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

st999

Some of us had letters saying it starts June 1. Website states July 1, and Halifax have not communicated any explanation for the variance. It doesn't do any harm to start depositing £1,500 a month in June, and also have 2 DDs continuing into June. Those choosing to maintain min £5k in the account at all times might wish to clarify with Halifax when their start date is.
And some of us have not had any letters yet, whether by post or secure mail when signed into our online accounts.
Maybe it doesn't apply in Scotland

General_Grant

YorkshireBoy said:

qsk said:

Anyone did maths: do you get more interest to put 5000 in Halifax Reward or BOS vantage?

BOS pays more interest (because Halifax doesn't pay interest, it pays a Reward), but Halifax would offer a greater return (by way of the £5 Reward).
I don't keep any cash in my BOS account but I calculate it would be around £59 per year, or £4.90 per month on average.
If there's any risk at all that you'll need to dip into the £5K then it's better off in BOS.

I don't know what BOS pays but the Halifax £5 equates to 1.5% for those who pay 20% tax on interest received.

bjbyorkshire

Joe9090, same question from me .... I also registered via the phone automated service for 2 Reward accounts and opted for the £5 reward.  I can't as yet see whether I have anything different set up on my accounts to show that this has been actioned.  Any one know what and where we are likely to see the new set up.  I know Halifax will be busy but it would be good to know that our registration has actually been accepted.

MisterMotivated

NWDave said:

Sorry all - having a senior citizen moment... I will be using a share account to deposit the £500 by debit card and then simply send it back to the account from whence it came!

One point to note with this is that the share account provider might treat you sending the money "back to the account from whence it came" as a refund if it's just going in and then back out. I believe it's a regulatory/AML thing (though I'm sure others will know better than me).  In that case, I wouldn't be surprised if Halifax disregarded it in respect of the reward criteria

wmb194

MisterMotivated said:

NWDave said:

Sorry all - having a senior citizen moment... I will be using a share account to deposit the £500 by debit card and then simply send it back to the account from whence it came!

One point to note with this is that the share account provider might treat you sending the money "back to the account from whence it came" as a refund if it's just going in and then back out. I believe it's a regulatory/AML thing (though I'm sure others will know better than me).  In that case, I wouldn't be surprised if Halifax disregarded it in respect of the reward criteria

This might be common with gambling sites but I've never experienced this with a stockbroker. I've occasionally deposited money and later changed my mind and so far it's always been debit card in and Bacs out, except Barclays Smart Investor which now uses faster payments. The issue is how long the  debit card deposit takes to become available for withdrawal, which varies by broker, and the speed of the Bacs transfer. Some, like AJ Bell, have a tendency to add an extra day to the usual Bacs timescales.

masonic

wmb194 said:

MisterMotivated said:

NWDave said:

Sorry all - having a senior citizen moment... I will be using a share account to deposit the £500 by debit card and then simply send it back to the account from whence it came!

One point to note with this is that the share account provider might treat you sending the money "back to the account from whence it came" as a refund if it's just going in and then back out. I believe it's a regulatory/AML thing (though I'm sure others will know better than me).  In that case, I wouldn't be surprised if Halifax disregarded it in respect of the reward criteria

This might be common with gambling sites but I've never experienced this with a stockbroker. I've occasionally deposited money and later changed my mind and so far it's always been debit card in and Bacs out, except Barclays Smart Investor which now uses faster payments. The issue is how long the  debit card deposit takes to become available for withdrawal, which varies by broker, and the speed of the Bacs transfer. Some, like AJ Bell, have a tendency to add an extra day to the usual Bacs timescales.

Same, I've never experienced a withdrawal of money from an investment account, where money was deposited via debit card, as a refund of the debit card transaction, always a bank transfer. That's true of the 4 investment platforms I've used accepting debit card payments, and 3 P2P loan platforms.

colsten

NWDave said:

Sorry all - having a senior citizen moment... I will be using a share account to deposit the £500 by debit card and then simply send it back to the account from whence it came!

Do you mean sending the £500 back to Halifax? Or sending it to the (interest-paying?) account you sourced the monthly £1,500 from?

qsk

General_Grant said:

YorkshireBoy said:

qsk said:

Anyone did maths: do you get more interest to put 5000 in Halifax Reward or BOS vantage?

BOS pays more interest (because Halifax doesn't pay interest, it pays a Reward), but Halifax would offer a greater return (by way of the £5 Reward).
I don't keep any cash in my BOS account but I calculate it would be around £59 per year, or £4.90 per month on average.
If there's any risk at all that you'll need to dip into the £5K then it's better off in BOS.

I don't know what BOS pays but the Halifax £5 equates to 1.5% for those who pay 20% tax on interest received.

Thanks. So Halifax reward is tax-free?

soulsaver

qsk said:

General_Grant said:

YorkshireBoy said:

qsk said:

Anyone did maths: do you get more interest to put 5000 in Halifax Reward or BOS vantage?

BOS pays more interest (because Halifax doesn't pay interest, it pays a Reward), but Halifax would offer a greater return (by way of the £5 Reward).
I don't keep any cash in my BOS account but I calculate it would be around £59 per year, or £4.90 per month on average.
If there's any risk at all that you'll need to dip into the £5K then it's better off in BOS.

I don't know what BOS pays but the Halifax £5 equates to 1.5% for those who pay 20% tax on interest received.

Thanks. So Halifax reward is tax-free?

No - it's tax paid.

General_Grant

soulsaver said:

qsk said:

General_Grant said:

YorkshireBoy said:

qsk said:

Anyone did maths: do you get more interest to put 5000 in Halifax Reward or BOS vantage?

BOS pays more interest (because Halifax doesn't pay interest, it pays a Reward), but Halifax would offer a greater return (by way of the £5 Reward).
I don't keep any cash in my BOS account but I calculate it would be around £59 per year, or £4.90 per month on average.
If there's any risk at all that you'll need to dip into the £5K then it's better off in BOS.

I don't know what BOS pays but the Halifax £5 equates to 1.5% for those who pay 20% tax on interest received.

Thanks. So Halifax reward is tax-free?

No - it's tax paid.

At 20%.