MSE News: Halifax launches Premium Bond-style savings draw - is it any good?

Milarky

I saw no mention of 'tax' anywhere, so I assume these prizes are tax exempt to the recipient?

opinions4u

Milarky wrote: »

I saw no mention of 'tax' anywhere, so I assume these prizes are tax exempt to the recipient?

Tax free prizes.

For the poster on the previous page, it's opt in to avoid falling foul of legislation and also to avoid upsetting certain people who don't like it for moral or religious reasons.

Consumerist

Ok. Having dug a little deeper, it would seem that Halifax/BoS are using an external company to run the draw. This external company will need to check that you qualify so they will need some details (e.g. name & address, balances) about your savings accounts to do this. Hence the need to register and agree to the terms & conditions which allow Halifax/BoS to pass the necessary account details to the external company.

On the face of it, anyway, all above board.

Mr_K

So how many Halifax customers have got above £5k ? Suspect the majority haven't. Those that have will hopefully be too apathetic or suspicious to join. Just trying to increase my odds

Still v. slim odds and nothing to stop me leaving if there's a better interest rate elsewhere at the end of the ISA year. Customer retention/increased deposits is probably the main aim. £6m is nothing to Lloyds/Halifax - they lose more than that most days at the moment.

Consumerist

One misgiving I have is that the "third party company" referred to in the rules is undisclosed and so I am unable to check their privacy policy.

So an undisclosed third-party (gaming) company would know my name and address and be aware that I have at least £5,000 in savings.

:eek:

opinions4u

Consumerist wrote: »

One misgiving I have is that the "third party company" referred to in the rules is undisclosed and so I am unable to check their privacy policy.

So an undisclosed third-party (gaming) company would know my name and address and be aware that I have at least £5,000 in savings.

The T&Cs state:

Each monthly draw will be monitored by KPMG LLP (“the adjudicator”) ... By registering for the Draw, you agree that we may share your name, address and details of your accounts with the adjudicator – this is to verify that the Draw has been carried out in line with these rules.

Accountants. Not undisclosed. Not a gaming company (although I'm sure we could play on the words if we wanted to).

tescoshopper

:(See it only applies to England Scotland and Wales and our N Ireland friends are not included.

Seems to be an oversight - what's up is there money not as good as ours.

Didn't taxpayers there dave the bank.

TUT TUT

Sue x

Consumerist

opinions4u wrote: »

The T&Cs state accountants. Not undisclosed. Not a gaming company

Thanks for that.

But I'm still confused by the meaning of rule 3 :-

We will use a third party company to help us collect certain details of customers who wish to register for the Draw, so, by applying to register, you agree to share those details with them.

This has nothing to do with monitoring of the draw but more to do with the collection of information.

opinions4u

tescoshopper wrote: »

:(See it only applies to England Scotland and Wales and our N Ireland friends are not included.

Seems to be an oversight - what's up is there money not as good as ours.

It clearly isn't an oversight. Post #17 highlighted the issue rather well.

I don't know all the ins and outs, but the Gambling Act doesn't apply to Northern Ireland (only England, Wales and Scotland). There is something in that act that allows competitions to be run, without an element of skill, that aren't considered lotteries or betting. As this doesn't apply in NI, the competition is considered gambling and as such, NI is typically excluded from such competitions

Different legal framework means they can't play in Belfast (where HBOS has been a major employer for many years).

opinions4u

Consumerist wrote: »

Thanks for that.

But I'm still confused by the meaning of rule 3 :-This has nothing to do with monitoring of the draw but more to do with the collection of information.

Don't know.

At a guess I am assuming that the data of sort code, account number, name, date of birth gets cross referenced somewhere. Most likely a CRA.