Halifax rewards acc (& other offers coming to an end) - close the account or not?

B0bbyEwing

Just curious whether you guys shut down your accounts when these offers come to an end (Halifax Rewards soon, Santander Lite Cashback recently) or whether you leave your accounts open & if so why?

I like the tidiness of only having open what's needed, so on that note I want to close them down.

BUT I leave them open with £1 in because:

- If a switching offer comes up then I have an account pretty much ready to go without waiting on having to open one & set up (I know I may need to quickly fire up direct debits on it). 
The problem here is - I've been kept out of most switching offers due to their T&Cs so I'm probably just hoping for something that isn't going to happen.

- the faff of opening an account. Most have been straight forward & can be done online. Barclays though was a royal PITA as had to have an appointment to go in branch to set it up. Just a simple current account. I leave it open because I don't want to go through that faff again.

- T&Cs may not allow you to benefit from what previous customers could. For example, I believe that new people couldn't have 3x Halifax Rewards accounts, or at least that's what I read here anyway but if you already had 3 open as was previously allowed (I did) then you'd get your rewards on each of the 3 so where some people were only getting £5 a month I was getting £15. In actual fact it was £30 we were getting as the wife had 3 too, so I'm reluctant to close them down in case something comes in the future & we're only allowed 1.

It's a constant battle. I want to stop cycling all this money because it's time & management ... but it's 'free' money. I want to close accounts not needed so things are minimal ... but what if.

PRAISETHESUN

Mine are linked to YouGov, so I'm leaving them open. I was debating whether to downgrade to their fee-free account, but I've decided to leave it as is since I've already automated the monthly pay in requirement by standing order so it actually will require more effort to change things

Kim_13

Downgrading to the free account once the lump sum lands for the rest of the payments, since a current account appears to be required to get money out of the RS online/by app at the end of the term.

Aidanmc

PRAISETHESUN said:

Mine are linked to YouGov, so I'm leaving them open. I was debating whether to downgrade to their fee-free account, but I've decided to leave it as is since I've already automated the monthly pay in requirement by standing order so it actually will require more effort to change things

Will the account fee remain if there are no rewards available?

Kim_13

Aidanmc said:

PRAISETHESUN said:

Mine are linked to YouGov, so I'm leaving them open. I was debating whether to downgrade to their fee-free account, but I've decided to leave it as is since I've already automated the monthly pay in requirement by standing order so it actually will require more effort to change things

Will the account fee remain if there are no rewards available?

Yes. There are rewards available as far as Halifax are concerned, but they are things like no foreign usage fees, a poor rate of interest on the current account if 2 DDs are paid out and preferential savings/ISA rates. Far easier to just go with the best buy for these things and avoid the faff of avoiding a £3 fee every month.

Section62

B0bbyEwing said:

...

- T&Cs may not allow you to benefit from what previous customers could. For example, I believe that new people couldn't have 3x Halifax Rewards accounts, or at least that's what I read here anyway but if you already had 3 open as was previously allowed (I did) then you'd get your rewards on each of the 3 so where some people were only getting £5 a month I was getting £15. In actual fact it was £30 we were getting as the wife had 3 too, so I'm reluctant to close them down in case something comes in the future & we're only allowed 1.
...

You've answered your own question - if you think Reward accounts might be worth having again in the future, and you think the number allowed might be restricted, then it makes sense to keep what you have.

If you don't think this, and/or find the effort of keeping the accounts running at zero cost excessive, then get rid.

badger09

I’ve reached the stage in my life where I’m concerned about the admin burden I’m leaving for my Execs. Not morbid, just realistic. 

I’m fortunate in that I don’t need a few extra £££s and TBH I’m bored with what used to be a lot of fun, chasing highest rates, switch offers etc. 

My financial affairs are now unnecessarily complicated so I’m closing accounts as they become ‘redundant’ and minimising the number of banks/B socs I hold accounts with. 
Not suitable for everyone though & not very MSE. 

Hattie627

badger09 said:

I’ve reached the stage in my life where I’m concerned about the admin burden I’m leaving for my Execs. Not morbid, just realistic. 

I’m fortunate in that I don’t need a few extra £££s and TBH I’m bored with what used to be a lot of fun, chasing highest rates, switch offers etc. 

My financial affairs are now unnecessarily complicated so I’m closing accounts as they become ‘redundant’ and minimising the number of banks/B socs I hold accounts with. 
Not suitable for everyone though & not very MSE. 

I feel the same. Must try to simplify things.

Until I see a nice juicy new Regular Saver with a good fixed interest rate and a high monthly deposit and I simply MUST have it, and as quickly as possible. Any delay causes anxiety until the craving for the new account is satisfied. It's become an addiction. I wonder if there are any therapists specialising in treating this?

HillStreetBlues

badger09 said:

I’ve reached the stage in my life where I’m concerned about the admin burden I’m leaving for my Execs. Not morbid, just realistic. 

I’m fortunate in that I don’t need a few extra £££s and TBH I’m bored with what used to be a lot of fun, chasing highest rates, switch offers etc. 

My financial affairs are now unnecessarily complicated so I’m closing accounts as they become ‘redundant’ and minimising the number of banks/B socs I hold accounts with. 
Not suitable for everyone though & not very MSE. 

Sounds like you've lost interest.

Zanderman

badger09 said:

I’ve reached the stage in my life where I’m concerned about the admin burden I’m leaving for my Execs. Not morbid, just realistic. 

I’m fortunate in that I don’t need a few extra £££s and TBH I’m bored with what used to be a lot of fun, chasing highest rates, switch offers etc. 

My financial affairs are now unnecessarily complicated so I’m closing accounts as they become ‘redundant’ and minimising the number of banks/B socs I hold accounts with. 
Not suitable for everyone though & not very MSE. 

Mrs Z-man and I are feeling similar, having been executor for a few relatives in recent years I realise our affairs will appear nightmarish (multiple accounts of various types at multiple banks, BSocs etc which even we have trouble tracking sometimes) to our executors if we fell under a bus tomorrow.  So we have started closing the least useful (Halifax Rewards, three of them between us, will soon be in that category) and no longer chase the regular savers etc. We may take it even further and (shock, horror!) just have a handful of account at a handful of banks.

HillStreetBlues said:

Sounds like you've lost interest.

Yes, we're might well be losing some interest!   However we may regain some by simply having fewer but fixed interest accounts.

B0bbyEwing

badger09 said:

I’ve reached the stage in my life where I’m concerned about the admin burden I’m leaving for my Execs. Not morbid, just realistic. 

I’m fortunate in that I don’t need a few extra £££s and TBH I’m bored with what used to be a lot of fun, chasing highest rates, switch offers etc. 

My financial affairs are now unnecessarily complicated so I’m closing accounts as they become ‘redundant’ and minimising the number of banks/B socs I hold accounts with. 
Not suitable for everyone though & not very MSE. 

I had to double check as that's basically my feelings but didn't remember posting that. HillStreetBlues said:

badger09 said:

I’ve reached the stage in my life where I’m concerned about the admin burden I’m leaving for my Execs. Not morbid, just realistic. 

I’m fortunate in that I don’t need a few extra £££s and TBH I’m bored with what used to be a lot of fun, chasing highest rates, switch offers etc. 

My financial affairs are now unnecessarily complicated so I’m closing accounts as they become ‘redundant’ and minimising the number of banks/B socs I hold accounts with. 
Not suitable for everyone though & not very MSE. 

Sounds like you've lost interest.

Badum tish