Halifax Saver Prize Draw - is it worth it?

MoneySaverLog

2010 wrote: »

The Halifax is a "clean rate" for a year, a 2.7% BONUS is clearly crap, which says a lot for the Halifax.

What's carp is the base rates, we have to get this to increase to get any decent interest on savings.

The government and Bank of England seem hell bent on keeping base rates low whatever the cost.

Basically this whole situation is going from bad to worse for anyone trying to save money with no end to this mess in sight.

2010

innovate wrote: »

I don't want to hack this one to death

YAWN,

It seems you go out of your way to hack all replies to death.

The Halifax is a "clean rate" for a year, a 2.7% BONUS is clearly crap, which says a lot for the Halifax.
I would usually interpret a bonus as being an extra to the main amount of anything, not the bigger amount.
They of course are relying on apathy/inertia when the year is up.

Credit cardS are of course useful, as long as you pay them off each month, but at the end of the day, cash is and will always be king.

You can have property, goods, jewelry, etc., but if you need cash, you have to sell these things, which can`t be done at the drop of a hat and you don`t get their true value, simply because you are a seller.

If you wouldn`t give anyone £11.5k for a car,(maybe you would rather be ripped of with finance) you don`t get the car and yes, believe it or not, new car sales are UP.

As J.Callaghan once said, recession? what recession?

2010

MoneySaverLog wrote: »

What's carp is the base rates, we have to get this to increase to get any decent interest on savings.

The government and Bank of England seem hell bent on keeping base rates low whatever the cost.

Basically this whole situation is going from bad to worse for anyone trying to save money with no end to this mess in sight.

There may be an end in sight in 2017 according to the "experts".

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/news/article-1607881/Interest-rates-News-predictions.html

namecheck

innovate wrote: »

We never see any big lottery or Premium Bond winners here....may be those people don't want to brag, or are afraid of being shot down in flames and getting accused of making it up, afraid of other people knowing they came into some money, or simply don't frequent MSE.

Who knows.

If you can't hold the suspense:

Yes, that's true. However, the Halifax Prize Draw is specifically for people who have enough £s in a relevant account.

Few posters "know" any others and I wouldn't have thought bragging etc would come into it. After all, there have been posters whose pensions are a lot more than many people of working age earn, others who have inherited substantial amounts of money, etc etc.

As no one has admitted to winning more than £100 I am still curious as to where the "big money" winners are. (Thanks for the Halifax link to the winners list).

Although I take the point that they may not wish to rush to MSE with the news. Still, we've not even had reports of a "neighbour", "friend", or "relative" winning more than £100.

opinions4u

The Halifax is a "clean rate" for a year, a 2.7% BONUS is clearly crap, which says a lot for the Halifax.

I prefer a high fixed bonus to a traditional variable rate that will gradually reduce in value.

1) It gives a guaranteed minimum interest rate for a guaranteed period of time. The rate on this account cannot go below 2.70%. That is better than a completely variable rate where the provider will cut rates as they please.

2) Halifax write to me a couple of weeks before the bonus drops off to remind me to sort out a suitable replacement.

MoneySaverLog

2010 wrote: »

There may be an end in sight in 2017 according to the "experts".

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/news/article-1607881/Interest-rates-News-predictions.html

If you call 0.25% a increase by 2017 yes, what's needed is something like 5% not 0.5%

Gromitt

2010 wrote: »

If you wouldn`t give anyone £11.5k for a car,(maybe you would rather be ripped of with finance) you don`t get the car and yes, believe it or not, new car sales are UP.

Last time I bought a car, I was told it was no difference. I could either pay £20K cash or pay £5K and have the rest on 0% finance. I might have got a few extra hundred quid by intensive haggling, but they were not that interested as they regularly had no stock of the particular one I wanted (had visited several times previously to no avail). So I paid my £5K and put the £15K in a 3.17% savings account for 3 years.

brewerdave

2010 wrote: »

I would expect to have heard somewhere that quite a few £100k prizes had been won.
I would have thought it would be good publicity for the Halifax to announce them, even if they only said "Mr X from Newcastle" won the June £100k.

Maybe we will hear about their £250k winners.

http://www.halifax.co.uk/savings/savers-prize-draw/

Not being TOO cynical but .......I would suspect that there are a lot of fixed rate accounts maturing between now and November ...and they are desperate to get the "roll over" business...and since they can't/won't compete on rates...higher prizes????:rotfl:

jonmcclelland

The online saver from Halifax has been around for almost a year now. I'm surprised the 2.8% rate is still here. If so, I can imagine it changing soon. I can imagine them touting the December prize draw to people, keep the rates the same for a while then lower them around the end of October for the full month of November, for the new-customers/late comers.

I went into Halifax recently and the cashier was really pushing the idea of the 'reward saving' account to me, which only has a rate of 2.50% (4 withdrawals per year). It's redundant to me considering I have their online saver option.



That being said, I've had valid funds in my halifax accounts since the launch of the savers draw and not won a penny. Think of it as a bonus to saving and be happy with it being 3rd or 4th in a best-buy table with excellent convenience, not as a carrot to get you to save there.

msauk

To my knowledge, premium bond prizes are tax free. You do not need to tell HMRC about any winnings.

Halifax's savings prize draw terms and conditions do not state anything similar (or, at least, 'tax' is not mentioned). I assume therefore that a win (if one ever happens...) would be subject to tax. Anyone disagree?