Halifax £100 Current Account Switch

guntherbuffalo

Hi,

I am considering switching from my Natwest Account to a Halifax Current account as it is offering a £100 reward for the switch, and then £5 a month for every month that you pay in +£750 and pay out two direct debits.

I have never done this before. I have been with Natwest for some time. I was wondering if there is any catch to this? Is there a set amount of time you have to keep paying in £750 a month and doing your direct debits to qualify?

I am certainly able to do this for the next 4 months, but in January I am going travelling, so will have no income for 5 months. They won't make me give back the £120 I will have earned from them from the first month I can't pay the £750 or something will they?

Archi_Bald

The £100 joining incentive is independent of the £750/2 DD requirement, which is only relevant for the reward. If you stop the £750 and/or any of the 2 DDs, they will stop paying you the reward. There is nothing in the T&Cs that suggest they would ask for any money back in your case.

As long as you have some £750ish kicking about in your accounts, it should, however, be quite simple to keep the monthly payments going. You'd just need one other current account, e.g. a TSB PLus, and swap the £750 monthly by SOs between the two accounts. Also you can set up some small DDs yourself, e.g. with Tesco Savers.

guntherbuffalo

That's a nifty idea! I do have another current account that doesn't have a great deal of use at the moment, can you really get away with just setting up a cycle of standing orders with the same £750?

As part of the conditions you also have to set up 2 monthly direct debits also. Could I get away with just doing a direct debit to another account and just pay my self back?

moneysavinggirl40

yep its easy to set up tesco savers in your own name, as Archi Bald says for your dd. I set mine up for dd of £1 each but i opened a internet saver and instant access saver just to be sure that they were 2 different dd. and the £750 is cycled from another account by standing order to another account then to another account by SOs. It is possible, and you do get the £5 reward.

Archi_Bald

Make sure that other account earns you a bit of interest - that's why I mentioned TSB Plus. Keep the £750 in there all month long, except for when you shuffle it over to Halifax.

You should be able to do the 2 SOs for the same day as the Halifax and TSB systems work the same. But if you want to be doubly certain whilst on your travels, send the money from TSB to Halifay around the middle of each month, then leave it sitting in Halifax for 3 calendar days before sending it back. That way, you can be sure you don't go overdrawn at Halifax.

Belt and braces would be to set up mobile alerts.

dicky73

I'm sorry to rake over old coals, but.........

I switched to halifax reward a few weeks back and received the 100 pounds. At the time I did not go for the 5 pounds every month as I could not apply 2 dds. I now have 2 dds, so, can these be added to the account to qualify for the 5 pounds or should they have been in place at the switch?

I know this has been answered, but can I heckers find it.

guesswho2000

dicky73 wrote: »

I'm sorry to rake over old coals, but.........

I switched to halifax reward a few weeks back and received the 100 pounds. At the time I did not go for the 5 pounds every month as I could not apply 2 dds. I now have 2 dds, so, can these be added to the account to qualify for the 5 pounds or should they have been in place at the switch?

I know this has been answered, but can I heckers find it.

Yes, all you need to do is get the 2x dds set up, then each month both dds are paid and you credit the £750, the £5 reward will appear at the beginning of the following month (so say the dds are paid on 2 & 3 October, the £750+ is credited on 15 October, then the £5 reward will be credited at the start of Nov, usually the second working day).

barafear799

Hi

I had a basic Easycash account with Halifax (due to my poor credit rating) - I opened it a few years ago as a parachute account when I was having some issues.

Cut a long story short - whilst I was on online banking, I noticed an upgrade button - and this gave me the opportunity to upgrade to a Reward Account. I thought this might be beneficial - as I assumed it would come with an overdraft limit.
I was sceptical whether I would be accepted for the Reward Account - because of my credit score - and during the process of switching - there was no mention of how much of an OD I would like - although strangely enough, at the end of the process I was asked to complete a short survey and one of the questions on there related to "did I tick the yes or no box to having a planned OD limit" - as I stated, that question did not come up in the process.

Also, when I completed the process, there was no indication of whether or not I had been accepted/declined for the new account - I double checked my account a few hours later - expecting maybe a message via the online banking page - but nothing.
Today I login and notice my account now shows as a Reward account - but with £0.00 Overdraft - but a button next to it labelled "apply".

Can someone advise whether during the "upgrade" process Halifax carried out a credit check on me? Or would this only apply if I ask for an OD? Would the upgrade have been more or less automatic because I was an existing (albeit basic bank account) customer?

Thanks for any advice.

danz09x

barafear799 wrote: »

Hi

I had a basic Easycash account with Halifax (due to my poor credit rating) - I opened it a few years ago as a parachute account when I was having some issues.

Cut a long story short - whilst I was on online banking, I noticed an upgrade button - and this gave me the opportunity to upgrade to a Reward Account. I thought this might be beneficial - as I assumed it would come with an overdraft limit.
I was sceptical whether I would be accepted for the Reward Account - because of my credit score - and during the process of switching - there was no mention of how much of an OD I would like - although strangely enough, at the end of the process I was asked to complete a short survey and one of the questions on there related to "did I tick the yes or no box to having a planned OD limit" - as I stated, that question did not come up in the process.

Also, when I completed the process, there was no indication of whether or not I had been accepted/declined for the new account - I double checked my account a few hours later - expecting maybe a message via the online banking page - but nothing.
Today I login and notice my account now shows as a Reward account - but with £0.00 Overdraft - but a button next to it labelled "apply".

Can someone advise whether during the "upgrade" process Halifax carried out a credit check on me? Or would this only apply if I ask for an OD? Would the upgrade have been more or less automatic because I was an existing (albeit basic bank account) customer?

Thanks for any advice.

It too done the same...u should receive a letter soon telling u ur new details even though u can access them online already as they only upgraded ur account and not opened a new one completely. I applied for the overdraft before my new card even turned up and got 1999 overdraft straight away and my credit is terrible! I haven't used it and will probably be closing it soon as dont want to be tempted lol. Hope this helps x

danz09x

dicky73 wrote: »

I'm sorry to rake over old coals, but.........

I switched to halifax reward a few weeks back and received the 100 pounds. At the time I did not go for the 5 pounds every month as I could not apply 2 dds. I now have 2 dds, so, can these be added to the account to qualify for the 5 pounds or should they have been in place at the switch?

I know this has been answered, but can I heckers find it.

Sorry to ask but how soon after the switch did you receive your 100 pounds as I too have switched and my switching completion should be today but unsure of when that would be credited as I still have access to my old account aswell? ? Many thanks x plz if anyone knows would be great x

MABLE

danz09x wrote: »

Sorry to ask but how soon after the switch did you receive your 100 pounds as I too have switched and my switching completion should be today but unsure of when that would be credited as I still have access to my old account aswell? ? Many thanks x plz if anyone knows would be great x

Mine was credited during the next day after the switch was completed.