Halifax Reward Current Account

ccdorset

Hi,

I currently have my main current account with first direct. Their service has been great, however I'm thinking of switching to take advantage of the Halifax Reward account. £100 bonus and £5 per month reward sounds like it probably is the best account for me.

I've got another account with TSB but am not really keen on them. (This was my third switch - previously I have done Co-op and M&S too).

I'm now looking to simplify things and get the best deal I can.

Just wondering if anyone has any experience of the Halifax Reward account and how their service compares to first direct?

Thanks

HappyMJ

There's no interest on the account so that might be a factor in your decision.

You could just move a couple of DD's to the account to get the £5 and use another account that pays interest.

ccdorset

HappyMJ wrote: »

There's no interest on the account so that might be a factor in your decision.

You could just move a couple of DD's to the account to get the £5 and use another account that pays interest.

I'm intending to open their help to buy isa and saving the maximum every month. Though I will be able to save an extra £400 a month elsewhere. I'm guessing that is probably best going into a regular saver or sitting in a high interest current account.

YorkshireBoy

ccdorset wrote: »

Just wondering if anyone has any experience of the Halifax Reward account and how their service compares to first direct?

I would imagine a great many people on this board have Halifax Reward in their portfolio!

What kind of "service" do you need from Halifax? Do you have special accessibility requirements?

Everything just works for me...as it should. One of my Reward accounts receives my salary and pays all my non-utility DDs. I genuinely can't remember the last time I had to call them or visit branch.

ccdorset

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

I would imagine a great many people on this board have Halifax Reward in their portfolio!

What kind of "service" do you need from Halifax? Do you have special accessibility requirements?

Everything just works for me...as it should. One of my Reward accounts receives my salary and pays all my non-utility DDs. I genuinely can't remember the last time I had to call them or visit branch.

That's the thing, I say that I love the first direct service, however I hardly ever have to call them! Virtually everything I do now is via online or mobile banking. So that's got me thinking about switching as I would hope the chances of something going wrong by effectively using self service all the time are slim (unless of course I make an error myself).

I'm really looking to save for a deposit on a flat as quickly as possible. I understand that the Halifax Help to Buy Isa is the best out there. So I'll transfer £200 a month to that. I'm not sure what to do with the other £400 a month I will have to save. Regular saver, instant access account or a high interest current account. Any help in how to distribute this would be greatly appreciated!

YorkshireBoy

ccdorset wrote: »

I'm not sure what to do with the other £400 a month I will have to save. Regular saver, instant access account or a high interest current account. Any help in how to distribute this would be greatly appreciated!

At the risk of re-directing you back to TSB I'd go with them. £500 into a Plus account, and £100 back to your main account. I'd then immediately start a £250 a month TSB regular saver. That way you've plenty of room for all the £400 a month to be making 5% AER...

Month.......Plus.......Reg Saver
1..............£150......£250
2..............£300......£500
3..............£450......£750
..
..
..
11............£1,650...£2,750
12............£1,800...£3,000

At the 10/11 month point you'd start to look for a home for the £3,000 reg saver proceeds.

ccdorset

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

At the risk of re-directing you back to TSB I'd go with them. £500 into a Plus account, and £100 back to your main account. I'd then immediately start a £250 a month TSB regular saver. That way you've plenty of room for all the £400 a month to be making 5% AER...

Month.......Plus.......Reg Saver
1..............£150......£250
2..............£300......£500
3..............£450......£750
..
..
..
11............£1,650...£2,750
12............£1,800...£3,000

At the 10/11 month point you'd start to look for a home for the £3,000 reg saver proceeds.

That's really helpful, thank you. I am going to go with this.

One last question, I have a Cash Isa with first direct. Only have £100 in it, but I have subscribed this tax year. Can I open the help to buy isa now if I do an isa transfer and close this existing one? Or do I need to wait until the new tax year? I'm probably not understanding it properly, but I can seem to find a definitive answer to this!

darkidoe

ccdorset wrote: »

That's really helpful, thank you. I am going to go with this.

One last question, I have a Cash Isa with first direct. Only have £100 in it, but I have subscribed this tax year. Can I open the help to buy isa now if I do an isa transfer and close this existing one? Or do I need to wait until the new tax year? I'm probably not understanding it properly, but I can seem to find a definitive answer to this!

Yes you can do a transfer to a HTB ISA.

planteria

if you are really pleased with the service from FD then i wouldn't close the account.

perhaps open an account elsewhere, or a second FD account, and then transfer that to Halifax for the £100 & £5/m.

pollypenny

Keep the First Direct if you're happy with service, as we've found Halifax service to be poor over the years we've had a mortgage and various savings accounts with them.

Just open their Reward account and put £750 in and out every month, with 2 D/Ds to your savings elsewhere, of course.

We use Nationwide Flex Plus for our main account now. All the benefits cost us about £5 a month, allowing for the interest on the £2500.

moneysavinggirl40

ccdorset wrote: »

Hi,

I currently have my main current account with first direct. Their service has been great, however I'm thinking of switching to take advantage of the Halifax Reward account. £100 bonus and £5 per month reward sounds like it probably is the best account for me.

I've got another account with TSB but am not really keen on them. (This was my third switch - previously I have done Co-op and M&S too).

I'm now looking to simplify things and get the best deal I can.

Just wondering if anyone has any experience of the Halifax Reward account and how their service compares to first direct?

Thanks

If you're going to switch to Halifax then you can enter their £50000 prize draw if you like, so Good luck with that!