Halifax £5 reward account not offered at bos branches anymore

Moneygrabba

Hi, just wondering if anyone has the problems opening the £5 reward account at bos branch. My wife is unable to open the account and has been told that the account is only available in England branches of halifax and not bos branches in Scotland. Even though they are the same banking group and yiu are able to use them to deposir and withdraw from the account. Any help would be greatly appretiated. Thanks in advance.

opinions4u

Not been available in BoS since September 2011.

She can open one online or by phone though. Although if she keeps a £5k balance in the account BoS Vantage would be much better.

dr_adidas01

As others have pointed out its not been available to BOS customers since September 2011.. As BOS use the Lloyds TSB account set up.

I.e. Classic Account, Silver, Gold Account and so on. Though if you add vantage to a classic account and keep a £5k balance in it it would give a better deal than the Halifax Reward Account.

If you still want to open a reward current account, then can she not do it online?

jennifernil

You can transact pretty much any Halifax business at a BOS branch, EXCEPT opening an account.

So if she opens on-line or by phone, most subsequent transactions can take place in the BOS branch.

If there is a problem the branch cannot handle, they will let you use their phone.

Moneygrabba

Thanks for your wealth of information. I was wondering if it was possible to change the account and not re open another. As she has already got a bos account. We don't have a spare 5k but what are the benefits of a vantage? Cheers

dr_adidas01

If you click the link then it will explain all about vantage.

http://www.bankofscotland.co.uk/bankaccounts/vantage/

psychic_teabag

opinions4u wrote: »

Although if she keeps a £5k balance in the account BoS Vantage would be much better.

Not sure about that. They're quite different models. £5k balance in vantage would earn £10 interest per month, after basic tax, which is more than the £5 monthly reward. But with the reward account, you could just keep the £5k in a savings account for the rest of the month, earning around £8 interest in addition to the reward, making you £3 better off in total. (Even if you leave a £1k float in the current account, the interest on the other £4k in the savings account makes it better overall.)

And of course if you can have both a reward account and a vantage account, you get both the reward and the good interest.

opinions4u

psychic_teabag wrote: »

Not sure about that. They're quite different models. £5k balance in vantage would earn £10 interest per month, after basic tax, which is more than the £5 monthly reward. But with the reward account, you could just keep the £5k in a savings account for the rest of the month, earning around £8 interest in addition to the reward, making you £3 better off in total. (Even if you leave a £1k float in the current account, the interest on the other £4k in the savings account makes it better overall.)

And of course if you can have both a reward account and a vantage account, you get both the reward and the good interest.

Reasonable point.

I was merely comparing £5k balance at 3% with £5pm reward.

pinkdalek

Moneygrabba wrote: »

Thanks for your wealth of information. I was wondering if it was possible to change the account and not re open another. As she has already got a bos account. We don't have a spare 5k but what are the benefits of a vantage? Cheers

You would have to open a new account, you are unable to change the exisitng BOS account to any Halifax branded product and vice versa.

You can still service the Halifax branded account in the BOS branches eg. deposits, withdrawals, enquiries.

psychic_teabag

Halifax are currently offering a £100 switching bonus for moving an account to a reward account. I assume you'd qualify for that if they two banks operate separately.

pinkdalek

psychic_teabag wrote: »

Halifax are currently offering a £100 switching bonus for moving an account to a reward account. I assume you'd qualify for that if they two banks operate separately.

No you don't qualify unfortunately. You would if moving from LTSB.

Halifax/BOS have the same banking licence but offer different branded products. Lloyds TSB have a seperate licence which is why you can't transact in any Halifax/BOS branches etc.