Halifax £50 reward for paying in salary

Kitty_jc

This might be a bit of a silly question, but I figure someone with more account switching experience might be able to help.

OH & I have just opened a joint account with Halifax for paying bills etc. When we did it, they offered us an additional £50 reward for switching one of our salary payments. However, we both want to keep our independent accounts (with Santander) where salaries go and just pay in enough to cover bill payments.

Question is then, does anyone know if there is a minimum time limit on how long a salary must be paid into the account to qualify for the bonus? I.e. can I switch it, get the £50 and switch back to having it paid into my own Santander account?

Thanks for any help!

timbo58

The £50 is a one off payment for transferring direct debits I thought?
They then credit you £5 a month for a salary to go in also (min £1000).

I am changing back to my old current account with Natwest after the Halifax well & truly screwed my direct debits up (5 times in 2 months, with 3 different companies!) and then credited £50 to my account for my inconvenience and expected me to be happy with that!

I would avoid the Halifax completely, their branch staff are fine, their customer care department and especially their switching departments are very very poor indeed.

Kitty_jc

Thanks, we were told in branch that it needed to be a salary payment switched over. We plan to move some direct debits to them, so thanks for the heads up on the service. Hope we get better than you did

exel1966

Kitty_jc wrote: »

Thanks, we were told in branch that it needed to be a salary payment switched over. We plan to move some direct debits to them, so thanks for the heads up on the service. Hope we get better than you did

You were told wrong, to obtain the £50 incentive you have to use the Halifax switching service with regards to DD's/SO's or both. The £50 becomes payable one month after the switch has been completed.

If it's a reward account you have to credit your account with a minimum of £1k each month by any means to obtain the £5. It doesn't have to be a salary payment in.

timbo58

Kitty_jc wrote: »

Thanks, we were told in branch that it needed to be a salary payment switched over. We plan to move some direct debits to them, so thanks for the heads up on the service. Hope we get better than you did

I wish you good luck with it, However I would VERY carefully make sure that any DDs/SOs you transfer over ARE paid properly.
I wouldn't wish the sort of 'service' they gave me on anyone -3 different companies threatening me with non payment (including Halifax loans themselves!) and 5 DDs unpaid in just 2 months is bad enough, Halifaxs Customer care department are pretty arrogant too, arguing the toss, refusing to accept that all of the screw ups were their fault (blamed 2 on the company themselves) and then throwing £50 into my account and sending me a letter stating it was the end of the matter, despite the fact I'd told them I was very unhappy with such an offer over the 'phone.

Still, I am settling my loan and mortgage with them at present and will not have ANY product from them soon, they also have a referral to the FSO to deal with (and certainly not the first I'd wager!)
Makes you wonder how a company that must have had £10k from me over the years in financial product fees/interest can think that they are absolved from blame by insulting their customers. :mad:

zppp

timbo58 wrote: »

I wish you good luck with it, However I would VERY carefully make sure that any DDs/SOs you transfer over ARE paid properly.
I wouldn't wish the sort of 'service' they gave me on anyone -3 different companies threatening me with non payment (including Halifax loans themselves!) and 5 DDs unpaid in just 2 months is bad enough, Halifaxs Customer care department are pretty arrogant too, arguing the toss, refusing to accept that all of the screw ups were their fault (blamed 2 on the company themselves) and then throwing £50 into my account and sending me a letter stating it was the end of the matter, despite the fact I'd told them I was very unhappy with such an offer over the 'phone.

Still, I am settling my loan and mortgage with them at present and will not have ANY product from them soon, they also have a referral to the FSO to deal with (and certainly not the first I'd wager!)
Makes you wonder how a company that must have had £10k from me over the years in financial product fees/interest can think that they are absolved from blame by insulting their customers. :mad:

They offered £50 compensation, what exactly were youlooking for or expecting from them? Did you tell them what you expected as a resolution?

timbo58

I thought I'd made it quite clear to the Halifax during my telephone conversation that £50 was inadequate, that may sound greedy, but Halifax asked me to put a figure on what I felt was fair, and I felt that £200 was nearer the mark, & I did feel at the time the complaint was being handled seriously.
A week later the letter arrived and I asked them to reconsider as they were clearly not taking the matter as seriously as I thought it deserved, they refused.

I spent over 3 hours sorting out a huge mess they had left my finances in, I had threatening letters (twice) for defaulting on a (their own) loan, and had to take time away from work at no notice to go to the branch and ensure things were paid off immediately to avoid having credit black marks.
Making one or two minor mistakes is annoying, making multiple mistakes two months in a row is incompetent.
I have an excellent credit record, with no late or missed payments on anything, ever, and I am currently looking for a new house and mortgage so I certainly don't need any financial black marks!

They also, more seriously, withdrew money from my employers business account without permission either and tried to set up a DD from them also - to pay the loan they had previously screwed, I (and my employers/bank) can only assume they got the business account details mixed up with my current account.

All in all very embarassing, potentially serious career-wise and very time consuming and annoying, I also felt that a larger significant amount was needed to placate me since I had been a very long standing and lucrative customer over the past 25 years, and considering the very serious nature of the complaint I could send (and have since sent) to the FSO.

Yes, I am sure there are some on here who think fifty quid is generous, I'm afraid I don't agree as I do not think it reflects properly how badly they screwed my account, the inconvenience, anxiety and costs caused or how much they should value me as a customer, it seemed to me to be a 'sop' to say here's a few quid 'now shut up, we haven't killed you'.

If you're happy to have your account well and truly shagged by the Halifax for the sake of £50 (they offered £25 at first mind!) then be my guest, they are very good at doing it!