Help convincing friend to open Halifax Reward Current Account

Andystriker

Hi All,

My boss at work - I'm trying to help him organise his savings etc, and not leave money in a very low paying account.

He does not like internet banking and does not like the hassle of moving money around (not done it much) whereas I will open a new bank account just to get a free cash gift.

He has decided to open a Barnsley net saver (I know not the best instant access rate, but it's a start) after I convinced him its the way forward with his £10,000 if he wants it on call.

Now my next task, is to convince him to open a Halifax Reward account and link it to Barnsley and for the free £5 per month. Move £1,000 back and forth once a month - I've told him how easy it is to do, and I will help and guide, if needed.

But he says he's not sure if he wants the hassle. Not sure about moving money about each month. His wife may get angry if he loses the money etc.,

So as a last chance to convert, can you all help.

This thread is to try and show him that it's very little hassle, and worth doing, because if you good people back me up, he may well do it.

So I'll show him this thread.


He is listening,



Please help me convince him to play the system.

vacheron

I would say the best method would be to help him open the account with the simplest and largest advantage to him (convenience, not financial) first and avoid any discussions about moving money around and between just yet.
In my experience all you have to do first is plant the seed, let them investigate the account themselves, see the convenience and the curiosity and comfort factor will grow quickly.

I used to have a very smart (and IT professional) friend who kept all of his money in his current account. Hand he always used to say "I KNOW it's stupid and I'm losing money but I just like to be able to see how much money I have in one place". It's all about fear of the unknown.

My dad (now 64) never used and would never touch a computer until he got into family history and my mum showed him the benefits of what it could do for him. Now we can't get him off the thing to the stage where I had to build him his own for his birthday so my mum could get back on hers again!

Once he'd got the hang of that the "Hello, Is this thing on?" e-mails started to tentatively appear from him. :rotfl:

InsideInsurance

To be honest, I think that advising your boss on accounts and their personal financial matters is one that will end in tears. TBH there is reasons why financial advisors have to sit a mountain of exams and are heavily audited.

Some will find the £5 a month worthwhile of their efforts in terms of setting up things or remembering to have to do it themselves each month. For others £5 is worth the time/ hassle/ stress etc.

If they simply arent interested in it for whatever reason then leave them be

BugsyBrowne

It's not worth the hassle for a lousy £5 a month cut down on fags or drink for a week and that will save you more then a fiver.

Andystriker

InsideInsurance wrote: »

To be honest, I think that advising your boss on accounts and their personal financial matters is one that will end in tears. TBH there is reasons why financial advisors have to sit a mountain of exams and are heavily audited.

Some will find the £5 a month worthwhile of their efforts in terms of setting up things or remembering to have to do it themselves each month. For others £5 is worth the time/ hassle/ stress etc.

If they simply arent interested in it for whatever reason then leave them be

I can see where you are coming from and you do have a point.

My thought process was,

It is no risk as far as I can tell, (as long as he does not run up a big overdraft at Halifax)

Someone told me about internet banking etc over 10 years ago, and I've made a fair bit of money by rate tarting and moving money around, so I'm grateful to that person.

He asked me about what to do with this £10,000 so I suggested an online instant access account and the Halifax reward.

From my angle, I was asked, so I told him.

At the end of the day, if he does not want to do it, then there won't be anymore pressure from me.

jamesd

His argument that it's not worth the hassle is entirely valid if he values his time more than doing those transactions. The time isn't great so the per-hour benefit is quite high but it's a choice he can make. The value of the £60 a year is relative, depending on other income, tax bracket and such. Assuming higher rate tax it's only £36 a year and he'll have to track how much he gets and declare it to HMRC to pay the extra higher rate tax. Easy enough to see how all of that can be more hassle than it's worth.

He doesn't even need to do the money moving around himself. He can set up standing orders into the account and out of it a week later, say on the 8th of the month in and fifteenth out to avoid bank holidays. Now the time cost is setting it up once and the tax tracking.

I think it's worth him doing it to get a bit more into the money as a tool approach.

InsideInsurance

Andystriker wrote: »

At the end of the day, if he does not want to do it, then there won't be anymore pressure from me.

Can see a future "miss sold" thread coming from him if you did :rotfl:

He asked, you told, he chose to ignore. Really sounds like end of to me, wouldnt try to convince anyone just on rare chance that something goes wrong and he blames you.

xylophone

Does he have a cash ISA?

Andystriker

InsideInsurance wrote: »

Can see a future "miss sold" thread coming from him if you did :rotfl:

Oh !!!!!!. He's doing the Barnsley one so I think I'm past that stage.:eek:

I was just suggesting the Halifax Reward account as well.

It's not my fault your honour:)

Andystriker

xylophone wrote: »

Does he have a cash ISA?

Yes, I believe so.

Gromitt

All I can say is that, wow, your brave. I might bring up certain accounts in conversation, but I would never recommend people to use them. If something ever went wrong with the account (maybe Halifax start charging in the future if you have no DDs connected to the account for example), then I'd get the blame if I recommended it. Same goes for if a transfer of 1K to/from the Halifax account doesn't turn up (unlikely, but possible).

Just tell them about the account, but let them make their own mind up about whether they want it or not, along with the hassle it brings. To some people, the hassle isn't worth the £5/month. To me, it means my mobile phone bill is free (it's £5/month and DD setup on Halifax to pay for it).