Halifax Reward Account changing to £3 charge with “lifestyle rewards”

matty_art

Had the following letter this morning:

We’re making changes to Reward Current Accounts - they mean you need to tell us if you want to keep your Reward Current Account. If we don’t hear from you, your account will change to a Current Account that doesn’t charge a monthly fee or offer rewards. To help you decide which account is right for you, I’ve explained everything you need to know below.

From 1st June 2020 we’ll be introducing a £3 monthly maintaining the account fee, which we won’t charge you if you pay in at least £1,500 each month. And instead of being able to earn a £2 monthly reward payment, we’re introducing Reward Extras. This gives you the chance to earn either £5 or a lifestyle benefit each month for 12 months, if you meet the following criteria.

To qualify for Reward Extras each month, you need to pay in at least £1,500 and stay in credit. You also need to choose whether to earn £5 or a lifestyle benefit by either spending £500 or more each month using your debit card, or by keeping a daily balance of £5,000 or more in your account. The offer you choose is fixed for 12 months and you can’t change it during this time. There’s more about this below and in the table on the back.

Here’s some information about the Reward Extras you can choose if you decide to keep your Reward Current Account:

 • Three digital magazines a month, from a selection provided by Hearst, or

 • Two digital movie rentals a month, from Rakuten TV, or

 • One cinema ticket each month which you can use at any UK Vue Cinema, or

 • Earn £5 each month

veryintrigued

Looks a little like the Club Lloyds account.

PS I wish I received my post early as you!

matty_art

veryintrigued said:

Looks a little like the Club Lloyds account.

PS I wish I received my post early as you!

When I say letter, it was a letter delivered into my online banking

Yeah, like Club Lloyd’s but a bit worse for me, direct debits can’t trigger the requirement and you only get Vue Cinemas.

veryintrigued

So about 1.2% if you're able to ping the 1500 in and out and keep the 5000 permanently in.

Tildaplum

1.2 might not be too bad now interest rate have been cut

ZeroSum

Looks like I'll be closing mine, unless I can get away with 'spending' £500 by chucking money into a building society with debit card, or failing that recycle it through ratesetter. If it works I'll be £6 a month better off. 

veryintrigued

ZeroSum said:

Looks like I'll be closing mine, unless I can get away with 'spending' £500 by chucking money into a building society with debit card, or failing that recycle it through ratesetter. If it works I'll be £6 a month better off. 

Devising weird and wonderful ways of moving the £500 out using a debit card could become a thread subject title on here before long!

Lumiona

Will the Bank of Scotland rewards account echo this?

ZeroSum

Also now that it no longer needs DD's it potentially frees up a few & might switch my first direct account to M&S or if Barclays have a switching bonus on their rewards account

ZeroSum

veryintrigued said:

ZeroSum said:

Looks like I'll be closing mine, unless I can get away with 'spending' £500 by chucking money into a building society with debit card, or failing that recycle it through ratesetter. If it works I'll be £6 a month better off. 

Devising weird and wonderful ways of moving the £500 out using a debit card could become a thread subject title on here before long!

You might even get away with paying off credit card via debit card. Tesco dont allow this to get Clubcard points, but can get them recycling cash through P2P platforms 

DCFC79

Not had a letter this week.
Its a shame its changing as imo it was an easy to fulfill, might need to keep the £5000 in the account, I wonder if direct debits would count towards the £500 monthly spend, Ill look into this. The cinema tickets no use, only 2 that could be of use are the magazines or the film rentals.