Transferring between Halifax and Santander

4$£&*(£$&*(!

Hi, I am trying to get my head around a couple of bits so if anyone can help I would really appreciate this.

I currently have the Halifax Reward ISA at 3% but as it is a reward account it pays 0.2% extra. I think I understand to get the extra 0.2% I must keep the account open until the 12 month anniversary is up which will be on 6 April.

After 6 April the account plummets to under 1% so I want to transfer across to Santander's account paying 3.3%. I doubt the offer will be open that long so I want to apply tomorrow when the account is available to apply online, it is playing on my mind the Santander offer is brilliant and not likely to stick around.

Here's the bits I need to know. Firstly can I write on my ISA transfer form via Santander once forwarded to Halifax they are not to process the instruction until after 7 April?

Secondly if I use the transfer to be the opening funding for the Santander account, will the one year bonus be applicable from the date I apply or the date the transfer is completed?

Does anyone have any other general advice for me? The 0.2% interest is worth about £30 roughly, but for every day the money is sitting in the Halifax account after 6 April I'll be losing well over £1 per day.

McKneff

The general consensus is Santander are the most useless incompetent bunch of bankers and after personal and my daughters experiences with them I wouldnt touch them with a barge pole.

See what Halifax have to offer first.

4$£&*(£$&*(!

Thanks, and I have also had experience of them messing up my OH's affairs in the past, saying that the ISA they are offering is worth £60 more per year to me than the next best deal on the market so I'm prepared for a little hassle for a better interest rate.

McKneff

I can only go by personal experience and to be honest, I wouldnt give them my business for the sale of around £1 a week but its personal choice really.

4$£&*(£$&*(!

Fair play, but it's worth £1 per day rather than per week, I get where you're coming from but I do want to go ahead.

Can anyone else help please?

rb10

CitySlicker wrote: »

Here's the bits I need to know. Firstly can I write on my ISA transfer form via Santander once forwarded to Halifax they are not to process the instruction until after 7 April?

Yes, you can. Most ISA transfer forms have a space specifically for this.

Re the above comments around Santander's service levels, they have improved significantly in recent months. In fact, both Barclays and Natwest receive more complaints per 1,000 customers than Santander does.

McKneff

In post 3 you said £60 per year which is where I got my 'just over £1 a week' from.

intalex

CitySlicker wrote: »

I think I understand to get the extra 0.2% I must keep the account open until the 12 month anniversary is up which will be on 6 April.

I'm in the same boat, and was also wondering if this is true. Do you remember if this was stated anywhere (e.g. link to t&c's)?

I've already opened the Santander 2 year fixed ISA (through upgrading a Flexible ISA which had my full 2011/12 allowance), and was hoping to transfer my prior years' ISA from the Halifax Reward ISA to this new one, but now wondering if I should hold off sending the transfer form until the anniversary of the Halifax account (which is in a week).

4$£&*(£$&*(!

McKneff wrote: »

In post 3 you said £60 per year which is where I got my 'just over £1 a week' from.

My apologies, I misunderstood where you was coming from.

4$£&*(£$&*(!

rb10 wrote: »

Yes, you can. Most ISA transfer forms have a space specifically for this.

Re the above comments around Santander's service levels, they have improved significantly in recent months. In fact, both Barclays and Natwest receive more complaints per 1,000 customers than Santander does.

Thanks. This appears to be Santander's transfer form:

http://www.santander.co.uk/csgs/Satellite?appID=abbey.internet.Abbeycom&c=DocumentoGS&cid=1237862506832&leng=en_GB&pagename=Abbeycom%2FDocumentoGS%2FDocumentoGSPreview

How would you fill this in with my scenario? I would be tempted myself to write on a date with a little explanatory note but there's no guarantee they will pay any attention to that.

What I would really like to do is transfer everything but £1 out of the Halifax account, then that is left open, but I have contributed during this tax year and transferred in from previous tax years also - would Halifax allow this? (I am guessing I need to make a phone call to them for that answer).

Vortigern

CitySlicker wrote: »

Does anyone have any other general advice for me? The 0.2% interest is worth about £30 roughly, but for every day the money is sitting in the Halifax account after 6 April I'll be losing well over £1 per day.

Santander's transfer form does NOT have a field to specify a future date for your transfer. It has a tick box to indicate that you want to wait to avoid a penalty for early closure of your existing ISA. I expect that this means an actual penalty rather than a loss of bonus.

If 0.2% is worth £30, you must have more than one years allowance in the Halifax. What I suggest you do is say NO I do not want to close my current ISA, Say YES I have paid money in to this ISA in the current year. Say YES I want to transfer current year subs - and in the box provided specify how much cash to transfer. The amount you specify should be the present balance in your Halifax ISA minus one pound. Leaving one pound in the Halifax product means that you will qualify for the bonus.

Edit: Say YES and say NO above refer to tick boxes on Santander's ISA transfer form