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

david78

I agree. You need to read the correct section otherwise you will just confuse yourself. If you're really worried about it give Halifax a call and they will put your mind at rest about it.

Tommaso46

david78 wrote: »

give Halifax a call and they will put your mind at rest about it.

Very funny. Have you ever tried to call Halifax?

david78

Yes they are usually very helpful. You need to dial the ISA team direct if the general number is busy.

gilly_dc

Wow, this has just brightened up my morning, if you're going to get all uppity about terms and conditions, make sure you're reading the right ones first.

The Direct Reward 4 is pretty simple, you get 12 month bonus rate of 3% (plus 0.2% if you qualify), you can transfer out or withdraw at ANY time, WITHOUT any loss of interest, and after 12 months you ditch and switch, or reinvest into whichever variable ISA they have available with the best interest at the time.

Yes, Banks do have certain little practises which may catch you out (such as the account dropping to a lower rate after 12 months), but not EVERYTHING they do is some sort of calculated way of screwing over the customer.

jhxmt

Tommaso46 wrote: »

Now back to my earlier question, which nobody so far has been able to answer: do you know of an ISA whose T&C are absolutely transparent and do not give rise to any misunderstandings?

Yes.

The Direct Reward 4 ISA.

Or, at least, the T&Cs were pretty transparent to me (and apparently to the vast majority of other posters in this thread) and didn't cause any confusion. Transparency, to mutilate the popular phrase, is in the eye of the beholder.

I haven't yet found one that says "We give you free money, no catch!" and nothing else yet, if that's what you're after. And ironically, if I did, I wouldn't want to touch it with a bargepole.

2sides2everystory

I have a enormous sympathy for the OP.


As a recent ISA Direct Reward 4 customer I also have been reassured by one post only in this thread so far and that is by gilly_dc which was succinct and which I do hope is correct.

The other hot air expended by the usual crew of bank apologists telling good MSE'ers to go back and read the Ts&Cs again is useless to the majority.

The OP was right to highlight what he'd found and I do hope his was an ISA Direct Reward 4 and that gilly_dc has described it correctly

It is a minefield out there and it doesn't help one jot or iota for a bunch of minelayers to be shouting directions at someone caught in the middle with his foot on the wrong peg like he should have known what was in store when he got out of bed this morning and got tempted to walk this way or that by the prevailing wind on MSE.

jennifernil

It would be right to highlight it IF it was actually correct!

If the OP had actually read the T&Cs correctly, they would have realised that the Direct ISA 4 works exactly like everyone else has said.

2sides2everystory

Er ... no jennifer, only one poster has said convincingly how it works, and thats gilly_dc and I do hope she was right. Almost everyone else has muddied the water with their contribution - oh and how easily this fast moving water muddies !

bobthedambuilder is right - when you go looking for reassurance what you find is generally Clear As Mud !

bobthedambuilder

jennifernil wrote: »

It would be right to highlight it IF it was actually correct!

If the OP had actually read the T&Cs correctly, they would have realised that the Direct ISA 4 works exactly like everyone else has said.

No! The OP was right to highlight it because the way he read it meant there was a problem. Don't get down on the guy just because he saw it differently than you. It can't be 100% transparent if even one person can misinterpret it. It certainly wasn't immediately transparent to me - it took several readings until I was satisfied of the meaning.

As for lokolo's post (yesterday 5.46pm - sorry I don't know how to paste a second quote:o), I still don't see why they can't publish separate T&C's for each account. It's not as if we're all going to print off each 30 page document every time - you can look at it on the screen.

pressuredrop_2

Fixed ISAs = Loss of interest on withdrawal.

Variable ISAs = No loss of interest on withdrawal.

What's so hard to understand?