Beware the Halifax 6% Childrens Saver

23n1th

If you have this account check the interest you received. Mine was wrong, as were some other things with the account. Apparently it will all be sorted within 20 days but I'm not holding my breath.

23n1th

Well the interest they paid me was out by £7 (something to do with net and gross interest), not much I'll grant you but its still my money. And even though its says you're only allowed £1200 in it max, at some point I had £1300 £100 of which apparently didn't get the 6% interest because it shouldn't have been in there (not that it 6% in any respect). Not happy.

glider3560

Sounds like an R85 was not completed or no declaration was made.

blueberrypie

If it's not registered for gross interest, they are required by law to deduct the income tax.

The same happened a couple of years ago on one of those that I had set up, and once I rang them and explained that it should have been registered for gross interest, they refunded the deduction. It was all sorted out within a few days.

23n1th

Considering I filled out the R85 form and had to take my daughters birth certificate into the bank to prove she wasn't eligible for income tax I would imagine I'm not at fault.

I certainly wont be renewing the savings this years as even with the correct interest the 6% isn't worth it considering I'm tying money up for a year with very little return. If it was 6% on £1200 it would be worth it.

opinions4u

23n1th wrote: »

Considering I filled out the R85 form and had to take my daughters birth certificate into the bank to prove she wasn't eligible for income tax I would imagine I'm not at fault.

A birth certificate doesn't prove that somebody is a non-taxpayer. Halifax don't accept R85 forms (although your verbal registration should have been acted on).

I certainly wont be renewing the savings this years as even with the correct interest the 6% isn't worth it considering I'm tying money up for a year with very little return. If it was 6% on £1200 it would be worth it.

Where are you going to get a better return?

If there isn't £1,200 in the account for a full year you can hardly expect them to pay you a year's interest on £1,200.

23n1th

opinions4u wrote: »

A birth certificate doesn't prove that somebody is a non-taxpayer. Halifax don't accept R85 forms (although your verbal registration should have been acted on).

I imagine it does if it says they are 3 years old, I'm unaware of any 3 year olds who pay income tax, I could be wrong. If thats the case then they wasted my time at the start of the year when they told me to fill one out and go to a branch with it and my daughters birth cert, and wasted my time at the end by trying to rip me off and having me do their job for them - which was to tell them the interest they owed me.

Either way they knew at the start it was for a 3 year old, who blatantly doesn't pay income tax. Thats probably why they have now admitted their fault and out of character for a bank have compensated me for the trouble.

Where are you going to get a better return?

If there isn't £1,200 in the account for a full year you can hardly expect them to pay you a year's interest on £1,200.

I would imagine in an account where you can put £1200 in and get 6% on it. And I didn't expect them to pay me a years interest as you suggest, why would I??? I certainly didn't say it.

Though is would be nice for them to say up front is that its only 6% on the first £100. But they wont do this since it makes the account sound as rubbish as it is.

(Not all of us understand the ins and outs of these sorts of things and if I hadn't been trying to figure out the math behind compound interest I wouldn't have noticed the discrepancy - I still don't know why its the 12 root instead of shared by 12 but hay-ho:sad:)

blueberrypie

23n1th wrote: »

I imagine it does if its says they are 3 years old. If thats the case then they wasted my time at the start of the year when they told me to fill one out and go to a branch with it and my daughters birth cert, and wasted my time at the end by trying to rip me off and having me do their job for them - which was to tell them the interest they owed me.

Either way they knew at the start it was for a 3 year old, who blatantly doesn't pay income tax.

They have asked for the birth certificate to comply with the identity requirements, not for the purposes of establishing whether someone is a taxpayer. A bank cannot assume that a 3-year-old is not a taxpayer. They cannot assume that *anyone* is not a taxpayer. It is hardly fair to lambast Halifax for complying with the law. And while it is unlikely that a 3-year-old would be a taxpayer, it is not impossible.

Thats probably why they have now admitted their fault and out of character for a bank have compensated me for the trouble.

As mentioned above, when the same happened to one of the Children's Regular Savers - but in that case it was for a 14-year-old. So it had nothing to do with your child being 3 years old.

I would imagine in an account where you can put £1200 in and get 6% on it.

The point of a Regular Saver is...well, in the name of the account. Its purpose is to enable regular savings. If you already have a lump sum, a Regular Saver account is not an appropriate savings vehicle for it.

Though is would be nice for them to say up front is that its only 6% on the first £100. But they wont do this since it makes the account sound as rubbish as it is.

I believe it's the highest-paying regular savings account available for children at the minute. And it does not only pay 6% on the first £100 - it pays 6% on the full amount that is in the account, calculated on a daily basis. That is how all regular savers work.

23n1th

blueberrypie wrote: »

They have asked for the birth certificate to comply with the identity requirements, not for the purposes of establishing whether someone is a taxpayer. A bank cannot assume that a 3-year-old is not a taxpayer. They cannot assume that *anyone* is not a taxpayer. It is hardly fair to lambast Halifax for complying with the law. And while it is unlikely that a 3-year-old would be a taxpayer, it is not impossible.

Ok so I filled out the R58 (which does confirm a non-tax payer) as they requested, which does tell them my daughter doesn't pay tax, I give it to them and confirm she doesn't pay tax, and provide the birth cert for id purposes, and they ignore it???

As mentioned above, when the same happened to one of the Children's Regular Savers - but in that case it was for a 14-year-old. So it had nothing to do with your child being 3 years old.

You're right it had to do with halifax not doing their job or trying to get one over on their customers hoping they wont check or understand the interest. Which is not impossible I'm sure you'll agree.

The point of a Regular Saver is...well, in the name of the account. Its purpose is to enable regular savings. If you already have a lump sum, a Regular Saver account is not an appropriate savings vehicle for it.

It can be if you've maxed out your isa allowance and it allows more that 100 a month. What with it being tax free.

I believe it's the highest-paying regular savings account available for children at the minute. And it does not only pay 6% on the first £100 - it pays 6% on the full amount that is in the account, calculated on a daily basis. That is how all regular savers work.

It pays 6% on the first 100 (£6) because its in the account for the full term of 12 months. The next 100 doesn't get 6% because is only in for 11 months, it gets the 12th root times 11 (in my very basic maths) and so on until the 12th month (obviously not taking into account compound interest in this simple example). I think its fair to say the full 6% is only paid on the first 100 because you can only pay 100 in each month.

blueberrypie

23n1th wrote: »

It pays 6% on the first 100 (£6) because its in the account for the full term of 12 months. The next 100 doesn't get 6% because is only in for 11 months, it gets the 12th root times 11 (in my very basic maths) and so on until the 12th month (obviously not taking into account compound interest in this simple example). I think its fair to say the full 6% is only paid on the first 100 because you can only pay 100 in each month.

It pays 6% AER.

If you don't understand what AER means, that's hardly Halifax's fault.

23n1th

blueberrypie wrote: »

It pays 6% AER.

If you don't understand what AER means, that's hardly Halifax's fault.

I do understand what it means, thats why halifax are now paying me what the owe me, instead of trying to pay me less.