Halifax Regular Saver - rate increase

ForumUser7

ForumUser7 said:

Yorkshire_Pud said:

The terms of the Halifax RS state the need to set up a standing order for £25 to max £250 each month before the 25th. Then top up the difference if desired.

In practice can I set up a standing order for £1 on the first of each month and add up to £249 by manual transfer? Or would it have to be £25 standing order. 

I just do the whole lot manually and have never had problems - but, here is the information you are looking for, from the Halifax Guide to Changes For use from 7th July 2022:

'Halifax Regular Saver

We’ve amended our conditions to say that:

• You no longer need to make payments by standing order.

• You can pay in more than once a month, as long as you don’t pay in more than the maximum permitted in a calendar month.

• We won’t return your payments for the month if you pay in less than the minimum payment.'

I don't know if they've amended the ts and cs since though

EDIT: Found this in their savings account conditions dated 2nd March 2023: 
 
"Save by bank transfer or standing order. You can pay in more than once a month, as long as you don't save more than £250. Make sure we get your first payment within 28 days of account opening. After this we need to get your monthly payments by 25th of the month

amount you can save over a year
If you choose to save by standing order, you can change the amount at any time"

Standing orders definitely optional

Yorkshire_Pud

WillPS said:

Yorkshire_Pud said:

The terms of the Halifax RS state the need to set up a standing order for £25 to max £250 each month before the 25th. Then top up the difference if desired.

In practice can I set up a standing order for £1 on the first of each month and add up to £249 by manual transfer? Or would it have to be £25 standing order. 

You can not have a standing order at all and it'll still be fine, AIUI.

Cheers did wonder!

Yorkshire_Pud

ForumUser7 said:

ForumUser7 said:

Yorkshire_Pud said:

The terms of the Halifax RS state the need to set up a standing order for £25 to max £250 each month before the 25th. Then top up the difference if desired.

In practice can I set up a standing order for £1 on the first of each month and add up to £249 by manual transfer? Or would it have to be £25 standing order. 

I just do the whole lot manually and have never had problems - but, here is the information you are looking for, from the Halifax Guide to Changes For use from 7th July 2022:

'Halifax Regular Saver

We’ve amended our conditions to say that:

• You no longer need to make payments by standing order.

• You can pay in more than once a month, as long as you don’t pay in more than the maximum permitted in a calendar month.

• We won’t return your payments for the month if you pay in less than the minimum payment.'

I don't know if they've amended the ts and cs since though

EDIT: Found this in their savings account conditions dated 2nd March 2023: 
 
"Save by bank transfer or standing order. You can pay in more than once a month, as long as you don't save more than £250. Make sure we get your first payment within 28 days of account opening. After this we need to get your monthly payments by 25th of the month

amount you can save over a year
If you choose to save by standing order, you can change the amount at any time"

Standing orders definitely optional

Thanks that makes life simpler. They haven’t changed their summary info that I read yesterday that included the £25 to £250 deposit and standing order info. Confess I didn’t read the detailed t&c showing the above!

allegro120

Yorkshire_Pud said:

The terms of the Halifax RS state the need to set up a standing order for £25 to max £250 each month before the 25th. Then top up the difference if desired.

In practice can I set up a standing order for £1 on the first of each month and add up to £249 by manual transfer? Or would it have to be £25 standing order. 

I don't have SO to Halifax RS, instead I send £250 manually from Lloyds on he 1st of the months.  That works fine.  This is the same for most regular savers even when they say that you have to set up SO.

Yorkshire_Pud

allegro120 said:

Yorkshire_Pud said:

The terms of the Halifax RS state the need to set up a standing order for £25 to max £250 each month before the 25th. Then top up the difference if desired.

In practice can I set up a standing order for £1 on the first of each month and add up to £249 by manual transfer? Or would it have to be £25 standing order. 

I don't have SO to Halifax RS, instead I send £250 manually from Lloyds on he 1st of the months.  That works fine.  This is the same for most regular savers even when they say that you have to set up SO.

With the added benefits of a) not going overdrawn potentially and b) getting the max interest by being able to make the monthly deposit when the first of the month is on a weekend.

Chaykin

It would be nice if Lloyds/Halifax/Bank of Scotland applied the higher interest rate to all existing regular savers - like First Direct did...

ForumUser7

Chaykin said:

It would be nice if Lloyds/Halifax/Bank of Scotland applied the higher interest rate to all existing regular savers - like First Direct did...

I get what you mean - the reason they haven’t is because LBG offer a fixed rate. First Direct and HSBC did too, but by increasing it, although it was a really nice gesture, they blurred the lines between a fixed rate and non-fixed rate, and certainly raised a lot of questions at the time. For example, given there was no provision for this in the ts and cs, could they just lower it at will too? What about if for some reason, someone wanted the original expected interest? I don’t remember HSBC/FD giving an option to remain on the previous rate.

It would be nice if LGB followed suit, but a fixed rate is a fixed rate, and I think they want to maintain the clear difference between fixed and variable.

allegro120

Chaykin said:

It would be nice if Lloyds/Halifax/Bank of Scotland applied the higher interest rate to all existing regular savers - like First Direct did...

Yes that's much more saver friendly way of doing it. FD did it despite the rate was advertised as fixed for 12 months.  It went from 3.5% to 5% and 7% in my current RS.

allegro120

ForumUser7 said:

Chaykin said:

It would be nice if Lloyds/Halifax/Bank of Scotland applied the higher interest rate to all existing regular savers - like First Direct did...

What about if for some reason, someone wanted the original expected interest? 

Very hard to imagine anyone complaining about getting more interest than promised

MDMD

allegro120 said:

ForumUser7 said:

Chaykin said:

It would be nice if Lloyds/Halifax/Bank of Scotland applied the higher interest rate to all existing regular savers - like First Direct did...

What about if for some reason, someone wanted the original expected interest? 

Very hard to imagine anyone complaining about getting more interest than promised

In edge cases if someone is on the border of the 40% rate band, £1 of interest can cause them to lose £500 of the nil rate band (aka PSA) and be potentially stung for hundreds in tax due to this £1 of interest.

Also High income child benefit charge can be triggered for some and although both can be potentially mitigated by pension contributions they need to actively do it.