Halifax Web Saver Reward 2.8%-3.0%

Consumerist

DragonQ wrote: »

Seriously considering moving my current account to the Halifax (from Lloyds TSB) to take advantage of this 3% instant-access Web Saver.

Make sure you get the the Web Saver Reward for 2.8% - 3.00% AER; there is also a variable rate Web Saver account which pays only 0.25% AER and a Web Saver Extra which pays 2.5% AER with restricted withdrawals.

DragonQ

10_66 wrote: »

If it's the Reward Current Account you're thinking of, you don't need to leave the £1k in until the next day, you can transfer in and out again immediately, and you'll still get the £5 reward for the Current Account, and still qualify for the extra 0.20% interest on the Web Saver Reward and the ISA Direct Reward.

Oh really? That's even better.

Consumerist wrote: »

Make sure you get the the Web Saver Reward for 2.8% - 3.00% AER; there is also a variable rate Web Saver account which pays only 0.25% AER and a Web Saver Extra which pays 2.5% AER with restricted withdrawals.

Yeah that's the one I'm looking at.

anamenottaken

info_addict wrote: »

Just to double check my wife and I were entitled to the extra 0.2% loyalty bonus, we dropped into a branch this morning. The staff had less idea than we did about the account (there's a surprise). They said we'd have to see one of the advisors. When we saw her, she told us she had to register us for the additional bonus - which she did there and then. No selling of other products either, which we thought may be pushed on us.

I pointed out that I hadn't seen this requirement in the T&C's, but she insisted it had to be done and we would get confirmation within 28 days.

Anybody else come across this?

When the 0.2% loyalty (current account related) bonus was first introduced for savings accounts, there was a requirement for the completion of a form to request this payment. I believe it is applied to all subsequent accounts. Did you ever complete such a form? Is this your first Halifax savings account?

carpy

has anyone ever received any confirmation that this account will get 3%?


i haven't

Consumerist

carpy wrote: »

has anyone ever received any confirmation that this account will get 3%? i haven't

You won't get any confirmation until the reward period ends because it won't be known whether you qualify until then. i.e the account balance must not fall below £1.00 during the Reward period.

The account interest should be displayed as 2.8% on the account's page if you are currently eligible to receive the extra 0.2% Reward interest at the end of the Reward period.

It's a lot of smoke and mirrors to earn 0.2% if you ask me but that's my understanding of the situation.

greigster

We went into the Halifax today to check that the web saver account was registered for gross interest as my wife is a non tax payer due to her being retired. We were shocked to be told that the interest payable on this account is only .25% or .2% but she thought maybe the "12month bonus rate" was not showing on her computer.
When my wife opened the account on 1/4/2011 we were led to believe that it would pay 2.8% plus .2% for having another account with them. We have kept all our savings in this account and we cannot afford to lose this amount of money.
After reading this thread, it seems that others have been confused by this account.
We filled in the form online but we did not ask for an ATM card even though we received one after the account was opened.
Am I right in thinking that we should have ticked a box to say we "did not" want a cashcard and by not ticking a box the account has defaulted to the lower rate?
When we were at the Halifax today the poor customer service lady was unable to find out any information for us so we were in the dark until my wife phoned the savings help line. We were informed that we are only getting .25%.
We have never used the ATM card.

Any advice would be appreciated
Thanks

Consumerist

greigster wrote: »

. . . We were shocked to be told that the interest payable on this account is only .25% or .2% but she thought maybe the "12month bonus rate" was not showing on her computer.

If you go back to <post#9>, you will see that you should have selected the no-card option to get the Reward.

It is very disappointing that you need to jump through such hoops to get the Reward account .

greigster

Thanks for that Consumerist, the initial application seems that it may catch out many other people going by this thread and the few that have been confused. Am I correct in thinking that both the higher rate of 2.8% and the lower rate of .25% were offered on the same application form and the lower rate we ended up with was decided by the failure to tick a box and decline an ATM card?

