halifax reward account please help

sjh101

Sorry to keep banging on about this as I know there are about a million posts on this. My plan is to open one of these reward accounts with Halifax but in doing so I needed to set up a direct debit. I have done this into a savings account with tesco paying in £5 each month. As I was setting up it said the earliest the direct debit could start is 11th June. Bearing this in mind, when should I apply for the Halifax account? Could I apply now with the knowledge that one will be available on 11th June or would I need to wait until it is up and running before I apply for Halifax? ...............afterall, on their website it does say 2 ACTIVE direct debits.

Also, I am aware you don't need an income from salary to open this account as long as money goes into the account. My plan was to pay £200 a month into the account from another account and that would be all. That obviously doesn't reach the £750 needed to qualify for the £5 monthly reward. Now someone on here said I would be able to put £200 in take it back out straight away, put it back in............basically do this 4 times so £800 goes in and I then qualify for £5. Obviously not going into overdraft at the same time.

If someone could get back to me regarding these two points I would be very grateful.

Thanks

innovate

sjh101 wrote: »

..... I have done this into a savings account with tesco paying in £5 each month. ....

Confused.

What are you paying from where into what savings account?

sjh101 wrote: »

My plan was to pay £200 a month into the account from another account and that would be all. That obviously doesn't reach the £750 needed to qualify for the £5 monthly reward. Now someone on here said I would be able to put £200 in take it back out straight away, put it back in............basically do this 4 times so £800 goes in and I then qualify for £5.

If you pay in [to your Halifax Reward account] a total of £750 a month, and also have 2 monthly Direct Debits going out of the [Halifax Reward] account, you stand a fair chance of getting the fiver a month.

Gromitt

Since the DDs need to be with Halifax, how are you going to setup the DDs before opening the Halifax account?

sjh101

Inovate......yeah I didn't make it very clear. Basically I currently have one direct debit going out of my (now) current account, and obviously needing two to open the Halifax account I have set up a second direct debit to pay £5 a month into a Tesco savings account......once I apply to switch from my (now) current account to the Halifax account using the Halifax switching service it should qualify me to succsessfully open and run the account. I'm just not sure whether I need to wait until 11th of june (when the tesco direct debit starts) before I can apply for the Halifax account or whether I can apply now (maybe halifax would be able to see that there is a direct debit waiting to start???? Not sure

Gromit.......the direct debits from the account I have currently get switched along with any other outgoings etc once I am accepted by Halifax. Basically Halifax switch everything for me.

psychic_teabag

You'll need to check with Halifax, but I imagine they'll give you some time to get the DDs set up. Worst case, you miss the £5 on the first month if two payments don't go out, but since it's per calendar month, opening at the start of the month should give you plenty of time to get the DDs set up.

If you have a "spare" current account, perhaps you could set up your two DDs on that, then use Halifax' switching service to move them, netting the £100 bonus. Or maybe that's what you are planning, since you are talking about setting up the DDs before applying to Halifax.

sjh101

Thanks Teabag.........yeah the plan is to have 2 direct debits already set up on the account I'm currently using (but will be spare) and then use the Halifax switching facility to move them over

But like I said previously, I already have one but I'm waiting for the otherone to get up and running.

I might just apply in the next day or so regardless of the 2nd direct debit not starting until 11th June.

LydiaJ

Just to add to what innovate said about yes, it's OK to take money out and put it back in...

A while ago I had a Santandr account (predecessor of the 123) that needed to be funded by some amount (£500 or £1000 or something) and one month I realised I was going to be £100 short because of changing the dates of some things. I realised on the last day of the month when it was too late to do anything online (in the days before FP) So I went to the branch, took £100 out of the cashpoint, walked into the branch and paid the same notes back in over the counter. It counted, and I got my interest that month.

Jharkinton

sjh101 wrote: »

I have set up a second direct debit to pay £5 a month into a Tesco savings account......

Sounds more like a standing order to me? Do Standing Orders count?

innovate

Jharkinton wrote: »

Sounds more like a standing order to me? Do Standing Orders count?

It is not a standing order, it is a direct debit.