Halifax reward a/c - just been told can't keep my 3

chris_m

anselld wrote: »

Complying with the terms is not abuse.

Definitely - if they'd devised the terms differently they would have cause to object, but they didn't so they haven't.

opinions4u

anselld wrote: »

If they were a decent account in the first place, eg FP that actually works consistently, they would not need to invent rewards to get customers.

It's about different propositions.

First Direct and Halifax launched their current accounts in 1989. Both started off with market leading rates.

FD faded away with competitive pricing fairly quickly, whereas Halifax has had a range of offers that have either led the market or been pretty close to it.

FD was always something of a niche brand for HSBC which has developed a reputation for servicing whereas Halifax/BOS have always wanted to significantly grow their market share of current accounts. Pricing is a key differentiator if you want to get people to shift their accounts from the likes of Barclays, HSBC or Nat West - and for many years Halifax/BOS have been opening more current accounts than any other bank.

My numbers may be a little bit dated now, but I beleive that after 22 years of Halifax and FD offering current accounts, Halifax (without BOS) has around four times as many accounts.

Perhaps this shows that people are happier with value and reasonable service rather than poor value with great service.

As for your reference to Faster Payments, that is something of a red herring. Given that the pricing of Halifax current accounts has been pretty high for extended periods of time before Faster Payments even existed.

Sharon87

Hope they don't do it for me, my 2 Reward Accounts were originally a regular Current Account and High Interest Account, I just upgraded. I use one for the house account (rent/bills for shared house) and the other I only use for mobile phone bill, but cycle £1000 through it. £5 helps me pay phone bill and the other £5 goes towards household bills!

Although on the phone in the past, they've noticed and not told me to I need to downgrade. This was when I was decreasing my overdraft limit that I never used anyway!

rb10

jambosans wrote: »

That said, identifying may be simple enough, but then there would be the headache of closing/ downgrading the accounts - plus all the mailing associated with that. Contrast that with a 5 minute brief rolled out by a team manager telling staff to "take action if you notice", is a much simpler method of saving a few fivers.

I doubt it would cost much to send a mass mailing to all duplicate account holders informing them that their Reward Current Account will be downgraded to simply a Current Account with effect from xx date.

Plus, asking staff to 'take action if you notice' creates a fragmented product with different rules applying to different people - surely they'd be looking for consistency across the bank?

I imagine that the OP just got a particularly vigilant staff member who has decided to do this, rather than it being company policy.

pinkdalek wrote: »

About time! You can have 1 sole and 1 joint, it is about time they clamped down on people who abuse the account and just soley pay in £1000 by drip feeding monies around. Halifax should make it a condition that the Reward account is used as a true bank account eg certain number of direct debits/cheque book usage, debit card usage.

It would certainly make sense to do this. But I guess the reason why they don't is because everyone's account is run differently, and what defines a 'main bank account'?

I very rarely use my debit card - only for the occasional ATM withdrawal. All spending is done using a credit card, so I have very little need for cash.

Other people 'don't trust' direct debits, so will use cash exclusively.

Both of these are examples of 'main bank accounts', but they are so completely different that it makes it difficult to set in place rules that define one.

noh

opinions4u wrote: »

......................
My numbers may be a little bit dated now, but I beleive that after 22 years of Halifax and FD offering current accounts, Halifax (without BOS) has around four times as many accounts.

Perhaps this shows that people are happier with value and reasonable service rather than poor value with great service.

Or maybe it shows that people will open the Halifax accounts simply to gain the incentives and then not use them for any other purpose.
I have 4 HBOS bank accounts that hold 1p balance for all but a few minutes on 1 day of the month and a fifth one, an Easycash account, used very rarely.
I also have a single FD account which I don't agree is poor value. (It costs nothing. It gave me accees to their 8% regular saver and it is offset against my mortgage)
HBOS may have four times as many accounts as FD but how many more customers do they have?

opinions4u

noh wrote: »

Or maybe it shows that people will open the Halifax accounts simply to gain the incentives and then not use them for any other purpose.
I have 4 HBOS bank accounts that hold 1p balance for all but a few minutes on 1 day of the month and a fifth one, an Easycash account, used very rarely.
I also have a single FD account which I don't agree is poor value. (It costs nothing. It gave me accees to their 8% regular saver and it is offset against my mortgage)
HBOS may have four times as many accounts as FD but how many more customers do they have?

In the great scheme of things, multiple Reward accounts are a drop in the ocean. While I don't doubt that the day will come that they either "manage" the situation down, or simply change the features of the accounts, the overwhelming majority of customers do not operate multiple current accounts.

The numbers I originally quoted were pulled from the memory banks and predate the Reward account too.

anselld

noh wrote: »

Or maybe it shows that people will open the Halifax accounts simply to gain the incentives and then not use them for any other purpose.
I have 4 HBOS bank accounts that hold 1p balance for all but a few minutes on 1 day of the month and a fifth one, an Easycash account, used very rarely.
I also have a single FD account which I don't agree is poor value. (It costs nothing. It gave me accees to their 8% regular saver and it is offset against my mortgage)
HBOS may have four times as many accounts as FD but how many more customers do they have?

Totally agree! I value my (single) FD account much more than the free £20 from four Halifax Accounts.

If banks offer free money people will accept it. Equally, I accept it is entirely up to them to decide when/if they want to stop offering free money.

tillycat123

Just don't ring up for anything like I did. Kicking myself now.

alio993

So have your accounts actually been downgraded yet? Can you see from your online banking that they are no longer reward accounts?

michaels

hmm - I want them to roll my direct ISA into the latest issue but now I am worried that may alert them to my 4 accounts