

I have a Halifax reward CA and have just applied online for the 2.8% ISA with the 0.2% bonus.

When I opened it online I didn't see an option to transfer my old ISA's in... will I get some paperwork in the post about this?

Cheers

There's a form on Halifax's website (sorry, MSE won't let me post links so you'll have to find it yourself).

Print it off, fill it in, and post it. I did it earlier this month. It took just over a week for the funds to show up on my Halifax online account, though it does say that the funds won't be available until next Thursday.

Lifes_Grand_Plan

Thanks just found the form...

Regarding the "transfer promise" it says:

You'll earn interest from the day we receive your transfer form. You simply need to tell us how much you are transferring

My problem is I don't know the exact amount I am transferring because the interest they add on will make it more by between about £20 / £30...

Has anyone else had this problem and how did you get around it?

miller

Lifes_Grand_Plan wrote: »

Has anyone else had this problem and how did you get around it?

I just put on what was in the account at that moment in time.

The "promise interest" is all calculated manually (should that be randomly?) so they will hopefully use the full amount anyway.

Pastyman_2

Miller pointedly asked me to show where it is written down that Halifax will only pay their 'promise interest' from the end date of the notice period. I can't find anything in their T&Cs but I have it in black and white in a reply letter they sent us when we queried the interest. I quote, "interest will be calculated from the date your notice period ends up to the date the funds show in your ISA".
It was certainly not mentioned when they introduced their ISA promise, the wording of which seems clear to me that they would calculate from receipt of the transfer form.
As Miller says, the goalposts seem to have moved (for some people).