Halifax ISA 3.00% AER now available.

jennifernil

My Reward 3 was only open for 2 1/2 months, so not too much to lose this time if that is the case, but if they keep opening new issues with higher rates I will certainly think about that next time.

BurntOut

talexuser wrote: »

I'm in the same boat, and I think we have lost the 0.2%. What I forgot to do is tell them to leave £1 in the Reward 3. If this was left till the year anniversary from account opening then you would have got the extra 0.2% for the time the large credit was in the Reward 3.

At least that is how I read the terms and conditions... if I am wrong I will be very pleased!

The interesting question is if a better account than Reward 4 comes along outside Halifax, can you transfer everything less £1 and keep both open to get your extra 0.2%? Since mine is previous years cash ISAa I guess so? (this years 5100 is in another account that does not accept transfers for its' high rate).

I have just checked, we will still get the 0.2% on the Reward 3 for the period we where in it apparently. So you wont lose it. Though seems to be a grey area, what have the rest of you been told ????? And there seems to be some confusion as to when the Reward 3 interest will get paid to the acc. I know initially it was on the anniversary of it opening but, they are very confused about this at the moment. Probably because I had a Reward 2 which goes on in April, & the Reward 3 was supposed to be anniversary of when I redes'd. At times I pity those poor staff on the phones though.

jennifernil

I have just had a long chat with them, using the 0800 0326479 number, and I have been told similar, but it seems really complicated!

I opened my ISA 3 on-line on 26th November, handed in a Transfer Form (only transferring previous years) which seems to have been registered with them on 30th November. ISA money was transferred in on 16th December, and ISA Promise interest paid @3% for 21 days (most odd).


So now......

ISA 3 will become ISA 4 backdated to 28/02/11. A new 12 month period will start.

Interest @2.8% will be added from 30/11/10 to 28/02/11 to ISA 3 before migration

Then on 05/04/11 interest @3% will be added to ISA 4 for the period 28/02/11 to 05/04/11

Then on 30/11/11 the 0.2% Reward interest will be added as this is the end of my original 12 month period. (though I am uncertain what amount this will be calculated on, or what time period)

Then on 28/02/12 the 3% from 05/04/11 to 28/02/12 on ISA 4 will be added as this is the end of that 12 month period, plus another 0.2% Reward interest, again it was unclear as to what period this covers and the amount it would be calculated on. Presumably will depend on what was added in the previous Reward round.

I also discovered that I did not seem to be registered for the Reward interest, despite holding 4 qualifying accounts. This has now been done and is supposedly backdated to 30th November 2010.

It will be interesting to see what ACTUALLY happens!!

MOPI

Hi everyone, I have jumped on the Halifax ISA bandwagon!

I already had the ISA Direct 3, which I opened pretty much when it was launched.

I was very shocked to be told by the customer service rep that I would only get the extra 0.2% (for being a Halifax current account customer) for the original 12 months from when I opened my ISA Direct 3!!! I THINK I changed to the ISA Direct 3 in about September 2010 so I will only get the extra 0.2% on my ISA Direct 4 until September this year!

Is this in line with what everyone else has been told?

StevieJ

Just noticed the Halifax 4 year fixed has nudged up to 4.3%, are we upwardly mobile again?

rb10

As far as I understand it:

- You should get the additional 0.2% on the ISA, even if you redesignate it before the year is up.
- As has been pointed out, should a better deal come along later in the year, it would be worthwhile transferring out everything except £1 (the minimum balance) and waiting for the bonus interest to be added.
- Bear in mind that the date on which the bonus interest will be added depends on when you opened the account. Initially, it was simply one year after opening the account/registering for the bonus interest. Now it'll be paid on the next interest date after the year is up. For example, if you open a new account today, the bonus for the whole period will be paid on 5th April 2012.
- It's much easier and quicker to redesignate over the phone than in a branch. You may need an appointment in a branch.
- The interest rate is variable. However, I would expect that it would loosely track BOE base rate. To be fair to Halifax, when they've had similar accounts in the past, they've treated their existing customers well and rate changes have been passed on during the 1 year term.

