ISAs with fixed 12 month bonus

househunter78

Sorry if these are daft questions, but I'm confused...

I'm thinking of tranferring my current Halifax ISA to the Halifax ISA online saver which is 3% interest. 2.75% of that is a fixed 12 month bonus. When I phoned up to enquire I was told that interest would be paid on the anniversary of opening account but the info online says 5 april. As this is less than 12 months away, would I get the 2.75% 12 month fixed bonus? Or would I have to wait until the following year?

Also, if I added more money to the new ISA via a ISA transfer after the new ISA has been opened a week or so, would I still get 2.75% fixed bonus on the transferred money? The ISA transfer money would have been in the new ISA less than 12 months when I get the interest paid whether its 5 April or the anniversary of the account opening.

Thanks for any advice

psychic_teabag

Just FYI you can change the type of your Halifax ISA using an online form - http://www.halifax.co.uk/savings/accounts/cash-isas/ISAoptions/
Takes a couple of days. Or you can probably phone them if you prefer.

Don't worry too much about exactly when the interest is paid. Some accounts pay monthly, some on the opening anniversary, some on a fixed day of the year. You will earn interest at the bonus rate for a year (or whatever is promised). When you close (or transfer out) the account, any pending interest earned but not yet credited will be paid. So you don't need to keep the account open until some arbitrary day of their choosing.

I would generally believe information on the web page over anything you are told over the phone : staff probably have several accounts to worry about, and may get confused. It's not impossible for information online to be wrong, but that's more likely to be spotted and corrected than misc. customers being told wrong info by a confused staff member. And if you don't get what you expected, there's more chance you'll get your complaint upheld if it doesn't match the web page, than on what you (think or claim) you heard on the phone, unless they find a recording of the conversion or something.


(Sometimes, the bonus is paid only if the account is still open on the anniversary date, but that's relatively rare. Just need to read the account T&C to check.)

You will receive the full interest (inc. bonus) on all money in the account, whether it was already there, added by transfer or added as new subscription.

EDIT: To clarify, the interest you receive will be pro-rata based on how long the money was in the account - it is usually calculated daily based on the balance. You can't add £1000 pounds in the last week of the account and expect to receive £30 interest for it. All your money will earn interest at a rate of 3% pa (ie 0.0082% per day)

househunter78

Thanks, that's really helpful.