Halifax to relaunch regular saver @10%+

Quietgirl

got mine open really fast. it only took a couple of minutes to confirm my details and it was very fast processing it.

mr_fishbulb

debbie42 wrote: »

I think this is the best one to use if you want to save the £5K for the 2% extra. It currently pays 6.25% if you only make one withdrawal or less in a year.

Haven't got that much money to play with. I think I'll use the £10 one

oldfella

a few clarifications having talked to halifax in case it helps anyone else ..

the account opens on receipt of the first deposit
its Ok to send the June deposit on the 20th and the July onwards on the 1st
they receive faster payments OK into the RS
it doesnt need to be a SO, a BACS payment is OK
the two promotions 2% on the RS and 1% on the Guaranteed saver are incremental

debbie42

oldfella wrote: »

the two promotions 2% on the RS and 1% on the Guaranteed saver are incremental

Can you just clarify that one for me?

outof

I just opened my account over the phone and the lady who helped me informed me that I could invest an extra £500 if I did it in cash. I'm going to confirm that in store tomorrow and after reading these forums I'm going to check and double check when interest is paid and how that extra £500 would fit in. If I can get it at the full 12% whack for twelve months, though, it makes the £5000 in a

http://www.halifax.co.uk/savings/guaranteedsaver.asp

look even more attractive. I'd get 6.25%, which would lose me 0.75% over what I'd get in an icesave bond.

I work out the net gain to be £37.50 this way.

For the guaranteed saver 6.25% gets you £312.50. In a bond that's £350. So you lose £37.50.

For the monthly saver with an initial investment of £500 and a monthly deposit of £500 I get £325+50 at 10% and £390+60 at 12%, a £75 gain at 12%.

So overall you're up £37.50 by going for the 12% option, providing you can invest the initial £500. If you can't you're still up £27.50.

I still can't decide if I want to tie up £5000 for a year (or even if I can) for the extra few pounds. It might be better to have it handy for calling bottom on the stock market and putting into a pension fund.

debbie42

outof wrote: »

I still can't decide if I want to tie up £5000 for a year (or even if I can) for the extra few pounds. It might be better to have it handy for calling bottom on the stock market and putting into a pension fund.

It is more flexible than the IceSave bond option you're using as a rate compare, though. If you did need the money you'd only lose 2% on the regular and 1% (possibly) on the guaranteed saver.

Dagobert

According to the HBOS press release, the account will be available till 20th July.

Interest gain can be optimized by opening late in the month and making subsequent payments early in the month.

Gain of opening the account on 30th June rather than to-day, 9th June*:

• £16.80 with the 12% account representing an average interest of 9.92%
• £12.25 with the 10% version representing an average interest of 8.68%

For the 12% option, the optimum average interest of the £6000 in the regular saver and the £5000 in the Guaranteed Saver at 6.25% combined is 8.25%. Compared to investing £11000 in a 7% 1-year bond, this is a gain of £137.50.

* assuming payments 2-12 gon in on 1st of the month and assuming zero transfer cost either using Faster Payments or internal transfer
** all interest figures are based on gross interest

YorkshireBoy

I've just had a nightmare of an experience setting this account up online, and later by phone.

First of all the application process says max £250 per month (a relic from the old regular saver?). Then, despite the T&C's saying you cannot fund this account from another Halifax savings account, the only two options were my WebSavers!!! Setting up from my HICA wasn't an option.

Application completed, so log back in and try to set up the SO from my HICA. Tried twice...failed twice. "We have a problem and we're aware of it".

So...on the phone (call back thankfully), first to savings. Savings say I need to speak to the online help desk. Online helpdesk say I need to speak to bank accounts. Bank accounts say I need to speak to savings. Savings try to set the SO up, spend 10 minutes trying and then say I need to speak to bank accounts. I point out that it was bank accounts who passed me through to savings because bank accounts couldn't do it.

Savings then spend a full 20 minutes setting up the SO. The CSA just didn't have a clue!

Am I surprised? No...it's par for the course with Halifax. :rolleyes:

YorkshireBoy

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

Savings then spend a full 20 minutes setting up the SO.

Just a quick question for you regular savings experts.

The SO is now set up, but has an end date of 10/6/09. Is this a problem? I thought this regular saver continued into a second year (assuming the rate is still good and I want to keep it)?

Should I amend to leave this 'date of last payment' field blank?

Dagobert

YorkshireBoy wrote:

The SO is now set up, but has an end date of 10/6/09. Is this a problem? I thought this regular saver continued into a second year (assuming the rate is still good and I want to keep it)?

The present 7% regular saver continues and someone stated on this thread that this one will continue as 7% regular saver after first maturity.

Therefore you can continue to pay by SO. You just need to make sure that the 1st payment of the next term goes in after maturity of the first term (= after the balance has been swept out)!