And regarding interest, I'll split it into standard interest, and bonus (+0.2%) interest:
1. Standard interest
- Will only ever be paid on 5th April. So all interest for the period 6th April 2010 - 5th April 2011 will be paid on 5th April 2011. Interest will be paid at whatever rate the account was giving for that time, so mine will pay 2.8% up to yesterday, and 3% from yesterday to 5/4/11.
- No standard interest is ever added at any other time.
2. Bonus (+0.2%) interest. I think that this was only available on the ISA Direct Reward from September 2010, in which case...
- Bonus interest will be paid on the interest payment date following the one year anniversary of registering the bonus interest/opening the account. So, as an example, I registered my account for the bonus interest on 22/09/10. My year is up on 22/09/11, and (provided that I've kept my ISA open until 22/09/11 and funded my Reward account for that period), the bonus interest will be paid on 05/04/12.

The bonus 0.2% interest lasts for one year. However, if that offer is still on when your year is up, there's nothing to stop you having it for another year.

Hope that helps. Remember I may be wrong on some of this.

adindas

Thanks jen245

I managed to redesignate my A/c today

ADINDAS

jen245 wrote: »

You wont lose any interest. You will be paid the interest you have accrued under Reward 3 up until re-designation, plus any interest earned at the higher rate after the account is re-designated as reward 4, in April, so do it now.

zzzLazyDaisy

Mr_K wrote: »

Just for info 0800 0326479 is a freephone number to get through to the savings team. .

Just used this number and got my account redesignated. Thanks for the heads up, am well pleased!

talexuser

well I just calculated my daily interest for the time I was in Direct Reward 3, there is £8 difference between 2.8 and 3% so we will see how it pans out when eventually paid out.

jennifernil

rb10 wrote: »

As far as I understand it:

- You should get the additional 0.2% on the ISA, even if you redesignate it before the year is up.
- As has been pointed out, should a better deal come along later in the year, it would be worthwhile transferring out everything except £1 (the minimum balance) and waiting for the bonus interest to be added.
- Bear in mind that the date on which the bonus interest will be added depends on when you opened the account. Initially, it was simply one year after opening the account/registering for the bonus interest. Now it'll be paid on the next interest date after the year is up. For example, if you open a new account today, the bonus for the whole period will be paid on 5th April 2012.
- It's much easier and quicker to redesignate over the phone than in a branch. You may need an appointment in a branch.
- The interest rate is variable. However, I would expect that it would loosely track BOE base rate. To be fair to Halifax, when they've had similar accounts in the past, they've treated their existing customers well and rate changes have been passed on during the 1 year term.

And regarding interest, I'll split it into standard interest, and bonus (+0.2%) interest:
1. Standard interest
- Will only ever be paid on 5th April. So all interest for the period 6th April 2010 - 5th April 2011 will be paid on 5th April 2011. Interest will be paid at whatever rate the account was giving for that time, so mine will pay 2.8% up to yesterday, and 3% from yesterday to 5/4/11.
- No standard interest is ever added at any other time.
2. Bonus (+0.2%) interest. I think that this was only available on the ISA Direct Reward from September 2010, in which case...
- Bonus interest will be paid on the interest payment date following the one year anniversary of registering the bonus interest/opening the account. So, as an example, I registered my account for the bonus interest on 22/09/10. My year is up on 22/09/11, and (provided that I've kept my ISA open until 22/09/11 and funded my Reward account for that period), the bonus interest will be paid on 05/04/12.

The bonus 0.2% interest lasts for one year. However, if that offer is still on when your year is up, there's nothing to stop you having it for another year.

Hope that helps. Remember I may be wrong on some of this.

I'm sorry, but some of that does not make sense to me, and is different from what I was told earlier today. And is different from what it said on the website when I opened my account.

If bonus interest is only paid on the 5th April following the 12 month anniversary.....how can/will it be paid if you have transferred the ISA elsewhere after the 12 months is up?

Also, even if the account does remain open, annual interest needs to be paid annually to be correct, so to withold it for an extra time is depriving the customer of the benefit of annual compounding.