Halifax £100 switch incentive

colsten

Shedman said:

colsten said:

Shedman said:

Why NSI Premium Bonds...why not the NSI Direct Saver.  Put £501 in, take out £500 a couple of days later 

Earliest you can take it out is 7 days later. 

Isn't that just if you deposit at the very end of a month or the beginning of a month as they don't update until 5th for some obscure reason.   I'm pretty sure that I've been able to withdraw after 2 or 3 days max if deposited after the 5th.  But with NSI nothing seems certain.....

You might be right - I always deposit on the 1st, as I want to be doubly sure there is plenty of time for the transaction to count for the calendar month. I will give it a try when my deposit of April 1 has cleared - - - this is still sitting there uncleared, and I don't expect it to clear until Wednesday as their bumph talks about 7 banking days.  Then you have to add  another day and a half before the money actually arrives in your current account. Those huge delays are ok if you are dealing with spare money but if you need the money quickly, you could be in serious trouble.

They also haven't processed April's Premium Bond wins yet.

Johntea

OK so I'm into online banking now...£5001 in my account but it shows as going in on 9th April so apparently I've missed my £5 for the first month as the account was opened 11:20pm on the 8th April...

Going to seek further clarification from Halifax as I know it is only a fiver but I would have thought as long as I had the £5001 by close of play on 9th April they would have honoured the bonus (they don't define close of play either...5pm?  Midnight?)

I seem to remember even doing the transfer before 23:59 on the 8th but obviously it can take up to a couple of hours to process these transfers

kaMelo

Johntea said:

OK so I'm into online banking now...£5001 in my account but it shows as going in on 9th April so apparently I've missed my £5 for the first month as the account was opened 11:20pm on the 8th April...

Going to seek further clarification from Halifax as I know it is only a fiver but I would have thought as long as I had the £5001 by close of play on 9th April they would have honoured the bonus (they don't define close of play either...5pm?  Midnight?)

I seem to remember even doing the transfer before 23:59 on the 8th but obviously it can take up to a couple of hours to process these transfers

Whilst I can't find it written anywhere I would think day means a 24 hour day starting at 00:00 and finishing at 23:59 but I think the pertinent question is not when you opened the account but when you activated the rewards extra. From the terms;



Did you activate the rewards extra on the 8th or 9th?

SpanishBlue

colsten said:

Shedman said:

colsten said:

Shedman said:

Why NSI Premium Bonds...why not the NSI Direct Saver.  Put £501 in, take out £500 a couple of days later 

Earliest you can take it out is 7 days later. 

Isn't that just if you deposit at the very end of a month or the beginning of a month as they don't update until 5th for some obscure reason.   I'm pretty sure that I've been able to withdraw after 2 or 3 days max if deposited after the 5th.  But with NSI nothing seems certain.....

You might be right - I always deposit on the 1st, as I want to be doubly sure there is plenty of time for the transaction to count for the calendar month. I will give it a try when my deposit of April 1 has cleared - - - this is still sitting there uncleared, and I don't expect it to clear until Wednesday as their bumph talks about 7 banking days.  Then you have to add  another day and a half before the money actually arrives in your current account. Those huge delays are ok if you are dealing with spare money but if you need the money quickly, you could be in serious trouble.

They also haven't processed April's Premium Bond wins yet.

Interesting, I always deposit mine on the 2nd working day of each month, and in a normal (non bank holiday) period, it's available to withdraw 8 days later.

I have never thought that doing it a few days later might make a difference to when I can withdraw the funds, so will be interested to find out how you get on with your later in the month transfer.

colsten

I have only just noticed  that the payment I made to NS&I on the morning of April 1 is dated April 6 in my NS&I account. My card was debited on April 2. Clearly "special" Easter processing in NS&I.....

So as far as NS&I are concerned, my payment happened on April 6. If payments made after the 5th would take just 2-3 working days to clear, it should be cleared by now. It hasn't. And I don't really expect it to clear until later this week as I have never had any of my NS&I card deposits clear in less than 7 calendar days.

Nonetheless, I have just made another test deposit, clear from any bank holidays but obviously it's a Sunday today. The payment shows on my NS&I account as made today, so they are able to correctly record payment dates..... Will report back as and when.

I would add that I am not complaining as it doesn't much matter to me if they take half an eternity over clearing the deposits but it might matter to others.

Johntea

kaMelo said:

Johntea said:

OK so I'm into online banking now...£5001 in my account but it shows as going in on 9th April so apparently I've missed my £5 for the first month as the account was opened 11:20pm on the 8th April...

Going to seek further clarification from Halifax as I know it is only a fiver but I would have thought as long as I had the £5001 by close of play on 9th April they would have honoured the bonus (they don't define close of play either...5pm?  Midnight?)

I seem to remember even doing the transfer before 23:59 on the 8th but obviously it can take up to a couple of hours to process these transfers

Whilst I can't find it written anywhere I would think day means a 24 hour day starting at 00:00 and finishing at 23:59 but I think the pertinent question is not when you opened the account but when you activated the rewards extra. From the terms;



Did you activate the rewards extra on the 8th or 9th?

I activated it at the same time as opening the account (so the 8th), I didn't notice you could perhaps open the account without and then activate it later!

kt01

Two questions on this one, as probably going to go for it:

• Is the £5/month subject to o have an income tax deduction, as I know the old version of this account this used to be the case? Or is now considered cashback and therefore not taxable?

• Does paying my credit card bill count as spend (in my case Amex)?
  

Emily_Joy

colsten said:

noh said:

Not yet although I do intend to open a Ultimate Reward account and switch in a TSB account and then downgrade the Ultimate Reward once the incentive is received.
According to the T+Cs of the the Ultimate Reward account the £17 pm fee should be charged pro rata therefore around £9 so net gain £91.

As I can't get any more normal Reward accounts, that's much what I did last August. As Halifax are (/have been) paying swiftly, I switched the UR out as soon as the TSB switch-in was completed. I was not charged anything for the UR. Best to start this very early in a month so 2 switches can be completed before the end of the month. You may be just about still ok for April, or you might want to wait until May. Or you might not care about paying one month pro-rata.

Does this mean you've switched the UR out before you received the bonus?

Ed-1

kt01 said:

• Is the £5/month subject to o have an income tax deduction, as I know the old version of this account this used to be the case? Or is now considered cashback and therefore not taxable?

It's only cashback under the debit card spend option. It's paid net of basic rate tax under the £5,000 option.

kt01 said:

• Does paying my credit card bill count as spend (in my case Amex)?

Yes.

colsten

Emily_Joy said:

colsten said:

noh said:

Not yet although I do intend to open a Ultimate Reward account and switch in a TSB account and then downgrade the Ultimate Reward once the incentive is received.
According to the T+Cs of the the Ultimate Reward account the £17 pm fee should be charged pro rata therefore around £9 so net gain £91.

As I can't get any more normal Reward accounts, that's much what I did last August. As Halifax are (/have been) paying swiftly, I switched the UR out as soon as the TSB switch-in was completed. I was not charged anything for the UR. Best to start this very early in a month so 2 switches can be completed before the end of the month. You may be just about still ok for April, or you might want to wait until May. Or you might not care about paying one month pro-rata.

Does this mean you've switched the UR out before you received the bonus?

No, of course not. As I said, Halifax have been paying swiftly.