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

Poor_Leno

Surely rather than all this merry go round of cash...i.e 1,500 pay in...£500 debit card transactions per month.....isn't it better to just keep your 5 grand in a Marcus account?  I mean, I've got 7 grand in mine at the moment and that earnt 8.52 last month.  3.52 more than it would earn having to do a load of leg work if I wanted to keep the Halifax reward account.  I don't see the point unless you've maxed out the 85,000 protection limit on the best paying instant access accounts, or like the sound of the non-cash incentives.

YorkshireBoy

With 4 Reward accounts it looks like I can get back to £240 per year (from the current £96 per year). Fortunately I have options for debit card payments at both YBS and PO. And I could get rid of 6 silly DDs currently required on 3 of my accounts. Yes there's some admin, maybe a little more but then the rewards are larger.

surreysaver

Deleted_User said:

pinkdalek said:

Looks a croc of $hite to me, too many loopholes, whoopee 1 free cinema ticket - ok if you are billy no mates.

Yes, this must be the most complex current account reward scheme so far. I wonder just what other complex schemes are being designed by the banks as we speak.

But complex is what makes it fun! Especially if I can have four of them. And I'll be able to get rid of another Post Office direct debit! 

ZeroSum

Poor_Leno said:

Surely rather than all this merry go round of cash...i.e 1,500 pay in...£500 debit card transactions per month.....isn't it better to just keep your 5 grand in a Marcus account?  I mean, I've got 7 grand in mine at the moment and that earnt 8.52 last month.  3.52 more than it would earn having to do a load of leg work if I wanted to keep the Halifax reward account.  I don't see the point unless you've maxed out the 85,000 protection limit on the best paying instant access accounts, or like the sound of the non-cash incentives.

The point is you can do both.
Pay £1500 to Halifax. Then move £1000 to Marcus. Deposit £500 by debit card to PO or YBS. Then move £500 back to Halifax, then onto Marcus.
Then you pretty much get full interest (baring the 3 days on £500) and the £5.

JustAnotherSaver

Hmm not sure i'll be keeping mine.

I do wonder if Lloyds will change their cinema ticket offerings though in light of this since theirs is a much better deal in my opinion. Ok you get 6 up front rather than potentially 12 in dribs and drabs but you don't have to do the same farting around.

Sounds like a load of faff for not much return. Will have to look at it again when i'm not so tired to see if i've missed anything but right now it's too much hassle for not a lot.

Yorkshire_Pud

As regards the £500 debit card spend each month, does paying a credit card bill over the counter at a bank, Post Office etc using their chip and PIN machine count in part or in full if £500 or more?

If paying in to a savings account at a local building society that accepts cash payments, would I be able to use a Halifax debit card assuming they have a chip and PIN machine and that count as ‘cash’ (to fulfil the building society requirement for a cash payment in branch)?

Poor_Leno

ZeroSum said:

Poor_Leno said:

Surely rather than all this merry go round of cash...i.e 1,500 pay in...£500 debit card transactions per month.....isn't it better to just keep your 5 grand in a Marcus account?  I mean, I've got 7 grand in mine at the moment and that earnt 8.52 last month.  3.52 more than it would earn having to do a load of leg work if I wanted to keep the Halifax reward account.  I don't see the point unless you've maxed out the 85,000 protection limit on the best paying instant access accounts, or like the sound of the non-cash incentives.

The point is you can do both.
Pay £1500 to Halifax. Then move £1000 to Marcus. Deposit £500 by debit card to PO or YBS. Then move £500 back to Halifax, then onto Marcus.
Then you pretty much get full interest (baring the 3 days on £500) and the £5.

Yes, I stand corrected.  I just re-read the message and its either spend £500 on the debit card  OR maintain a 5,000 balance along with 1,500 pay in.  I thought you needed to meet all three of those criteria.  Ok, this isn't bad then.  Since I can make debit card payments to my NS&I savings account Direct Saver account, I guess that would take care of that.  I think Birmingham midshires allows the same, will need to check.  I think NS&I deposits can't be withdrawn until 30 days after the date they are paid in.

I do wonder about this part on the offer terms of the debit card spend :
 " payments that are disputed will not count towards the £500 ".