Mandelbrot

greigster wrote: »

Thanks for that Consumerist, the initial application seems that it may catch out many other people going by this thread and the few that have been confused. Am I correct in thinking that both the higher rate of 2.8% and the lower rate of .25% were offered on the same application form and the lower rate we ended up with was decided by the failure to tick a box and decline an ATM card?

That is my recollection of the situation.
It all stems from Halifax's rather strange specification of some of their accounts, and in this case Web Savers.

They started out with a variable Web Saver account and a Fixed Web Saver account. Within the variable Web Saver account area, there was an 'option' to have an account with a cashcard earning one set of interest rates, or one without a card earning a different set. (At first the rates were better for the 'no card' account for the same balances, and then vice versa, where it was better to have an account with a card, even if you had no intention of ever using it.)

Then it got messier. They decided to bring out other variations like the Web Saver Extra and the Web Saver Reward (as well as the separate Rewards scheme).

The Web Saver Extra was pretty well stand alone (despite the Web Saver name) since it had serious restrictions - only 1 account per customer, and only 1 withdrawal per year or you lost interest).

Then there were the Web Saver Reward accounts. Brought out at various times for short periods of a month or so, there were 4 separate versions (all with withdrawal restrictions) between July 2008 and July 2009; then Halifax seemed to drop them.

They resurrected the name on the 1st April 2011 and this version was continuously available from then till 9th Sept 2011.
But it was a different beast to its predecessors.
In particular, there were no withdrawal restrictions, and its interest rate was better than the standard variable Web Saver account, at least for the first year. (Yep, one of them 'bonus rate' accounts.) After that time, the account became a standard Web Saver (without card) account.

But since there was no restriction on opening a new WS Reward account in a year's time to get a new higher rate, it meant that there was no real point in opening a standard Web Saver account without a cash card. If you wanted ready access via a card, you still needed a standard account with cash card option, but you took a serious hit on the interest rate.
(The Web Saver Reward account didn't have a card option.)

It seems that someone at Halifax decided there was no merit in writing a new application routine for the WS Reward account - the standard Web Saver one would do.
Choose the card option and you get the standard Web Saver with card option.
Don't choose the card option and you get the Web Saver Reward account.
(I don't know how you were supposed to open a standard Web Saver without card account since then - the prevailing interest rates have made it irrelevant.)
It doesn't seem to have dawned on anyone at Halifax that this might not have been the clearest way for anyone new to these application screens.

All I can say in Halifax's favour at this point is that after opening the account, it should have been clear from the name used in your online banking what type of account had been set up for you. But again, for someone new to these accounts, perhaps 'variable Web Saver' sounds sufficiently correct?

With some accounts that you open in branch, you can sometimes argue that you have been given the wrong type of account by the staff member involved, but clearly these Web Saver accounts can only be opened online.
You might want to argue that their badly designed application routine led to the wrong type of account being opened, and seek some compensation for lost interest as a result. Whether this would be successful or not probably depends more on whether Halifax want to retain you as a customer.

greigster

When we were in the local Halifax branch and given this bad news, it was suggested that we phone the web savings section from within the bank. After talking on the phone to a customer service rep and they confirmed the low rate, they asked if we wanted to change to an account that pays 2.8% but the branch rep said not to as it could complicate matters.
Since taking out this web saver account, we have also taken out a mortgage and my wife has taken out a Halifax credit card. At both of these "in branch" application sessions, which took place in a private room within the bank, my wifes accounts were gone through by branch staff and at no point did anyone suggest that we were getting this poor rate and should perhaps consider something else. I mention this only because the lady at our branch seemed surprised that it was not picked up at these financial interviews. It was this lady who asked if we realized that we could be getting a better rate on our savings, which was the point at which alarm bells and heart palpitations were triggered in the first place.
So now we have a considerable amount of money languishing at .2% whilst Halifax investigate