Anyone had their interest from Halifax yet?

scottishgirl87

Sorry, I'm not really clued up on ISAs but I have a Cash ISA with Halifax which I opened just before the end of the 2010/2011 financial year. I received a letter a week or 2 ago saying I would be credited my interest on the 31st March and then my account would revert to an ISA Saver Direct (can't remember what account was originally called).

Anyway, I've now binned the letter as it was really just a for your information later and noted down the 31st March as the day to expect any interest. Little confused as I haven't had any interest credited yet?

Was 31st March just a mistake and it'll actually appear once the financial year ends?

VoucherMan

Just had a look at my statement. Had (some?) interest credited yesterday.
I say some because I've often had further interest added on 5th April.

aidso

Yeah I had mine credited yesterday too

[Deleted User]

I had my interest paid yesterday and I notice my interest rate my has dropped from 3% to 0.5%... time to go into town and open up my Santander account

aidso

slipd wrote: »

I had my interest paid yesterday and I notice my interest rate my has dropped from 3% to 0.5%... time to go into town and open up my Santander account

Haha I was thinking the same thing. Now if only I could remember my Santander password

DragonQ

No interest yet. I'm expecting the full 3.2% on 05/04/2012 cos my first attempt (of many) to upgrade to the Direct ISA Reward 4 was on 05/04/2011.

It had better appear on this date or the day after because I can't transfer it all to a new 3.3% account until I know Halifax have the interest correct!

chipp

I kept the paperwork from my Halifax ISA that I opened last year. The account was due 3% for the first year, with an extra 0.2% for Reward customers. This is what it says about the 0.2% extra "reward":

"To qualify for Halifax rewards just pay £1000 or more each calendar month into your current account with us or hold an Ultimate Reward Current Account".

So it's nothing to do with how long the ISA stays open (there are no penalties for withdrawals, early closure or transferring out), it's to do with having a current account with them (and one would assume keeping that open for the time you have the ISA with them).

The reward scheme has been discontinued, presumably they (and their customers!) found it too complicated.

Mandelbrot

chipp wrote: »

I kept the paperwork from my Halifax ISA that I opened last year. The account was due 3% for the first year, with an extra 0.2% for Reward customers. This is what it says about the 0.2% extra "reward":

"To qualify for Halifax rewards just pay £1000 or more each calendar month into your current account with us or hold an Ultimate Reward Current Account".

So it's nothing to do with how long the ISA stays open (there are no penalties for withdrawals, early closure or transferring out), it's to do with having a current account with them (and one would assume keeping that open for the time you have the ISA with them).

The reward scheme has been discontinued, presumably they (and their customers!) found it too complicated.

From the Terms & Conditions :
"The extra 0.2% AER fixed will be applied to all your qualifying savings accounts after 12 months.
If you close a qualifying savings account during the 12 month period, you won't receive any of the additional 0.2% AER fixed on that account."

aidso

So are we saying the 0.2% is paid as an additional lodgement?

DemiDee

slipd wrote: »

I had my interest paid yesterday and I notice my interest rate my has dropped from 3% to 0.5%... time to go into town and open up my Santander account

It's only very recently dropped to 0.5%. You can simply switch over to their replacement variable, again at 3% and unlikely to go down within the next year. This is what I've just done. I know there are better rates out there but wanted to save the time and hassle. They will switch it for you and you don't have to do a thing.

chipp

Thanks Mandelbrot, it does say this in the T&Cs and I hadn't previously spotted it.

When my Halifax ISA was nearing the end of its year (they sent me a letter giving 16th March as the date my interest rate would drop) I rang them because I wasn't clear whether I had to keep it open for the year to get the extra 0.2%. I was told I would get this extra 0.2% even if it was transferred out early, so I thanked them for the info and on 7th March went to a competitor and initiated the transfer. While the transfer was taking place I got a letter dated 7th March telling me that the reward period had finished and advising me of the additional interest which would be lumped in with the standard interest at my next interest payment date. Perhaps this 7th March letter was triggered by another bank's request for funds, perhaps it was because 7th March was my original 2011 application date, I doubt the Halifax could tell me!

When the account was closed on 16th March (on transfer) the interest applied to the account seemed to be roughly right for 3.2% (static balance so fairly easy to calculate). Had it not been I'd have been after compensation (after all calls are recorded etc etc).

So I'm still none the wiser as to whether Halifax need the account to be kept open for a year or not in order to get the extra interest, and Halifax's own correspondence is confusing (two letters giving different dates for the end of my first year) but for once I don't seem to have been disadvantaged!