Halifax £5 per month current account

guitarman001

OK, here goes.

I currently have 3 Lloyds Vantage accounts so £15k stored in there which I get near 3% on each month.

With the Halifax current account I don't need to switch my salary going into that new account, right? And all I have to do is swipe £1k in and out within minutes, once a month, in order to get the £5? Can I have more than one account?

Thanks in advance... any other good tips in general? I've seen the FirstDirect 8% touted but at only £300 per month you can put in, not too keen on that.

Thanks in advance!

Gromitt

guitarman001 wrote: »

I currently have 3 Lloyds Vantage accounts so £15k stored in there which I get near 3% on each month.

A savings account will give you 3.17% each month, so the Vantage really isn't worth much considering you have to put in 1K into each account every month to get it.

guitarman001 wrote: »

With the Halifax current account I don't need to switch my salary going into that new account, right? And all I have to do is swipe £1k in and out within minutes, once a month, in order to get the £5?

Exactly. They also do a decent 2.8% savings account if you want an instant access savings account.

guitarman001 wrote: »

Can I have more than one account?

Not any more. They closed that loophole a while ago.

guitarman001 wrote: »

Thanks in advance... any other good tips in general? I've seen the FirstDirect 8% touted but at only £300 per month you can put in, not too keen on that.

£155/year on £3600, can you beat that with your savings accounts?

guitarman001

I don't actually have a savings account! I thought the Lloyds account was good... ~3% is the same as most savings accounts nowadays and it's easy access... am I missing something?

OK, so the FirstDirect rate is good... but only for one year? Seems like a lot of trouble for not much. Might have to just do it, though.

I don't pay into ISAs, I'd rather pay a mortgage off at some point.

I lost a LOT of money (close to half net wealth) in gold miner shares and it's really scared me. Trying everything to claw back money.

bob792

Set up payees in one of your Lloyds accounts to Halifax and vice versa.

Log in to Lloyds any time after midnight on the first working day of the month and transfer £1000 to Halifax. Log into Halifax , transfer £1005 back to Lloyds. Job done, money transfers instantly - it doesn't even need to touch the faster payments system as it is an internal transfer.

You don't need to do anything else with the Halifax account to get the fivers. I leave £1 in for luck, but it would probably work with a nil balance. I haven't tried to open a 2nd Halifax account so don't know whether that would work.

guitarman001

I don't feel bad for doing this as the banks game us all the time. Does it just help their balance sheets - i.e. it LOOKS like our money is there for the month even when in reality it isn't?

In any case, it's a good one to do. I assume apart from that there are n't similar deals..!

Yorkie1

FD usually let you open up a new saver account when the 1 year comes to an end.

The_pc_tech

To get a First Direct ISA you have to have one of their current accounts, called the 1st Account which you have to pay at least £1500 into or you get charged £10 unless you also apply for one of their esaver savings accounts.

I have one of the Halifax Reward ones which I use as a bill account, my main account is with FD who are by far the best bank I've used, they are always very helpful.

As has been said, just close the account after a year and open a new one.

guitarman001

OK so.... so far I have 3 Lloyds Vantage.
Just opened the Halifax account and waiting for docs to arrive.

Just looking at FirstDirect now... so you can close the account after a year and open a new one to get the 8% again!? Do you need to KEEP the £1500 in the account each month, or is it a switch job like for the Halifax account?

Might look at 2-year deals...

How about company bonds? Actually, they're usually for 5+ years, right?

The_pc_tech

Pass on that one.

Depends on the company,

YorkshireBoy

guitarman001 wrote: »

I don't pay into ISAs, I'd rather pay a mortgage off at some point.

Well choosing to pay tax on your £15K Vantage money, rather than putting it in a cash ISA, is costing you around £90 a year. That's 1.5 times the cash you'll get from Halifax's free fivers over the same period.

Trying everything to claw back money.

Hmmm...don't think so. See above!

guitarman001

I don't understand.

I'll get £5 net each month. That £5 isn't getting taxed... If I put £5 into an ISA, what's the benefit? I thought the whole point was that ISA monies don't get taxed so when in retirement you have this stash the taxman can't get at. But if I want to pay down big debts (mortgage) first, why not just keep the £5 in a regular account if it's not getting taxed anyway? (All this assume the NET interest rate on a current account is the same as the gross rate in an ISA)

Maybe I'm just not getting it...



EDIT - with 1stDirect do I have to switch my income from my company to the FirstDirect account? I'd rather keep it just going into my Lloyds accounts.
EDIT2 - doesn't look like it. They're asking for my current bank details? Ugh!