Halifax HTB ISA Funding

drlabman

Hi,

My daughter's just opened one of these and is slightly confused by the rules for funding. I know that you can deposit £1000 in the first month and then £200 per month (including the first month). Halifax say that the monthly deposit must be by standing order. The also say the monthly amount can be changed and also that you don't have to pay in in any given month. That doesn't sound like a standing order to me - or at least not one that can be managed easily. Do they just mean that the monthly deposit must be in one (and only one) transfer? In that case, would a normal internal transfer done from within Halifax online banking be OK?

Thanks.

Incidentally, can the initial deposit be made up of multiple transfers - upto the value of £1000?

MARTYM8`

drlabman wrote: »

Hi,

My daughter's just opened one of these and is slightly confused by the rules for funding. I know that you can deposit £1000 in the first month and then £200 per month (including the first month). Halifax say that the monthly deposit must be by standing order. The also say the monthly amount can be changed and also that you don't have to pay in in any given month. That doesn't sound like a standing order to me - or at least not one that can be managed easily. Do they just mean that the monthly deposit must be in one (and only one) transfer? In that case, would a normal internal transfer done from within Halifax online banking be OK?

Thanks.

Incidentally, can the initial deposit be made up of multiple transfers - upto the value of £1000?

The amount of a standing order can be varied monthly with most banks etc online or in branch - but you cannot normally change the date of payment without ending it and setting up a new one.

Halifax seems to be very fussy on this point - other providers allow you to pay in by cheque/cash/bank transfer. And make sure you date the standing order to go out before 25th - as they won't accept later payment dates.

If the standing order is likely to be an issue perhaps another provider might be better?

You can invest up to £1200 in month 1 by the way.

colsten

MARTYM8` wrote: »

You can invest up to £1200 in month 1 by the way.

Sure but Halifax insist that this is split into an initial deposit of £1,000, followed by a £200 SO for the monthly contribution, by no later than the 25th (which probably must mean 24th for this month as they won't process any SOs on December 25).

There have been reports from people whose first deposit was less than £1,000, and who could then only deposit an additional £200. They are understandably furious. It's a pretty stupid and inflexible implementation but that's how they did it, and someone did report that the deposit rules were made very clear during the online application process.

2catsandcounting

Hi

I have a rather naive question regarding the standing order criteria, so i apologise in advance for my stupidity.

Basically my partner has about £6,000 lying in a old post office ISA from about 2013 that he's done nothing with, so i'm trying to sort him out.

What I was thinking was to put £1,200 into the Halifax H2B ISA, and then transfer in £200 a month from whatever other account the rest goes into. He's agreed to pay off a credit card debit of mine with some of the money, so for the first few months the SO will come from my current account, so that's not a problem. My stupid question is can you set up a standing order to come out of a saving account (Tesco Bank Internet saver seems to be the best at 1.5%) or is this not possible?

I've look at Santander/TSB has they having 3%/5% for the current account interest, but i'm not sure he'd be happy with £3k just sat in his current account. (I know i couldn't trust myself!)

This just seems like too good of an opportunity to miss!

Thank you in advance

drlabman

Anyone know if the standing order has to be from a Halifax account? If not, then surely Halifax wouldn't know whether monthly deposits were coming from a standing order or not. Is that right?

colsten

drlabman wrote: »

Anyone know if the standing order has to be from a Halifax account? If not, then surely Halifax wouldn't know whether monthly deposits were coming from a standing order or not. Is that right?

It can come from any account, and Halifax *can* identify whether it is an SO.

Flobberchops

I suspect Halifax are using fussy wording here. I have a different Halifax product, a regular saver, which also has "by standing order" in the Ts&Cs. To date two of my monthly deposits have actually been by Faster Payments rather than S/O and to my knowledge there was no issue at all about that.

Regarding the initial deposit - check with Halifax. The number of deposits to make up the initial £1200 isn't a rule inherent to H2B ISAs (and in fact some other providers let you make multiple deposits up to the limit as long as they all fall within the first calendar month) but Halifax might have their own restrictions. Worth looking into to avoid disappointment.

Westie983

You can pay in via cash, over the counter, faster payment from your bank account, and funding from a cheque, but it must be within 21 days of opening the ISA,

The payments can be in multiple up to £1.000 then the £200, as long as its funded the same calendar month.

if you use online banking then you can send £1200 in one transaction and its accepted but if you are using the counter to pay in, it will need to be in two or more transactions, as the system expects £1000 and £200.

drlabman

Just for completeness - the HTB account was opened with £10. It refused an internal transfer (error!) of £1190. However, it accepted a transfer of £990 followed by a transfer of £200.

lauren_hb

This may be a stupid question but I just want to confirm if my thinking is correct.
I want to set up the HTB ISA with Halifax. The money every month will come from my HSBC savings account, so after an initial first month transfer of the £1200 could I then set up a standing order of £200 from my HSBC account to the Halifax one every month?

BigAl12

The initial £1000 would need to be deposited directly into the account within 21 days of account opening, which can be in branch, faster payment or debit card deposit via online banking.

The first £200 cannot be added to the initial £1000 deposit (Halifax choose not to allow it) therefore you will need to set up a standing order for £200 reach your Halifax HTB ISA before the 25th day of the month you opened the account to maximise your savings. If your standing order doesn't reach the ISA before the 25th (effectively 24th in December due to Xmas) then you will need to wait until the next month to deposit it, albeit you cannot double the next months payment to make up for missing the previous month's deadline.

Yes, you can use your HSBC account to set up a standing order to the Halifax ISA. Just make sure it's set up to reach the ISA before the 25th of each month. I would recommend 20th or earlier to allow for weekends and bank holidays.