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

colsten

OceanSound said:

You really should consider taking a drive to your nearest castle to check your eyesight.

The chairman of the Police Federation has urged people not to drive at all to check eyesight'. Nevermind, to the nearest castle.

Don't worry, it doesn't matter what Police say. We can all follow our instincts now 🤪🚗🚘🏰🧐

colsten

OceanSound said:

Luck is immaterial. If Halifax does not honour the terms, and we are unable to resolve with each other, I will approach the ombudsman or Court. I think the latter, as the Financial Ombudsman has gone down the pan and is biased. Also, although I've not made any complaints to the ombudsman lately, my average number of complaints is still high compared to the national average.

If Halifax doesn't honour terms that you have made up, you won't get anywhere with a complaint. 

YorkshireBoy

pphillips said:

YorkshireBoy said:

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.

The terms and conditions only allow for rewards payments on 2 accounts, one of which must be joint.

Their T&Cs also said I could only have 3 accounts back in 2009, but I've had 4 for nearly 11 years.
The way I saw the 4 phone calls I made was heads I win, and tails I don't lose.

Fingerbobs

eskbanker said:

Fingerbobs said:

I fail to see where the confusion lies. The new offer doesn't start until 1st June. Meeting the requirement for that offer during May is futile because the offer hasn't started yet. I'm expecting to get £2 next month, then £5 in July. 

I believe the confusion arises from different interpretations of the word 'offer' - it's being used to describe both the overall new reward pricing scheme and also its activation by an individual within that.

OceanSound either believes or pretends to believe that "The Offer starts on the day you select it and lasts for a minimum of 12 full months" literally means a 12-month period starting at any time, rather than a 12-month period starting after the commencement of the new pricing/reward scheme on 1 June.  The latter interpretation seems obvious to most of us, especially given the context within which that wording appears, but it isn't spelt out absolutely explicitly....

Ah, yes, I've re-read the original letter, and there is an ambiguity there, but as you say it's quite apparent, even if not stated explicitly, that these are the terms that apply after the account changes come into effect.

pphillips

YorkshireBoy said:

pphillips said:

YorkshireBoy said:

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.

The terms and conditions only allow for rewards payments on 2 accounts, one of which must be joint.

Their T&Cs also said I could only have 3 accounts back in 2009, but I've had 4 for nearly 11 years.
The way I saw the 4 phone calls I made was heads I win, and tails I don't lose.

Would be interested to hear if you get rewards on all 4 of them.

portenio

Common-sensely I believe old accounts (i.e. opened before 13  March 2020) will all get the £5 rewards if  conditions are met of course.

Independently of the number of accounts you had.

Why do I think this?

1) If otherwise, the phony robotie would not have offered the chance to enter more accounts  after entering the first one.

2) In previous scheme multiple reward accounts were possible, and so should be in new scheme. That should be honoured otherwise it would create massive frustration to old customers.

3) In my eyes the T&C's related to being possible just  1 sole account apply to new customers or existing who switch to their first time ever reward account from 1/6. Similar to the famous "confusion" about the starting date and 20 November example. This also applies from 1/6.

Customers with accounts older than 12 March are on a dfferent boat if you like, or first class of the same boat LOL.

I hope Halifax honour the multiple account rule for  older customers. We shall see.

If not the whole change wont be that convenient for them. 

Example: a person with 3 accounts was getting £6 and now would get £5, so £1 worse off.

Assuming, interpreting, we are all doing that here, arent we? 
Will see who's proved wrong and who right eventually.

pphillips

Some interesting points but I do not think they would count for much in the case of a dispute for the following reasons:
The issuing to customers of new terms and conditions will supersede any multi account rule that applied previously.
I wouldn't consider the phony robot as any type of scheme adjudicator and just because a step is taken to register an account under the scheme, it doesn't follow that additional accounts will receive a reward payment.
I can't see how the terms and conditions can be interpreted as treating newer or older customers differently, the different start dates is the only apparent inconsistency in the terms and conditions.
Finally, Halifax never promised that the new reward scheme would be more or less beneficial to customers with multiple accounts and as a result, all customers were given a default option to downgrade to an ordinary current account.

portenio

Hi pphillips,

I agree with what you are saying.

I just pointed out what I believe are some positive signs indicating a probable outcome for those holding older reward accounts.

Then I drew a parallel with the starting date T%C, as for older accounts their start date in the new scheme is not the date we registered with the robot but 1/6. So as the start date T&C doesnt apply to them, I feel that the sole account bit also doesnt apply to them either. Of course I can be wrong.

With regard to the accounts registered with the robot, if we informed more than one, which one will be chosen as the sole one? Again, Halifax would have to contact us saying "Please choose only one of those informed" which would be ...er... sloppy and quite lengthy while the running time of new scheme had already started on 1/6, and with the £1500 transfers, £500 spendings, etc in full swing. If they havent asked us so far to choose for an account to be the nominated sole one, honestly I cant see it happening later on.

I am just presenting these thoughts.

Again I could well be wrong.

pphillips

In the case of multiple sole or joint accounts registered with the robot,  I would have thought it would be the first account that meets the criteria for a reward payment each month. I have no inside information and will be interested to hear whether the extra payments are forthcoming.

MisterMotivated

I, like everyone else at the minute, don't know if Halifax will allow people to keep multiple Reward accounts they already have.  I'm quite optimistic about it, however, as when I called to register my choice(s), there was a message "to register another account, press [#]".  It seems an unusual message to include if they want to cull the multiple account herd