Halifax Web Saver Reward 2.8%-3.0%

Mandelbrot

Well done greigster on your result.

I agree with Consumerist that it makes financial sense to transfer most of the money back to the WS Reward account, once you are sure it is one.
0.2% Rewards (Gross) on £100,000 for a month and a half is £25 - worth having.

As Consumerist says, there are no Rewards 'extra interest payments' on the Online Saver account (or on the rest of the range of new accounts they brought out last September).

Mandelbrot

Consumerist wrote: »

What is even more confusing is that both the 2.8% rate and the extra 0.2% are referred to as "Reward" interest but you only get the 0.2% if you have a current account and pay in at least £1,000 per month.

Thankfully, they now seem to have dispensed with all this Reward confusion.

Strictly speaking the extra 0.2% is referred to as 'Rewards' (with an 's')
but I fully agree that this whole extra interest saga has been a step too far for Halifax staff and customers.

Unfortunately, they have retained the 'Reward' misnomer in their newish (since Sept 2011) 'Reward Saver' account. Serious restrictions on withdrawals to get their 'higher' (woeful) interest rate, else you get an even poorer rate. And some of the rate is essentially a 12 month 'bonus' (they no longer mention a specific Rewards 'top-up') that would then drop to the rate specified in the T&Cs.

Oh, that's right, it doesn't state it in the T&Cs. Just :
'After 12 months we will pay a lower rate of interest on your Reward Saver account ...' (If they mean the 'standard' lower Reward Saver rate they should say so) and 'We will write to you in advance' (of the 12 months being up) 'to give you full details'.

Confusion - phase 2?

greigster

Had another call this afternoon from our nice CS manager to say they had worked out the 3% on a daily basis up to today and they will be paying this figure on 31/03/2012, she also advised us to open a new online saver and transfer all but £1 (at this point we already had) so I think they will not be upgrading the account for the rest of the term. Having looked around, I can see several accounts paying 3.1% and 3.2% easy access so maybe we need to reduce funds at Halifax to below £85k...........or even further.

The final bit of good news is my local branch are crediting our joint account with £25 for the time spent at the bank yesterday

Mandelbrot

greigster wrote: »

Had another call this afternoon from our nice CS manager to say they had worked out the 3% on a daily basis up to today and they will be paying this figure on 31/03/2012, she also advised us to open a new online saver and transfer all but £1 (at this point we already had) so I think they will not be upgrading the account for the rest of the term.

Yes. Sounds like effectively they are making an ex-gratia payment to keep you happy (since their 3% only runs from 1/4/2011 to 17/2/2012). Presumably paying it on the 31st March is one way of keeping you with them till then. Since they want you to leave £1 in the account, they obviously intend to continue crediting a 0.2% Rewards payment till then. I'd keep the account open until the 1st April 2012 (rather than 31 March), as that would normally be the date when interest would be paid on this account, i.e. one year after opening.

Consumerist

Mandelbrot wrote: »

Unfortunately, they have retained the 'Reward' misnomer in their newish (since Sept 2011) 'Reward Saver' account.

Yes, an odd account which pays less than the Online Saver and allows only one penalty-free withdrawal per year, if I recall correctly.

I make that a negative "Reward". Shouldn't it be called a "Penalty Saver" account? :rotfl:

Mandelbrot

Consumerist wrote: »

Yes, an odd account which pays less than the Online Saver and allows only one penalty-free withdrawal per year, if I recall correctly.

4 (but closure is counted as a withdrawal, so 3 + closure)

I make that a negative "Reward". Shouldn't it be called a "Penalty Saver" account? :rotfl:

Marketed as that, it could interest a whole slew of goalkeepers!

Decluttering

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?

From what I remember they were, I was forewarned of this so I made a special effort to ensure I was getting the right rate.

Mandelbrot

glider3560 wrote: »

As the 0.2% stopped being offered on new accounts around September, I would expect that all the "Reward" confusion will end in September/October 2012.

If only!

What you say is obviously true for new accounts, but they are not the only ones accruing Rewards interest.

Any Rewards eligible savings accounts that have been opened some time will have previously been paid the extra on the anniversary of Rewards registration, whereas the standard interest would have been on the anniversary of account opening.

Now, the Rewards element is paid on the next standard interest date following its accrual/due date.

So if an account opening date was in July 2008 (say), but your Rewards registration date was in August, (and presumably you received a letter in August 2011 telling you your Rewards interest was extended for another year), then you will now have to wait until July 2013 for the final Rewards element (which becomes 'due' in Aug 2012) to be paid into your account.

It would be 'notionally' in your account from August 2012 (and presumably earning interest on the interest), but the only way to actually 'see' it show up before July 2013 would be to close the account.

glider3560

Mandelbrot wrote: »

If only!

What you say is obviously true for new accounts, but they are not the only ones accruing Rewards interest.

Any Rewards eligible savings accounts that have been opened some time will have previously been paid the extra on the anniversary of Rewards registration, whereas the standard interest would have been on the anniversary of account opening.

Now, the Rewards element is paid on the next standard interest date following its accrual/due date.

So if an account opening date was in July 2008 (say), but your Rewards registration date was in August, (and presumably you received a letter in August 2011 telling you your Rewards interest was extended for another year), then you will now have to wait until July 2013 for the final Rewards element (which becomes 'due' in Aug 2012) to be paid into your account.

It would be 'notionally' in your account from August 2012 (and presumably earning interest on the interest), but the only way to actually 'see' it show up before July 2013 would be to close the account.

So, fingers crossed that this issue will end by September 2013

The_Enforcer

I have the 2.8% websaver reward with the reward 0.2%. Regarding the minimum balance of £1, would it matter if the account was emptied, but a £1 was paid back in later the same day?

Cheers,
TE