MSE News: Halifax axes £5 monthly payments to overdrawn current account holders

Gromitt

I think he's talking about the Halifax High Interest account, which paid 6.2% pre-tax interest on credit balances of up to £2,500 in 2007, but by 2009, it had dropped down to 1%.

I don't remember the interest rate changing if you went into the red however.

Pound

innovate wrote: »

Que? Did you mix up the Halifax Reward with another account?

There was never any interest on the Halifax Reward for the last , at least, 3 years.

What lower interest rate are you referring to?

I took him to mean the £5 reward, which is technically interest. If you go into the red you pay £1 per day which you could imagine is eating into the £5; although technically not.

Trentenders

What's the simplest way to get 2 new direct debits in place? The only ones I have are for credit cards which are set up to a different bank account and I don't really want to change them

rb10

polymaff wrote: »

What MSE SHOULD have done was [...] chase up the Halifax for their ambiguity in stating the eligibility as "pay at least 2 different direct debits". Do they mean "have two DDs setup - even though they may only be activated once in a blue moon"? Do they mean "have at least two direct debits on every monthly statement"? Do they mean "have at least two direct debits every calendar month"?

There's no ambiguity there, it is a simple statement.

Halifax wrote:

To receive the reward payment you will need to:
• Have a minimum of two different direct debit mandates paid from your account each calendar month

i.e. each calendar month, there need to be two direct debit payments going out of your account.

Consumerist

rb10 wrote: »

There's no ambiguity there, it is a simple statement. i.e. each calendar month, there need to be two direct debit payments going out of your account.

I agree there is no ambiguity in the statement. If history is anything to go by, the ambiguity will lie in Halifax's interpretation of their (apparently) simple statement.

someone

How often do people get paper statements for this account? Cant seem to find one within the last 3 months for Tesco

rb10

someone wrote: »

How often do people get paper statements for this account? Cant seem to find one within the last 3 months for Tesco

If you are set up for paper statements, they will default to monthly.

However, if there are not many transactions on the account, some months will be skipped. So it really depends on transaction volume.

derrick

Trentenders wrote: »

What's the simplest way to get 2 new direct debits in place? The only ones I have are for credit cards which are set up to a different bank account and I don't really want to change them

Set up from one or more from this thread:-

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4168667

.

polymaff

rb10, this is a direct quote from the Halifax Website as it was when I posted - and as it is right now:

"From 1st May 2013, the Reward Current Account will only be available to customers who use it as their main bank account. To make sure you are doing this, you'll need to:
- have at least 2 different direct debits set up on the account and
- agree to fund the account with your salary or other credits (minimum £750 per month)."

I note the two per month requuirement further down now, so - fair enough, I put my hands up!

Pound

I'm wondering if they will still offer the account to people taking the pee. Like cycling £750 through it each month and having two direct debits for tiny amounts that go into a savings account.