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

Se1Lad

masonic said:

I'd caution that multiple overdrafts when multi-accounting can be risky. One forumite had all of their accounts closed for what the bank saw as gaming their overdraft limit. This was Santander and a couple of years ago, but I think it pays to keep as low a profile as possible. However, what's done is done.

For automated payments, you would probably need three separate recipients who would allow you to do a regular pull, as I doubt it could be set up for more than one card at a time. What you are doing seems simple and probably doesn't take long.

When I upgraded the easycash account and subsequently went into the overdraft application it let me request up to £5,000.  As I only needed £1,500 (the amount I could technically go overdrawn for a few hours depending on the timing of the standing orders then this was all I requested.  

On opening the second account, it would only go up to £3,500, again I requested £1,500.   For the final account it would allow me up to £2,000.

At 39%ish APR I will never use the overdraft, apart from the few hours once a month while the standing orders are going through.

masonic

Se1Lad said:

masonic said:

I'd caution that multiple overdrafts when multi-accounting can be risky. One forumite had all of their accounts closed for what the bank saw as gaming their overdraft limit. This was Santander and a couple of years ago, but I think it pays to keep as low a profile as possible. However, what's done is done.

For automated payments, you would probably need three separate recipients who would allow you to do a regular pull, as I doubt it could be set up for more than one card at a time. What you are doing seems simple and probably doesn't take long.

When I upgraded the easycash account and subsequently went into the overdraft application it let me request up to £5,000.  As I only needed £1,500 (the amount I could technically go overdrawn for a few hours depending on the timing of the standing orders then this was all I requested.  

On opening the second account, it would only go up to £3,500, again I requested £1,500.   For the final account it would allow me up to £2,000.

At 39%ish APR I will never use the overdraft, apart from the few hours once a month while the standing orders are going through.

Sounds like the system had time to update to reflect what you'd already arranged each time, which may not have been the case for the example I mentioned.

Se1Lad

masonic said:

Se1Lad said:

masonic said:

I'd caution that multiple overdrafts when multi-accounting can be risky. One forumite had all of their accounts closed for what the bank saw as gaming their overdraft limit. This was Santander and a couple of years ago, but I think it pays to keep as low a profile as possible. However, what's done is done.

For automated payments, you would probably need three separate recipients who would allow you to do a regular pull, as I doubt it could be set up for more than one card at a time. What you are doing seems simple and probably doesn't take long.

When I upgraded the easycash account and subsequently went into the overdraft application it let me request up to £5,000.  As I only needed £1,500 (the amount I could technically go overdrawn for a few hours depending on the timing of the standing orders then this was all I requested.  

On opening the second account, it would only go up to £3,500, again I requested £1,500.   For the final account it would allow me up to £2,000.

At 39%ish APR I will never use the overdraft, apart from the few hours once a month while the standing orders are going through.

Sounds like the system had time to update to reflect what you'd already arranged each time, which may not have been the case for the example I mentioned.

I think so - I will report back next month when (hopefully!) I will have received the. 3 x £5 rewards!

OceanSound

Se1Lad said:

WillPS said:

Paying off credit card in £500 chunks is definitely the easiest way. Amex annoyingly only let you save 1 debit card and don't let you pay with a different card to the one saved - Curve helps with that particular issue though.

Amex is my main Credit Card and I agree it’s annoying.  My monthly credit card bill is usually £1,500 at least so 3 x £500 debit card payments to Amex is how I will be meeting the debit card requirement.  I presume paying via Curve only works if I get the paid for version of the card - unless there are any workarounds you can share?

"I presume paying via Curve only works if I get the paid for version of the card............."

How come you presume this? 

Se1Lad

OceanSound said:

Se1Lad said:

WillPS said:

Paying off credit card in £500 chunks is definitely the easiest way. Amex annoyingly only let you save 1 debit card and don't let you pay with a different card to the one saved - Curve helps with that particular issue though.

