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

Ed-1

matty_art said:

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

How do you 'tell them' you want to keep the Rewards?

matty_art

Ed-1 said:

matty_art said:

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

How do you 'tell them' you want to keep the Rewards?

You have to phone them, or the account reverts to a free one - a bit ridiculous 

SuiDreams

I will be closing mine, I don't spend a single penny on a debit card so wouldn't be able to get the £5 per month that way and wouldn't currently be able to keep the account balance at £5K and still currently have better places to put money anyway. Its such a shame. Glad I opened the Natwest account for there reward this should make up for losing this one, might see if I can add the RBS one to my list when this closes.

SlovakianGuy

How about topping up your PayPal account?

I use it for having 2 additional direct debits on my Tesco current account.

born_again

DCFC79 said:

I wonder if direct debits would count towards the £500 monthly spend, Ill look into this. 

>>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.<<
Don't mention spending via DD's only DEBIT CARD or keeping balance over £5K

Ed-1

PRAISETHESUN said:

veryintrigued said:

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

You're forgetting the monthly fee, so only actually about 0.48% by my maths...

But that's waived (as with Club Lloyds) if £1,500 goes in each month.

Ed-1

PRAISETHESUN said:

SuiDreams said:

I will be closing mine, I don't spend a single penny on a debit card so wouldn't be able to get the £5 per month that way and wouldn't currently be able to keep the account balance at £5K and still currently have better places to put money anyway. Its such a shame. Glad I opened the Natwest account for there reward this should make up for losing this one, might see if I can add the RBS one to my list when this closes.

If you look closely at RBS/NatWest T&Cs, you're allowed up to 2x Reward accounts

One has to be joint though.

SuiDreams said:

I will be closing mine, I don't spend a single penny on a debit card so wouldn't be able to get the £5 per month that way and wouldn't currently be able to keep the account balance at £5K and still currently have better places to put money anyway. Its such a shame. Glad I opened the Natwest account for there reward this should make up for losing this one, might see if I can add the RBS one to my list when this closes.

As for Halifax... it's not really worth the extra hoops IMO for the same £2/month (£5 less £3 monthly fee) - the other rewards don't appeal to me since I already have a Club Lloyds account. More faff than it's worth unless someone knows a way to automate the debit card transactions.

On the contrary. It's a reinvigorated account given the increase in the reward back to £5 a month. Yes making a £500 debit card payment and paying in £1,500 a month might be a bit more fiddly than paying out 2 direct debits and paying in £750 a month, but equally it could be seen as easier for some.

ppyim

I may use Halifax debit card to pay Amex credit card to meet the requirement of spending over £500 each month.

SuiDreams

ppyim said:

I may use Halifax debit card to pay Amex credit card to meet the requirement of spending over £500 each month.

I hadn't thought of that, would need to cancel my DD if I paid manually each month, need to check T&C's for if there are any exclusions.

PRAISETHESUN

SuiDreams said:

ppyim said:

I may use Halifax debit card to pay Amex credit card to meet the requirement of spending over £500 each month.

I hadn't thought of that, would need to cancel my DD if I paid manually each month, need to check T&C's for if there are any exclusions.

Nothing to stop you making a manual payment of £500 every month and then letting your DD pull the remainder - assuming Amex doesn't automatically pull the entire statement balance regardless of any additional payments you make.