MSE News: Help to Buy ISA rates begin to be unveiled

MARTYM8`

mr_jrt wrote: »

Interesting complication with Halifax...

I opened my account on the 1st. Read the T&Cs which stated that the monthly payment had to be in on or before the 25th, and had to be by standing order.

I took that as stating that I could deposit my £200 on the 26th of each month, to maximise the interest. Rather than set up a one-off standing order to make the £1200 initial payment on the 1st, I transferred it as a normal payment, and set up a standing order for the 26th.

I've just been on the phone to Halifax to confirm the 26th is ok, and the nice lady told me that my initial payment might be rejected as only £1000 is acceptable - the £200 has to come from a standing order, and additionally, it is a calendar month, meaning that whilst the money has to be deposited by the 25th, the next deposit cannot be made until the 1st of the subsequent month. Apparently everybody's done the same thing and transferred £1200 (who wouldn't?), and they're investigating to make sure it won't all be rejected.

What. On. Earth.

Surely there's no difference between a payment and a one-off standing order?!?!? ...and why on earth are they restricting deposits between the 25th and the end of the month? The T&Cs make no mention of this. That's 6 days of interest I'll have to miss out on...

This is just a Halifax policy.

http://www.nationwide.co.uk/products/savings/help-to-buy-isa/features-and-benefits

Nationwide allow you to make your £1200 first month's payment as a lump sum - or via as many instalments as you like (e.g. 12 x £100s if you wanted to over the month) and then pay your subsequent £200s:

Over the counter at any Nationwide branch in cash or by cheque
By setting up a regular or one-off payment from a current account
Online, if you are registered for Internet Banking, from your Nationwide current account or instant access savings account.

Why are Halifax overcomplicating things?

If everyone has paid in £1200 as a one off then they will surely have to backtrack on this policy. And why does the standing order need to be paid in by 25th - is that just for Christmas this month? Do they need a whole week to reconcile the payments for HTB?

mr_jrt

If it's just them then I can only imagine they are trying to minimise their interest liability. The 25th thing is in the T&Cs, so I'm confident it's not a Xmas-only thing.

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]To save each month you:[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]• Can pay in up to the government’s maximum amount. This is the ‘monthly deposit’.
• Must pay your monthly deposit by one standing order, to be received on or before 25th of the month. Can pay in a ‘monthly deposit’ in the month you open your Help to Buy: ISA as well as your initial deposit. This must be received by standing order on or before 25th of the month.[/FONT]

colsten

I think Halifax are on very dodgy grounds with their restrictions, as their T&Cs might actually violate the Scheme Rules if they insist on 1st payment not to be more than £1,000, or monthly payments to be made by the 25th of a month.

Although they say that their terms will prevail

You can get a copy of the Scheme Rules at Helptobuy.gov.uk/isa. If there is any overlap between the Scheme Rules and the way we explain how our Help to Buy: ISAs work in these conditions, our conditions apply.

SeduLOUs

colsten wrote: »

I think Halifax are on very dodgy grounds with their restrictions, as their T&Cs might actually violate the Scheme Rules if they insist on 1st payment not to be more than £1,000, or monthly payments to be made by the 25th of a month.

Although they say that their terms will prevail

I made my initial deposit of faster payment of £1000, and then set up a standing order to pay in on the 2nd of December, and then monthly afterwards. The maximum £1000 initial deposit followed by standing order of up to £200 per month was made clear throughout the application process.

Maybe the 25th of the month deadline is an attempt to assist to avoid people missing the end of the calendar month due to weekends or bank holidays? I don't know, but I haven't personally found it to be restrictive.