Is the Halifax reward current account ok?

TanDiy

Hi, I am very tempted to switch a barclays joint bank account to the Halifax Reward Account to get the £125 switch bonus and the £5 per month. Just wondered if people are happy with the Halifax account - does the online banking work well and do payments in and out happen instantly. Thank you.

YorkshireBoy

Yes, yes, and yes for me.

But why only £125? Why don't you each open a Barclays sole account and switch those instead for a total of £250.

Then once you're set up, open a joint account and switch the Barclays joint account to that.

Result is £250 for joining and £180 a year ongoing.

Obviously you need to split up your DDs, or get some more for the sole accounts, eg Tesco savings accounts.

MarkFromCornwall

TanDiy wrote: »

Just wondered if people are happy with the Halifax account - does the online banking work well and do payments in and out happen instantly. Thank you.

I'm happy with it. Online banking works well. Payments in and out are normally instant (although if you receive a payment in whilst you are online it will show up in your transactions but to get it added to your available balance you need to log out and back in).

TanDiy

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

Yes, yes, and yes for me.

But why only £125? Why don't you each open a Barclays sole account and switch those instead for a total of £250.

Then once you're set up, open a joint account and switch the Barclays joint account to that.

Result is £250 for joining and £180 a year ongoing.

Obviously you need to split up your DDs, or get some more for the sole accounts, eg Tesco savings accounts.

Hi and many thanks for the information. I had thought about opening 2 new accounts in sole names and then transferring them as you suggest. However, I am worried that opening so many accounts would affect my credit rating maybe? I have had the same joint account for some 30 years - not sure if it would Just be safer to switch this account but I don't really understand how the credit rating works. It seems on the forums that people are opening lots of accounts to get the higher interest rates? Thanks again.

hardnutman

I have had the reward account for a while, the £5 is basically a bribe to stop you switching to an account that earns more through interest.


I am considering switching another account to my Halifax for the £125 (never had the switch bonus before), and then immediately switching it to a Santander 123 account.

Does anybody know if they would forfeit the £125 if I did that?

YorkshireBoy

hardnutman wrote: »

I have had the reward account for a while, the £5 is basically a bribe to stop you switching to an account that earns more through interest.


I am considering switching another account to my Halifax for the £125 (never had the switch bonus before), and then immediately switching it to a Santander 123 account.

Does anybody know if they would forfeit the £125 if I did that?

You're considering giving up £60 a year? Even if you had £20K in Santander, as a BR tax payer you'd draw around £40 a month in interest. So keeping the Halifax Reward account would give you an immediate 12.5% increase in your return.


But to answer your question, if the Halifax incentive T&Cs stipulate a minimum period you must keep the account open then you must comply with that. Do they?

KenHGG

TanDiy wrote: »

Hi, I am very tempted to switch a barclays joint bank account to the Halifax Reward Account to get the £125 switch bonus and the £5 per month. Just wondered if people are happy with the Halifax account - does the online banking work well and do payments in and out happen instantly. Thank you.

I have been with Halifax for years and just discovered that they have not pay me any rewards since May, 2013 until now. Can I reclaim the rewards?

TanDiy

Does anybody know if opening lots of accounts to chase the interest damages your credit rating or am I worrying unnecessarily. Thanks

Archi_Bald

KenHGG wrote: »

I have been with Halifax for years and just discovered that they have not pay me any rewards since May, 2013 until now. Can I reclaim the rewards?

Did you make the minimum deposits, pay out at least 2 DDs, and stay in credit throughout the month each month since May 2013? How come you didn't notice for almost 2 years that the £5 was missing?

Archi_Bald

TanDiy wrote: »

Does anybody know if opening lots of accounts to chase the interest damages your credit rating or am I worrying unnecessarily. Thanks

This question must have been answered hundreds of times by now. Some people worry about it, most don't, and very few if any problems have been reported by people who applied for credit after they had opened multiple current accounts. There is no such thing as a universal credit rating.

hardnutman

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

You're considering giving up £60 a year? Even if you had £20K in Santander, as a BR tax payer you'd draw around £40 a month in interest. So keeping the Halifax Reward account would give you an immediate 12.5% increase in your return.


But to answer your question, if the Halifax incentive T&Cs stipulate a minimum period you must keep the account open then you must comply with that. Do they?

Good point. Just opened up a Santander account without switching :money: