HBOS ISA Direct Reward is a trick. If you transfer out you lose 6 months' interest

xyz123

Tommaso46 wrote: »

Page 25 "If you close early or transfer to another ISA provider you will lose an amount equal to 180 days interest, calculated at the rate at which interest is paid on your account."

Now do you believe me? These people are a bunch of crooks.

What comes to mind is that specsavers add ("should've gone to specsavers!) What you are quoting is only applicable for fixed rate ISA. :rotfl:

Tommaso46

bobthedambuilder wrote: »

I've just opened one of these, :eek: so I hurriedly checked the Halifax website. Pasted below is the statement in the Summary Box of the Halifax ISA Direct Reward account regarding the action after the 12 month period that the account runs:

"after the 12 month reward period, the ISA Saver Direct variable interest rate and conditions apply." (My underlining)

There is then a link to the T&C for the ISA Saver Direct variable interest rate account. I can see no mention in those T&C's of a 180 day penalty.

The pdf document that opens from the link also contains the T&C's for the Fixed Rate ISA Saver, which does have a 180 day penalty, but this is not the account that the Direct Reward account reverts to.

So unless I'm mistaken you don't have to worry about loss of interest. Even if you do, surely you'd only be losing 6 months at 0.1% or so per annum, so vanishingly small anyway!:)

ONLY 6 months? You'd only be opening this ISA for a year anyway, wouldn't you? Because after a year you'll lose the interest rate you signed up for.

Divide that interest rate by 2 because you're going to lose 6 months of it, and you get the REAL interest rate available on the HBOS ISA Direct Reward: 1.5% pa !!

Suit yourself, but I'm not going to have anything to do with HBOS ISAs now or in the future. Just finding out what the story is takes hours....

Tommaso46

glider3560 wrote: »

It becomes a variable rate Halifax ISA Saver. The conditions on page 24/25 refer to a fixed rate Halifax ISA Saver.

Are you sure?

And while we're on the subject you may have also noticed that if you open one of the new HBOS ISA Direct Reward thingies they say that first, your account may be opened as a Halifax ISA Saver, but they don't say why, and then be converted into an HBOS ISA Direct Reward.

Now why would they do that? What's the sleight of hand going on here? If you apply open one kind of ISA but in doing so you are agreeing to first open ANOTHER kind of ISA you don't want, what T&C apply then?

I simply can't be bothered with this and don't have the time. The whole HBOS approach reminds me of something the late, great George Burns once said:

"First, get people to trust you. If you can get away with that, you can get away with anything."

Lokolo

Tommaso46 wrote: »

Are you sure?

http://www.halifax.co.uk/savings/accounts/cash-isas/isa-direct-reward/

Press the Summary Box

After the 12 month reward period, the ISA Saver Direct variable interest rate and conditions apply. View ISA Saver Direct account conditions.

talana

Tommaso46 wrote: »

Are you sure?

glider3560 is correct, you've simply misread and/or misunderstood the T&Cs.

HBOS ISA Direct Reward is a trick.

No trick, no conspiracy, you may wish to retract that.

Tommaso46

"After the 12 month reward period, the ISA Saver Direct variable interest rate and conditions apply. View ISA Saver Direct account conditions."

Exactly.

Tommaso46

talana wrote: »

glider3560 is correct, you've simply misread and/or misunderstood the T&Cs.


No trick, no conspiracy

All the ISA T&C, offered by ALL the banks, seem tricky to me. I am far from clear what I would be signing up for. So I won't be signing up for the HBOS one.

Every year I go round a whole lot of ISA websites looking for the best deal. In my experience they all conceal these little innocuous-looking things hidden deep in their terms and conditions, but they all have an attractive-looking, friendly storefront page on their website that makes it seem that they're offering a great rate of interest.

So the first thing I check is: Can I transfer out without penalty, at any time? I can't even find a straight answer to that question on the HBOS website (which is made all the more complicated by the fact that HBOS has TWO websites: BOS and Halifax)

Just finding the right Terms and Conditions is a minefield - deliberately strewn with obstacles to make it difficult for you to find out exactly where you stand. This is true of ALL the banks, not just HBOS. Then within the HBOS Terms and Conditions I discover that they cross-refer to other Terms and Conditions, which apply in certain circumstances. Finding out what those circumstances might be is another headache.

If you know of a transparent ISA website with totally unequivocal Terms and Conditions, let me know.

zzzLazyDaisy

Tommaso46 wrote: »

"After the 12 month reward period, the ISA Saver Direct variable interest rate and conditions apply. View ISA Saver Direct account conditions."

Exactly.

Exactly. The ISA Saver Direct account is a variable rate ISA with no penalties for withdrawals, and is an entirely different account from the fixed rate ISA.

Sometimes you need to know when to throw away the spade.

opinions4u

The OP is incorrect and has simply misinterpreted the account conditions that apply to ISA Direct Reward 4 (or 3 or 2).

There are no penalties for transferring out, withdrawing or closing the account (although you won't fulfil the requirements of the 0.2% thingie if the account doesn't reach anniversary).

rb10

Tommaso46 wrote: »

And while we're on the subject you may have also noticed that if you open one of the new HBOS ISA Direct Reward thingies they say that first, your account may be opened as a Halifax ISA Saver, but they don't say why, and then be converted into an HBOS ISA Direct Reward.

Again, you are reading the pages that refer to the Fixed Rate ISA Saver.

That account - like nearly every Fixed Rate account at any bank - is a completely different animal to the instant access, no-penalties, ISA Direct Reward.

If you open the ISA Direct Reward at 3%, then that's the rate you'll get, up until the day you close the account (or one year is up, whichever comes sooner).