What's Halifax Online Banking like?

snowleopard61

I've got used to online banking in recent years and much prefer it. My main account is now with First Direct, so I rarely go into any bank branch at all. I'm very tempted by the Halifax £100 for joining, which would unfortunately require me to close my First Direct account (I can't think of any other realistic way round it. I do still have my Natwest current account open; however I don't think Halifax would accept this for closure instead because almost everything goes into/out of the FD account).

Taking the 'virtual tour' of Halifax Online Banking, it looks as if you can only see a mini-statement with a few recent transactions rather than everything that's happened to your account for months. Something I do very regularly (every few days) is to look back over the last three months and compare my balance with the same point in each month, to see whether I'm doing better or worse. It looks as if this wouldn't be possible with the Halifax. Can anyone throw any light on this?

Many thanks.

YorkshireBoy

snowleopard61 wrote: »

I do still have my Natwest current account open; however I don't think Halifax would accept this for closure instead because almost everything goes into/out of the FD account).

Yes they would. As an existing Halifax bank account customer I simply set up 2 monthly standing orders on a dormant account held elsewhere and asked them to switch these. I let Halifax pay them twice and then cancelled them. If you switch in branch they (at least used to) give you the £100 there and then.

Taking the 'virtual tour' of Halifax Online Banking, it looks as if you can only see a mini-statement with a few recent transactions rather than everything that's happened to your account for months. Something I do very regularly (every few days) is to look back over the last three months and compare my balance with the same point in each month, to see whether I'm doing better or worse. It looks as if this wouldn't be possible with the Halifax. Can anyone throw any light on this?

You can go back "months" if you want. It's my 'hub' account and also my main bills account, and I have no complaints about their online banking facility.

innovate

Halifax' online banking (which is the same as Lloyds, BOS and TSB online banking) is lightyears ahead of First Direct's.

Cycrow

I simply opened a new account, setup the 2 direct debits i wanted to use and then switched. The new account was open less than a month

innovate

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

Yes they would. As an existing Halifax bank account customer I simply set up 2 monthly standing orders on a dormant account held elsewhere and asked them to switch these. I let Halifax pay them twice and then cancelled them. If you switch in branch they (at least used to) give you the £100 there and then.

I agree. Don't even mention the First Direct account to Halifax.

YorkshireBoy

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

Yes they would. As an existing Halifax bank account customer I simply set up 2 monthly standing orders on a dormant account held elsewhere and asked them to switch these. I let Halifax pay them twice and then cancelled them. If you switch in branch they (at least used to) give you the £100 there and then.

Just to add to my earlier post, I had the dormant account provider pay these once before initiating the switch...just in case they were flagged in some way. Only delayed the switch by a few days, but I had to wait for a branch appointment anyway so no big deal.

snowleopard61

That's very helpful to know - both the fact that their online banking is OK and, even more usefully, that I may be able to avoid switching the account I am happy with.

It would be feasible to do the minimum as described by Yorkshire Boy, as I already have one small credit in the Natwest account each month, out of which I could set up a couple of standing orders. But would they really not ask questions about where my salary is and so on?

snowleopard61

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

I had to wait for a branch appointment anyway so no big deal.

Sorry, only just noticed this. Does this mean I would have to see someone face to face to set up the Halifax account? I'm not sure how it would go if they asked me a lot of questions, as their whole system is obviously designed to avoid people opening the account purely for the incentive and then not using it.

YorkshireBoy

snowleopard61 wrote: »

But would they really not ask questions about where my salary is and so on?

No, but if they do, just tell them you'll re-direct that yourself shortly.

YorkshireBoy

snowleopard61 wrote: »

Sorry, only just noticed this. Does this mean I would have to see someone face to face to set up the Halifax account? I'm not sure how it would go if they asked me a lot of questions, as their whole system is obviously designed to avoid people opening the account purely for the incentive and then not using it.

No you can do it online or over the phone.


I did it in branch because I wanted to check if I had any pre-approved offers on my account and also re-check my internal rating with them...something they'll often tell you or even show you by swivelling the screen round!


Plus the added bonus was payment of the £100 there and then (others on here have reported having to wait and chase them up when switching online).

snowleopard61

OK. Thank you very much! Think I shall go ahead with it then.