I wonder if payments as such into other banks / building society accounts will then be part of the exemption / disputed spend.  I'd expect it to be quite likely so.

hmmm.  Its tough cos once you opt in, you're stuck in for at least 12 months, so if the debit card spend to savings does not count (or credit card payment with debit card), would be kinda stuck with either having to leave 5k in the account to avoid paying the fee or just paying it. 

surreysaver

JustAnotherSaver said:

Hmm not sure i'll be keeping mine.

I do wonder if Lloyds will change their cinema ticket offerings though in light of this since theirs is a much better deal in my opinion. Ok you get 6 up front rather than potentially 12 in dribs and drabs but you don't have to do the same farting around.

Sounds like a load of faff for not much return. Will have to look at it again when i'm not so tired to see if i've missed anything but right now it's too much hassle for not a lot.

You don't need to keep £5k in it to avoid paying the fee. You just need to pay £1.5k in a month 

ZeroSum

Poor_Leno said:

ZeroSum said:

Poor_Leno said:

Surely rather than all this merry go round of cash...i.e 1,500 pay in...£500 debit card transactions per month.....isn't it better to just keep your 5 grand in a Marcus account?  I mean, I've got 7 grand in mine at the moment and that earnt 8.52 last month.  3.52 more than it would earn having to do a load of leg work if I wanted to keep the Halifax reward account.  I don't see the point unless you've maxed out the 85,000 protection limit on the best paying instant access accounts, or like the sound of the non-cash incentives.

The point is you can do both.
Pay £1500 to Halifax. Then move £1000 to Marcus. Deposit £500 by debit card to PO or YBS. Then move £500 back to Halifax, then onto Marcus.
Then you pretty much get full interest (baring the 3 days on £500) and the £5.

Yes, I stand corrected.  I just re-read the message and its either spend £500 on the debit card  OR maintain a 5,000 balance along with 1,500 pay in.  I thought you needed to meet all three of those criteria.  Ok, this isn't bad then.  Since I can make debit card payments to my NS&I savings account Direct Saver account, I guess that would take care of that.  I think Birmingham midshires allows the same, will need to check.  I think NS&I deposits can't be withdrawn until 30 days after the date they are paid in.

I do wonder about this part on the offer terms of the debit card spend :
 " payments that are disputed will not count towards the £500 ".

I wonder if payments as such into other banks / building society accounts will then be part of the exemption / disputed spend.  I'd expect it to be quite likely so.

hmmm.  Its tough cos once you opt in, you're stuck in for at least 12 months, so if the debit card spend to savings does not count (or credit card payment with debit card), would be kinda stuck with either having to leave 5k in the account to avoid paying the fee or just paying it. 

It's the £5k balance or £500 spend is to get the £5 reward.
You just need to pay in £1500 to avoid the fee (same as Lloyd's)

Ratesetter is also good to use for the debit card spend as unlike the savings accounts you don't need to wait for it to clear & actually withdraw the money straight away with it back in current account next day. 

Ed-1

Poor_Leno said:

ZeroSum said:

Poor_Leno said:

Surely rather than all this merry go round of cash...i.e 1,500 pay in...£500 debit card transactions per month.....isn't it better to just keep your 5 grand in a Marcus account?  I mean, I've got 7 grand in mine at the moment and that earnt 8.52 last month.  3.52 more than it would earn having to do a load of leg work if I wanted to keep the Halifax reward account.  I don't see the point unless you've maxed out the 85,000 protection limit on the best paying instant access accounts, or like the sound of the non-cash incentives.

The point is you can do both.
Pay £1500 to Halifax. Then move £1000 to Marcus. Deposit £500 by debit card to PO or YBS. Then move £500 back to Halifax, then onto Marcus.
Then you pretty much get full interest (baring the 3 days on £500) and the £5.

I do wonder about this part on the offer terms of the debit card spend :
 " payments that are disputed will not count towards the £500 ".

I wonder if payments as such into other banks / building society accounts will then be part of the exemption / disputed spend.  I'd expect it to be quite likely so.

hmmm.  Its tough cos once you opt in, you're stuck in for at least 12 months, so if the debit card spend to savings does not count (or credit card payment with debit card), would be kinda stuck with either having to leave 5k in the account to avoid paying the fee or just paying it. 

Disputed payments are payments you dispute as being taken in error, e.g. a payment taken twice by a retailer.

You can downgrade/close the account at any time. Nothing that says you have to keep it 12 months.