First Direct and Halifax switch offers??

qwertyqwerty

Hi there

I see both the above banks have offers for £100 (first direct) and £125 (halifax) for switching to them. I can see that both are requesting the account must have salary going into it of £1000, I cant see any mention of either requiring any Direct Debits to get the switch offer. Once switched Can i deposit a single payment of £1000 into one of the accounts and then transfer across to the other to get the switch incentives for both. I see halifax mention that they can debit the incentive back from the count if the agreement is not met.

grumbler

It doesn't have to be a salary. Yes, it can be a transfer from other bank.

colsten

qwertyqwerty wrote: »

I can see that both are requesting the account must have salary going into it of £1000

I can't see anything that says the Halifax switching offer requires £1,000, or any amount.

[Deleted User]

I think the £1000 with Halifax is to receive the £5 bonus a month

tizerbelle

The switching requirements and ongoing account requirements are totally seperate.

FD require at least one £1000 pay in within 3 months of the switch to get the bonus. Ongoing you need to pay in £1000 a month (or have an eligible secondary product eg eSaver account) to avoid the £10/m fee. No DDs are needed.

Halifax only need you to switch accounts to get the £125 switch bonus. Assuming you've gone for the reward account, to get the £5/m reward you must pay in £750 each month, pay out 2 direct debits and not go overdrawn

YorkshireBoy

tizerbelle wrote: »

Ongoing you need to pay in £1000 a month (or have an eligible secondary product eg eSaver account) to avoid the £10/m fee.

...but only from month 7 onwards.

savings_my_hobby

craig1123 wrote: »

I think the £1000 with Halifax is to receive the £5 bonus a month

I'm pretty sure its £750 plus two outgoing direct debits to qualify for the £5 per month

EarthBoy

savings_my_hobby wrote: »

I'm pretty sure its £750 plus two outgoing direct debits to qualify for the £5 per month

You're right. You must also have stayed in credit for every day in the month.

MARTYM8`

One thing to bear in mind is that under First Direct’s terms you have up to 3 months after opening your account to make any switch and qualify for the incentive. So you could take a gamble, open it now and then wait until mid May and see if they restore the offer back to £125 (as applied in Jan/early Feb). Also bear in mind you are likely to need an HMRC tax notice in the last four months or a passport/driving licence certified by a lawyer/accountant etc to open an account with FD – as they are quite strict on ID requirements. So its worth calling HMRC to request a tax coding notice if you don’t know any friendly lawyers/accountants/doctors. An MP can also certify your ID – although they might ask for a fee!

Halifax’s current £125 offer ends on 6 April – then I assume it goes back down to £100 (or potentially ends).

EarthBoy

MARTYM8` wrote: »

Also bear in mind you are likely to need an HMRC tax notice in the last four months or a passport/driving licence certified by a lawyer/accountant etc to open an account with FD – as they are quite strict on ID requirements.

Unless you've moved address recently you're unlikely to need any of those documents. FD check your identity using the electoral register and credit reference agencies, the same as other banks do.

MARTYM8`

EarthBoy wrote: »

Unless you've moved address recently you're unlikely to need any of those documents. FD check your identity using the electoral register and credit reference agencies, the same as other banks do.

I think you will find FD are more stringent than other banks. Last year they wrote to many of their long term customers asking to provide exactly this sort of ID confirmation. This included a 90 year old woman who had banked with them for over 20 years and was unlikely I would assume to be moving house regularly.

So yes you might not get asked to provide extra ID – but its quite likely you will do – and therefore its worth preparing for that just in case!


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