Halifax Scrapping £5/Cinema ticket Rewards.

Organgrinder

Any suggestions regarding best account to switch to. (I'm not eligible for any incentives - think I've exhausted them all).

Pay in about £3,500 a month.

Bills are.
Council tax -£272
Energy - £141
Broadband/mobile £25

goatfaced

Zopa biscuit gives 2% interest for a year and 2% back on direct debits but only to max £30 a year. They don't do switching so you'd have to do it yourself. 

Or do you want the free cinema tickets from club Lloyd's maybe, or £3 a month from NatWest or RBS. 

WillPS

PRAISETHESUN said:

kuepper said:

Not much point in staying with them but I wondered when was the best time to close to avoid being charged £3 fee, is it as soon as you're paid your outstanding rewards in October?

If you're intent on closing them then yes, I'd wait until they pay the outstanding rewards in Oct. Personally I'm keeping mine open, partly because mine are linked to YouGov, but also partly to see what they end up offering (if anything) down the line. I've automated the monthly paying by SO so it's no extra effort on my end either way.

You could just downgrade to the free Current Account. That'd keep the YouGov link alive and stop the need to hoop-jump (although you'd probably need to do something to make sure it didn't go dormant/lack sufficient activity for YouGov).

Barney1954

WillPS said:

PRAISETHESUN said:

kuepper said:

Not much point in staying with them but I wondered when was the best time to close to avoid being charged £3 fee, is it as soon as you're paid your outstanding rewards in October?

If you're intent on closing them then yes, I'd wait until they pay the outstanding rewards in Oct. Personally I'm keeping mine open, partly because mine are linked to YouGov, but also partly to see what they end up offering (if anything) down the line. I've automated the monthly paying by SO so it's no extra effort on my end either way.

You could just downgrade to the free Current Account. That'd keep the YouGov link alive and stop the need to hoop-jump (although you'd probably need to do something to make sure it didn't go dormant/lack sufficient activity for YouGov).

Do they keep the same account number if you downgrade?

Zanderman

Barney1954 said:

WillPS said:

PRAISETHESUN said:

kuepper said:

Not much point in staying with them but I wondered when was the best time to close to avoid being charged £3 fee, is it as soon as you're paid your outstanding rewards in October?

If you're intent on closing them then yes, I'd wait until they pay the outstanding rewards in Oct. Personally I'm keeping mine open, partly because mine are linked to YouGov, but also partly to see what they end up offering (if anything) down the line. I've automated the monthly paying by SO so it's no extra effort on my end either way.

You could just downgrade to the free Current Account. That'd keep the YouGov link alive and stop the need to hoop-jump (although you'd probably need to do something to make sure it didn't go dormant/lack sufficient activity for YouGov).

Do they keep the same account number if you downgrade?

Yes, account number would be the same.

BlueonBlue

Halifax is going to have to offer up something once the majority spit the dummy and close the reward accounts .
Which is what they want you to do ,they have gone down this road before in the past but in different ways .

This time its seems terminal but I would wait out until the fat lady sings because she will to stay compeditive 

WillPS

BlueonBlue said:

Halifax is going to have to offer up something once the majority spit the dummy and close the reward accounts .
Which is what they want you to do ,they have gone down this road before in the past but in different ways .

This time its seems terminal but I would wait out until the fat lady sings because she will to stay compeditive 

Things are different. They've more or less stopped spending money externally marketing Halifax in the last 2 years. All the budget is going to Lloyds (and BOS north of the border).

They've also never ditched the cash reward. They've reduced it multiple times, then increased it and tried to offer other things, and also changed the hoops you need to jump through to get it... but never ditched it.

It's also notable that they've enabled branches to cross serve Lloyds products for the first time, and the apps are also being primed to do the same. If the branches and the app can all push Club Lloyds and Premier, which is clearly the favoured child, why would they keep offering a product which is in many ways superior to them?

King_Of_Fools

Personally, I would be surprised if they keep the Club Lloyds rewards.
Other than that, the new Halifax and the BoS current accounts are identical to Lloyds.

danny13579

I can't really see them ever offering the old rewards again. Yeah, it only takes seconds to cycle £1,500 through 3 Reward Accounts per month but how long are people going to keep doing that before getting a bit fed up that they're getting next to nothing in return?

I agree that it feels different this time. It feels like Halifax is being put out to pasture.

poshrule_uk

I think I will downgrade my accounts but I will keep them open as a just in case.

Nothing lasts for ever but this was a very good perk.