Halifax £5 per month current account

MoneySaverLog

Not unless they ask you for it. I had to go into branch to get it opened and they took driving license and passport as proof of ID.

MoneySaverLog

Cypherite wrote: »

I'm a bit confused.

With the Lloyds Vantage (3%) you can earn up to £148 a year yet with the First Direct Regular Savings Account at 8% you only earn £124.

Cause with Vantage you have to put £5,000 into the account from the start and cycle £1,000 through it every month to get that interest.

With the regular savers you cannot put a lump sum in and can only start saving with £250 or £300 max a month per account and have to build up the balance so at the end you only have £3000 or £3600 respectively but for the vast majority of the time you're building up to the big balance at the end so only earning interest on what's in there over time.

amictus

Gromitt wrote: »

I believe so, otherwise its an inactive account, but you have 6 months from the date your current account was opened to do so.

OK I'd better add £1 to the saving account then. Thanks for the reply.

guitarman001

I just got off the phone with First Direct and they said:

a) Internet banking takes a couple of days to get up and running (mine isn't up after one day).

b) You wont get charged £10 per month if you have a qualifying product such as the e-saver. I did say if I should put money in it but the person said I just need to have the account. Perhaps that's wrong, perhaps right... I'll put £1 in just in case!

guitarman001

Just got my Halifax joining letter which states that you need to put in £1000 each month to get the free £5, NOT £500 as I thought....!? I'll need to check as I SHOULD be able to put £1k in then £1k out on the same day.
I guess the only bummer about this is... I want to give it 3 or so days to clear. So if I put £1k into Halifax from lloyds, I'll wait 3 days until transferring back to Lloyds again. If total transfer time takes 6 days (just assuming) then that's 6 days of not getting interest on that £1k in the Lloyds account.

Gromitt

TSB to Halifax is a transfer, not a payment, so its instant, as its on the exact same system. No need to leave it days to 'clear'.

6 days missing out of your TSB account is about 40p in interest.

guitarman001

Oh!!

So I can set up a standing order from lloyds to Halifax for £1k... then a standing order from Halifax back to Lloyds on the SAME day and everything will be fine and dandy? Are you saying if I sent the £1k from lloyds to Hlifax at 1pm then I would see it on the Halifax system just minutes later? My worry here is that Halifax tries to send money back to Lloyds when there is no money yet in the account...

bob792

No, you can't do this.

To send a direct debit or standing order, the money has to be in your account by close of play on the previous day. To do a 2 way transfer, you have to take account of working days and non-working days as standing orders only take place on working days. So a 2 way standing order between Lloyds and Halifax needs a buffer of a few days when you are losing interest.

The easiest way I have found to fund the Halifax fivers is to login to Lloyds any time after midnight on the 1st working day of the month and transfer £1000 to Halifax. Then login to Halifax and transfer £1005 back. The transfers are instant and internal so don't even need need to touch the faster payments system.

If there's an easier way to do this, I'm open to suggestions.

Gromitt

guitarman001 wrote: »

Are you saying if I sent the £1k from lloyds to Hlifax at 1pm then I would see it on the Halifax system just minutes later?

It'll be sooner than "minutes later". I'd be surprised if it took more than 10 seconds at any time.

If you did it manually, you could have the 1K in and out again within a few minutes. However, if you want it automatic, then it'll take days, and if the days happen to fall on a non-working day, you could be taking money out before its been deposited, causing charges.

So what I do is when I get paid I move 1K across, and then back again. A minute is all it takes - well worth the £5 reward.

claire07

I've been doing the Vantage and Halifax switching every month for the extra £5 and got indignant when the June payment didn't arrive. On checking found I'd totally forgotten to do it even though I keep a reminder!

However in May I'd become obsessed with getting my Halifax Clarity Credit payments over the £300 needed for the £5 yet missed out on the easy one. Beginning to think these Halifax payments can play havoc with an obsessive!