Where do I find Halifax branch based cash ISA rates?

cepheus

I am trying to find Halifax branch based cash ISA account rates for someone. Are these displayed on-line anywhere or are they too embarrassed to publish them?

alanq

The accounts with a picture of a house can be operated in branch.
http://www.halifax.co.uk/savings/accounts/cash-isas/

I found the above by following links from the Halifax home page to ISAs then Cash ISAs so the information was hardly hidden.

opinions4u

Or under Savings > Interest Rates > Previous Rates

http://www.halifax.co.uk/savings/interest-rates/personal-rates/previous/

EDIT: Didn't mean to take you to previous rates, but there you go!

cepheus

That's useful. The new ISA doesn't look too bad for a branch account at 2.4% if you include the bonus. Doubt if that is the account though, since it was opened a few months ago. Bet they pushed her into that old stupid 0.1% one!

opinions4u

cepheus wrote: »

That's useful. The new ISA doesn't look too bad for a branch account at 2.4% if you include the bonus. Doubt if that is the account though, since it was opened a few months ago. Bet they pushed her into that old stupid 0.1% one!

There is nothing in the culture of a Halifax branch or the reward and recognition systems within Halifax that would mean they would deliberately push somebody in to an inferior account. Quite the opposite in fact.

If the customer insisted that a passbook was rather important, then a passbook (with the low rate) would no doubt be provided. But I'd hazard a guess that staff would try to talk a customer out of this course of action first.

cepheus

opinions4u wrote: »

There is nothing in the culture of a Halifax branch or the reward and recognition systems within Halifax that would mean they would deliberately push somebody in to an inferior account. Quite the opposite in fact.

If the customer insisted that a passbook was rather important, then a passbook (with the low rate) would no doubt be provided. But I'd hazard a guess that staff would try to talk a customer out of this course of action first.

I recall being in a branch with my Mother when I openly suggested she change from her liquid gold account. The staff quickly 'explained' to me how older people prefer passbooks because they are easier to read, which was enough to convince her. The passbook constantly baffles me due to lack of details, so hope she can understand it better than me.

A few years ago I managed to convince her to move an ISA to a postal account at a few percent rather than languishing at 0.1%, but only because I virtually interrogated the staff to find out what non branch accounts they had.

The problem is that most banks don't print the interest rate clearly, or actively promote new accounts to present customers.

Old_Wrinkly

opinions4u wrote: »

Or under Savings > Interest Rates > Previous Rates

http://www.halifax.co.uk/savings/interest-rates/personal-rates/previous/

EDIT: Didn't mean to take you to previous rates, but there you go!

That's where we have to look of course for the current rates for our current ISA Direct Reward (Issue 4) accounts at 3.0% (+0.2% Reward) ...

MoneySaverLog

cepheus wrote: »

I recall being in a branch with my Mother when I openly suggested she change from her liquid gold account. The staff quickly 'explained' to me how older people prefer passbooks because they are easier to read, which was enough to convince her. The passbook constantly baffles me due to lack of details, so hope she can understand it better than me.

A few years ago I managed to convince her to move an ISA to a postal account at a few percent rather than languishing at 0.1%, but only because I virtually interrogated the staff to find out what non branch accounts they had.

The problem is that most banks don't print the interest rate clearly, or actively promote new accounts to present customers.

Why can the banks / building societies not offer high rate passbook accounts I don't know, the only option seems to be online / phone or post. I must admit I like passbook accounts but find their rates are always low.

cepheus

MoneySaverLog wrote: »

Why can the banks / building societies not offer high rate passbook accounts I don't know, the only option seems to be online / phone or post. I must admit I like passbook accounts but find their rates are always low.

Simply because it helps their profits, why pay people more if they don't threaten to move? Banks serve shareholders and their execs, not customers

They know traditional customers, typically older ones will infrequently, move, ask, or change to a postal or Internet account. It is indirect discrimination against the ignorant, old and poor, but nothing new there.

JuicyJesus

MoneySaverLog wrote: »

Why can the banks / building societies not offer high rate passbook accounts I don't know, the only option seems to be online / phone or post. I must admit I like passbook accounts but find their rates are always low.

Passbook accounts are expensive to operate. They require specialised systems to be installed and maintained in branches (note that these ongoing costs are not nil by any stretch), physical passbooks need to be printed and issued in bulk, the way the accounts are structured essentially mandates the use of cash (which is expensive to store, insure and process) and indeed requires a branch network to exist at all, which is also expensive. Postal or internet accounts, on the other hand, can be maintained and serviced from a single building at very low cost, with any withdrawals effected by comparatively cheap electronic methods. These savings are passed on to the customer in the form of a higher rate.

cepheus wrote: »

Simply because it helps their profits, why pay people more if they don't threaten to move? Banks serve shareholders and their execs, not customers

They know traditional customers, typically older ones will infrequently, move, ask, or change to a postal or Internet account. It is indirect discrimination against the ignorant, old and poor, but nothing new there.

If you choose an expensive method of banking, you will find the costs are passed on to you one way or another. Similarly to how paying paper electricity or phone bills by cheque will lead to you paying more than if you paid online bills by Direct Debit. Put simply, it costs more.

This is of course moot in many cases, as most banks ceased providing passbooks a long time ago.

cepheus

JuicyJesus wrote: »

Passbook accounts are expensive to operate. They require specialised systems to be installed and maintained in branches (note that these ongoing costs are not nil by any stretch), physical passbooks need to be printed and issued in bulk, the way the accounts are structured essentially mandates the use of cash (which is expensive to store, insure and process) and indeed requires a branch network to exist at all, which is also expensive. Postal or internet accounts, on the other hand, can be maintained and serviced from a single building at very low cost, with any withdrawals effected by comparatively cheap electronic methods. These savings are passed on to the customer in the form of a higher rate.

If you choose an expensive method of banking, you will find the costs are passed on to you one way or another. Similarly to how paying paper electricity or phone bills by cheque will lead to you paying more than if you paid online bills by Direct Debit. Put simply, it costs more.

With interest rates low and savings rates low on all accounts, I suppose they have a good excuse for low interest nowadays. Back in 2003 I don't think this was the case though, here are the same rival arguments by vested interests then.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/savings/2862553/Halifax-Gold-fools-savers-says-rival.html

My feeling is that people will passbooks have never been encouraged to move to postal or telephone paying accounts, so I remain sceptical.

I am all in favour of the interest rate, and the real rate of interest relative to inflation, being prominently displayed on each balance, it would overcome the inertia and introduce intense competition!