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

gelato_cat

Nah, my post was based on anecdotal evidence from a few years ago when lots of people were saying they were turned down for FD current accounts but could get accounts with similar features (Visa debit card, overdraft etc) elsewhere.

Suze

opinions4u wrote: »

Can you support that with statistics?

No idea where Halifax are today, but a few years ago they declined around 50% of all applications for current accounts.

mr_fishbulb

Doesn't look like this is policy to do this to everyone who calls up and has more than 1 reward account.

I just phoned them about my ISA interest. At the end of the call they said "I'm not sure if you're aware of this but I've noticed you have some reward accounts".

I though "Oh no, here we go"

Then they said "Have you though of upgrading to the Ultimate reward account?"

I said no thanks, breathed a sigh of relief, and then the call was done. Looks like the OP just got an over-efficient call centre person when they called up.

gelato_cat

I've often found that Halifax staff are not very knowledgeable about products - so if anyone does spot and deal with more than one account, I'd put it down to very bad luck. I had to go into the branch the other day as I needed new cards and PINs for every single one of my three Reward accounts, which are used for nothing apart from the free fiver. This is a fairly long-winded process so the sales assistant could see that the accounts weren't being used but didn't bat an eyelid.

Suze

The_Enforcer

It works both ways with banks, I just had £1k of "missing cash" returned to my Halifax reward current account after 10 days, so I've no qualms about taking them up on their offer of free fivers.

Apparently, it was due to my first attempt to fund the account being received via a faster payment from First Direct, which initially was accepted, but a day later the funds were removed. I was firstly told that the money had not been received (FD confirmed otherwise), then that they had rejected the transfer and the money was being returned to me (3 working days), then after 4 working days I discovered on Friday eve they still had it after all in a suspended payments account (earning them interest), but relevant dept not open until today, finally 3 calls this morning just to get it switched back.

It took 8 separate phone calls to get to the bottom of it, fortunately using www.saynoto0870.com to avoid their 0845 number. OK, so initial mistake may have been mine, wasn't expecting a faster paymnent on first transfer, but really....

The_Enforcer

A thought - does the official restriction of two reward accounts per person (one single, one joint) apply to Halifax and Bank of Scotland accounts independently, in effect enabling 4 accounts to be opened per person, or would that be detected and blocked by their HBOS network?

opinions4u

The_Enforcer wrote: »

A thought - does the official restriction of two reward accounts per person (one single, one joint) apply to Halifax and Bank of Scotland accounts independently, in effect enabling 4 accounts to be opened per person, or would that be detected and blocked by their HBOS network?

The system should pick up applications across brand. So it shouldn't work for you.