Amex is my main Credit Card and I agree it’s annoying.  My monthly credit card bill is usually £1,500 at least so 3 x £500 debit card payments to Amex is how I will be meeting the debit card requirement.  I presume paying via Curve only works if I get the paid for version of the card - unless there are any workarounds you can share?

"I presume paying via Curve only works if I get the paid for version of the card............."

How come you presume this?          

I was referring to using curve to pay off my credit card bill with Amex - I.e linking each Halifax debit card in curve.  Would this not count as curve fronted, and therefore charge me 1.5% - or as I am using an underlying debit card to pay off my credit card would there in fact be no fee?

Daliah

Se1Lad said:

WillPS said:

Paying off credit card in £500 chunks is definitely the easiest way. Amex annoyingly only let you save 1 debit card and don't let you pay with a different card to the one saved - Curve helps with that particular issue though.

Amex is my main Credit Card and I agree it’s annoying.  My monthly credit card bill is usually £1,500 at least so 3 x £500 debit card payments to Amex is how I will be meeting the debit card requirement.  I presume paying via Curve only works if I get the paid for version of the card - unless there are any workarounds you can share?

Provided Amex let you pay with Curve,  you can do this with the free Curve version.

You add your 3 Halifax cards to Curve and set up Curve to use one of your 3 Halifax accounts by default.

You use your Curve card to pay  £500 into your Amex credit card.

Then change Curve so it uses your 2nd Halifax card and pay another £500. Repeat with the 3rd Halifax card. 

If you use a wrong card by mistake and the payment goes through, you can shift the payment to the correct card with Curve’s Go Back In Time feature.

Try it out with a few small payments if you are unsure but it’s very simple.

OceanSound

Se1Lad said:

OceanSound said:

Se1Lad said:

WillPS said:

Paying off credit card in £500 chunks is definitely the easiest way. Amex annoyingly only let you save 1 debit card and don't let you pay with a different card to the one saved - Curve helps with that particular issue though.

Amex is my main Credit Card and I agree it’s annoying.  My monthly credit card bill is usually £1,500 at least so 3 x £500 debit card payments to Amex is how I will be meeting the debit card requirement.  I presume paying via Curve only works if I get the paid for version of the card - unless there are any workarounds you can share?

"I presume paying via Curve only works if I get the paid for version of the card............."

How come you presume this?          

I was referring to using curve to pay off my credit card bill with Amex - I.e linking each Halifax debit card in curve.  Would this not count as curve fronted, and therefore charge me 1.5% - or as I am using an underlying debit card to pay off my credit card would there in fact be no fee?

'fronted' is when you use a CREDIT card as the underlying card to pay off another credit card. You would be using a DEBIT card as the underlying card to pay off credit card. 

Se1Lad

Thanks Daliah and OceanSound.  I had incorrectly assumed that paying off a credit card with a debit card would count as curve fronted.

I presume using Halifax debit card linked to Curve is still ok for meeting the £500 debit card spend?

OceanSound

Se1Lad said:

Thanks Daliah and OceanSound.  I had incorrectly assumed that paying off a credit card with a debit card would count as curve fronted.

I presume using Halifax debit card linked to Curve is still ok for meeting the £500 debit card spend?

You can always use the tracker within the Halifax Bank App to check. Usually the tracker takes a few days to register the payment as counting towards the £500 debit card spend. So, I'd say give it a week and see if it shows as 'on track'.

edit: you can Personal message WillPS and ask to confirm prior to doing any payment.

Rich2808

This thread being resurrected after 18 months threw me a little - as it suggested things were changing now. Whereas they actually changed nearly a year ago.

Personally I just keep the £5k a month in there. I choose the Vue cinema reward option - which I use - which is worth the equivalent of £14.25 gross a month to me. Thats £11 for the price of a Vue cinema VIP seat in their London branches and £3.25 for the 50% popcorn saving! That's equivalent to nearly 3.5% interest - no tax issues as a higher rate taxpayer either. I also have a year to use each cinema voucher.

Beyond moving £1500 in and out each month there is nothing more to do.

Not for everyone but it works for me!