Thinking of switching to Halifax

jwilf

Hi Moneysavers,

I'm thinking of switching my current and savings accounts to Halifax and I'm looking for opinions on their service. I currently bank with Cahoot but they seem to be neglected by Santander and I'm not impressed with the interest rates they now offer. I'm tempted by the £5 per month payment for the Halifax Reward Current Account. I also have about £6000 in an old Bradford & Bingley ISA which I'm thinking of transferring to a Halifax Direct Reward ISA, which would give me 3.20% interest if I also opened the Reward current account.

Before I take the plunge it would be great to get some opinions from those who have made the switch to Halifax. Specifically I'd like to know if the online banking is any good. I like the fact that they don't require a card reader like many banks these days. I'd also like to feel confident that I wouldn't have any problems moving my balance and my direct debits, etc. I have about 5 DDs and 2 standing orders going out plus my salary coming in. I never go overdrawn so charges are not a concern.

Many thanks

vacheron

I've banked online with Halifax since they started their online services years ago and have always been impressed with the interface, then ease of logging on (no card reader) the relatively memorable information (no 13 digit account numbers to type in), the amount of services available which can be set up exclusively online, the decent interest rates paid on their online websavers and ISA's and the ease of creating / viewing direct debits and standing orders.

As well as Halifax I have my offset mortgage account with Barclays which is an absolute pain to use with the awful card reader, long winded logon processes and a limited range of information and products online which is laid out poorly. For this reason I politely declined their offer of transferring my current account to them.

In the past I have had accounts with Smile, (not bad). Aliance and Leicester (again far too much security at logon), Natwest (another stupid card reader) and Lloyds (again not bad), but I still consider Halifax to be by far the best of the bunch.

jen245

I havent switched as such, I use my Halifax Reward account as my 2nd account, and I also have their Reward ISA. I like them, their rates are very competitive, and existing customers get good deals on savings, credit cards etc. Their online banking has had a major overhaul to be more like Lloyds TSB's, and so IMO, is much better than it was (although many are not very happy about the changes) I dont really have any complaints. Their faster payments apparently can be a bit hit and miss, but personally, Ive never had any trouble with sending faster payments from my account.

vacheron

jen245 wrote: »

Their faster payments apparently can be a bit hit and miss, but personally, Ive never had any trouble with sending faster payments from my account.

I agree about the faster payments. I've found that if it says "faster payment is not possible" that you just cancel and try again and again until it says yes. :doh:

Also, try and keep the amounts under £2200 per day which also helps, though if you have multiple accounts you can spread the money across them and then send one per day from each to the same receiving account!

(Still a bit of polishing to be done on that score I think).

opinions4u

Main downside is the £1 a day charge for authorised overdraft.

Don't go overdrawn and you'll be fine!

ashleygunn

I'm very happy with Halifax, been with them 21 years and never had any problems.

ses6jwg

I would say Halifax are one of the more competitive high street banks, both in terms of the products they offer as well as the services.

Unless you use an overdraft that is.

jwilf

Thanks everyone, well it sounds like Halifax have some happy customers so I'm tempted to go ahead. Just wondering what some people don't like about the recent website changes? As long as I can view current, savings and ISA account balances and do transfers then I'll be happy. It would also be nice if they show the whole month's statement on one page, as with Cahoot you have to scroll through several pages which is annoying.

jen245

I dont have any problems with their online banking, I really like it, but its very different to their old style platform, and some people dont like change

fly-catchers

I have been with Halifax for 15 years now & Cahoot since it started. No issues with Halifax and you get £5 a month if you can put a £1000 into each month. Cahoot have gone down hill and the last straw occured this week! I transfer money once a month to them to pay off my credit card and I get the benefit of their £100 interest free over draft. But without telling anyone they have changed the number of days you have to allow money that goes in before you can use it from 5 working days to 10! So my credit card payment was refused!! So now the CC people are charging £12 a day in charges plus a high rate of interest!! Cahoot say they will reinburse me after checking that these changes had not mentioned on the web site. But still a lot of hassle and I have had to fund the credit card from my savings in the meantime- so will be winding down the Cahoot account.

jennifernil

jwilf wrote: »

Thanks everyone, well it sounds like Halifax have some happy customers so I'm tempted to go ahead. Just wondering what some people don't like about the recent website changes? As long as I can view current, savings and ISA account balances and do transfers then I'll be happy. It would also be nice if they show the whole month's statement on one page, as with Cahoot you have to scroll through several pages which is annoying.

Whether your statement will fit on one page will depend on the number of transactions. Ours is generally on 1 or sometimes 2 pages.

Just been and checked, ours has 30 entries per page.