Halifax ISA 3.00% AER now available.

jen245

Question for those that have done this before, I called and re-designated my account on Sunday, just checked my online banking today, and its changed from Reward 3 to just ISA Saver with an interest rate of 0.1% :eek: is this normal in the changeover process?!

jennifernil

Just to add......I have had some of these reward savings accounts in the past, and am not convinced that I have actually received the extra 0.2% despite conforming with the conditions 100%.

As I only had about £1000 in the accounts on average, I gave up trying to get any sense out of HBOS on this. But between myself and OH, we have about £53k in these ISAs, so the additional 0.2% is becoming significant when rates are otherwise so low.

HBOS really are making this way too complicated, the interest rate should be easy to understand, even if they want to reward loyal customers. The rate, be it 3% or 3.2% should be just that, simple and straightforward. Interest should be added every 12 months, or when the account is moved/closed.

Why introduce these new accounts? The ISA3 is variable rate, so just increase the rate on it.

Even their own staff do not always know how it operates. I would hate to go to our branch and ask them these questions as they are generally less informed than I am.

talexuser

jen245 wrote: »

Question for those that have done this before, I called and re-designated my account on Sunday, just checked my online banking today, and its changed from Reward 3 to just ISA Saver with an interest rate of 0.1% :eek: is this normal in the changeover process?!

no, mine still says Reward 3, they told me it would take 4 or more days for the online to update. I would phone up in case they have put you in the wrong one?

jennifernil

jen245 wrote: »

Question for those that have done this before, I called and re-designated my account on Sunday, just checked my online banking today, and its changed from Reward 3 to just ISA Saver with an interest rate of 0.1% :eek: is this normal in the changeover process?!

Yes, apparently it is. We were told "not to worry" and that we would not lose out at all!

jennifernil

We too phoned on sunday, ours still shows ISA 3.

The guy I spoke with today said they were inundated with requests to open or change accounts, hence the delay.

jennifernil

MOPI wrote: »

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?

Not what I was told, read my post above.......# 114

jen245

Thank you Jennifer, I'll keep an eye on it, if it doesnt change, i'll be on the phone!

rb10

jennifernil wrote: »

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?

From the Special Conditions:

Halifax wrote:

Your additional interest will apply to your existing qualifying savings account(s) for the next 12 months from the date we registered you provided conditions are met. For new savings accounts (opened after 4 January 2010), your additional interest will apply to your account for 12 months from account opening. Your additional interest will be calculated after the 12 month period, and then paid together with your standard interest, on your next usual interest payment date.

As this interest is calculated after 12 months, you will see the standard variable interest rate that applies to your savings account on any correspondence we may send you in relation to your account and when viewing your account online.

It goes on to say that the ISA Direct Reward became an eligible savings account on 22 September 2010.

The accompanying letter also states that:

Halifax wrote:

We'll pay you the additional interest automatically, subject to you:
[...]
- Keeping your qualifying savings account(s) open during the 12 month reward period. Should you close your savings account before the end of this period, you will receive the standard variable rate applicable to your account.

So ... I registered my account for the bonus interest on 22/09/2010. This lasts until 22/09/2011.
If I close the account before 22/09/2011, then I forfeit all my bonus interest.
If I close it between 22/09/2011 and 05/04/2012 then it'll be paid on account closure.
If it's still open on 05/04/2012 then it'll be paid that night.

jennifernil wrote: »

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.

I believe that the AER is correct, because it's such a small amount.

If you take a gross rate of 0.2%, and say (for argument's sake) that you wait 6 months between the end of your 12 month period and the date that the interest is paid.

If £100 was in the account for the whole 12 month period, then you would have earned £0.20 interest. The compound interest that this could then have earned during the next six months is £0.0004, or 0.0004%. So 0.2% + 0.0004% rounds back to 0.2%.

jen245 wrote: »

Question for those that have done this before, I called and re-designated my account on Sunday, just checked my online banking today, and its changed from Reward 3 to just ISA Saver with an interest rate of 0.1% :eek: is this normal in the changeover process?!

Yes, it does.

Just leave it for a few days; it will sort itself out.

Interest at 3/3.2% will be backdated to the date you phoned up.

sheslookinhot

Tried to open one online and just got this message.

Service unavailable


ISA Direct Reward is available for limited periods only and is not available to open at this current time. We have a range of other cash ISAs available, please click here to find out more

shepstone

The most important feature to me of this ISA offer are the words variable interest. I expect them to suck people in with the headline 3.0% and unlimited withdrawals. They may get a lot of ISA transfers in 'cos they have the top offer at the moment. I can't see any other banks improving on this even though there's still about 5 weeks to go till ISA deadline.
But beware they can then drop the interest rate by 0.2% or 0.3% after 2 or 3 months grace. Granted that's not a massive amount but it is infuriating. I don't trust them an inch and will not put any money into a 'variable' account. Even if base rates do rise during the year they have not mentionned that they will increase the interest rate in line with the base rate.
Secondly interest is paid at the end of the 12 months and not monthly.(This information isn't highlighted like the other features but is somewhat hard to find in a paragraph near the bottom of the second page-the summary box page). Therefore if I am correct there is no monthly compounding of interest earned-another sly way of sqeezing more out of you.
If I signed up with these people-yes the ones with those corny tv adverts-I'd feel like vomiting.
Not for me thankyou