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

soulsaver

bjbyorkshire said:

Thanks for that.  I will wait until mid May then if I haven't received any acknowledgement from Halifax I may send a message to their on line help asking whether they have actioned my request and does my month start on June 1st.   My £5000 is at present in Marcus so is actually earning 1.2% as it will do in Halifax Current account but I use Halifax for all my main direct debits/standing orders and as my nominated account for several other banks so it would be a pain to have to change all the info at this time when I can just earn 1.2% for very little work on my part each month.

I don't follow your point in (my) bold? 
If you hadn't elected to keep your Reward Ac (as a 'Reward Extras', you'd still keep the account - same sort code and ac number - just as an ordinary c/a &  not get charged £3 pm & not get the rewards. All your DDs & SOs would remain intact. 

First paragraph of the 'offer':

"We're making changes to Reward Current Accounts - they mean you need to tell us if you want to keep your Reward Current Accounts. If we don't hear from you, your accounts listed on the back of this letter will change to  Current Accounts that don'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."

colsten

jeepjunkie said:

For myself, I've already started putting through debit card transactions, that doesn't earn more money elsewhere*, and cycling the £1500 to overlap the change. After June, assuming all going well, the DD's will moved somewhere more productive
*I have a prepaid Mastercard that earns up to 10% cashback on many of the big High Street names

I am reluctant to make >£100 purchases with a debit card as there is no Section 75 protection.

Fingerbobs

I also get Cashback on my credit card, so avoid using debit cards unless I absolutely have to, which is rare. £500 of normal spend on my Halifax debit card would cost me £2.50 in lost cashback. 

st999

Does from 1st June mean that there will be no £2 deposited on or about the beginning of June so that I don't need to make purchases on the credit cards I use for DDs or cycle money through my Reward account, in May?

soulsaver

st999 said:

Does from 1st June mean that there will be no £2 deposited on or about the beginning of June so that I don't need to make purchases on the credit cards I use for DDs or cycle money through my Reward account, in May?

To be certain to get a reward either way I'm doing in May whatever qualifies for both the old Rewards and the new: 
2DDs, cycle £1500 and DC spend £500 - qualifies for either.
However, if you wanted the £5k (through all May to qualify for June reward?) it isn't so clear as if it doesn't qualify you'd have lost a month's interest from elsewhere, c.£5.

st999

jeepjunkie said:

Are you planning on ditching the account or taking up the new offer? 

Ditching it.
I will just leave it dormant until a switching opportunity comes along.
I used two credit cards, spending £1.10 on milk each month for the DDs to get the £2.
I will just get the milk with my weekly shopping now, save 2 trips to the garage every month.
 

General_Grant

st999 said:

Does from 1st June mean that there will be no £2 deposited on or about the beginning of June so that I don't need to make purchases on the credit cards I use for DDs or cycle money through my Reward account, in May?

You should get the £2 in early June because that is in respect of May activity and would be payable if you followed the rules for the payment as in earlier months.

General_Grant

colsten said:

jeepjunkie said:

For myself, I've already started putting through debit card transactions, that doesn't earn more money elsewhere*, and cycling the £1500 to overlap the change. After June, assuming all going well, the DD's will moved somewhere more productive
*I have a prepaid Mastercard that earns up to 10% cashback on many of the big High Street names

I am reluctant to make >£100 purchases with a debit card as there is no Section 75 protection.

Of course none of the DC payments need to be greater than £100 as long as they total £500.

surreysaver

soulsaver said:

st999 said:

Does from 1st June mean that there will be no £2 deposited on or about the beginning of June so that I don't need to make purchases on the credit cards I use for DDs or cycle money through my Reward account, in May?

To be certain to get a reward either way I'm doing in May whatever qualifies for both the old Rewards and the new: 
2DDs, cycle £1500 and DC spend £500 - qualifies for either.
However, if you wanted the £5k (through all May to qualify for June reward?) it isn't so clear as if it doesn't qualify you'd have lost a month's interest from elsewhere, c.£5.

That's exactly what I'm doing. Going to adhere to both the new and old terms for May. In fact, the DDs are Post Office ones, so probably just leave them going anyway 

crumpet_man

Fingerbobs said:

I also get Cashback on my credit card, so avoid using debit cards unless I absolutely have to, which is rare. £500 of normal spend on my Halifax debit card would cost me £2.50 in lost cashback. 

Amex 1.5% cashback?  I thought they'd reduced it to 1.25% or is a different card you have?
You could always pay the credit card bill with the Halifax debit card.