Halifax to relaunch regular saver @10%+

cundall

Anyone getting problems transferring money to the GS account to then transfer to the RS account?

I phoned them up to transfer money (would take 2 hours), when i phoned up 3 hours later the money has still not transfered! I will be on the phone at 8am

BiggaThanBen

Paul_Herring wrote: »

Looks like their software is still broken. Ring them up or (preferably,) if you can do it) turn up in person in a branch[1]

I looked in internet banking, the type of 10%-children-saver account is "regular saver", so this is probably why. I hate going to branch, it takes 30 minutes minimum to resolve a simple problem. Its much more easier with HSBC or A&L where you get the same/next day response via electronic message - takes 1-2 minutes of my time to sort out almost everything ...

blizeH

cashprincezac wrote: »

Banks have to verify id from time to time..that's the regulations.

Keep the faith....10% is well worth it

I actually couldn't disagree more. The extra 10% (12% actually, assuming everything goes to plan) is a nice incentive, but would I rather the extra money over dealing with these? It's a tough call really.

They're completely useless, they seem to make everything as difficult as possible and I don't understand why on earth I have to verify my ID for the third time, let alone at a non local branch that's going to take around two hours to get to.

Maybe I'm being a bit harsh here, I'm using the utterly sublime Icesave and Kaupthing Edge as a benchmark, but it's not that Halifax don't come close, more that they fall completely flat on their face to the extent I never want to deal with this bunch of morons again.

I'm going to call them first thing in the morning and request that either they verify the account using the details they already have, photocopied/scanned from me, or that they let me take my details into a local branch. If they can't do that, then no big loss, I'll just put my money elsewhere.

uk1

Mikeyorks wrote: »

I picked this up a couple of days ago and much earlier in the thread ... meant to remark upon it and then forgot.

Is this a personal observation ... or have you qualified it with Halifax, please? On the basis that the funds in a joint account are categorised as 50:50 for tax purposes - but otherwise are fully owned by both parties ...... it certainly appears to meet the T&Cs. But whether the code that generates the 10% or 12% at the year end - reads it similarly, is something I might decide to put to the test.

No, I'm not going to bother as I'm satisfied that I'm complying with the rules as they have specified them.

It's their rules and they don't specifically say that the nominated account must be a sole account and not a joint one. So they cannot disbar a £5k lodged in a joint account being a qualifier for the joint owners and becoming the nominated account by the two seperate joint owners. If they want to do this then they must specifically say so. The rules make no attempt to say that it must be £10k for joint applicants but but merely that "a" £5k must be in the account.

In any event I cannot see how they'd easily programme their system to stop both joint owners receiving the extra 2%. The same nominated account currently shows on both RS accounts and if they try any monkey business I'm happy to take them on.

If they did play funny, it would be very interesting to see how they decide which of us to give the extra 2% to and which of us to deprive and to see how they rationalise their choice as both of us will claim to have completely complied with their rules.

Mikeyorks

sloughflint wrote: »

So why is it not a good plan to get this and ditch as soon as money swept in? Unless I misunderstood the posts earlier on.

It is a good plan ... if you have the £5k, and want the 12%. The previous discussion was around the breakpoint where the 12% is more beneficial than the basic 10%? And that was 'agreed' as being around 5.8% to make it worth tying the £5k up.

But ... none of the nominated accounts offer above 5.25%. Until you look carefully at the Guaranteed Saver (5.25%) .... where there is a 'Reward' version at 6.25%, simply by making 1 or less withdrawals in the year. So, as anyone taking this account for the purpose of getting the 12% variant of the RS .. isn't going to be making withdrawals - they get the 6.25%. And that takes them above the point of benefit. In particular (see previous post) if both you and OH have RS's and you make the 'Reward' account joint ... and both point at the same £5k?

Paul-Herring wrote:

For Halifax Guaranteed Saver, the rate will equal the Bank of England base rate until 16 July 2008 for all accounts containing at least £2,500. On and after 17 July 2008, the interest rate is guaranteed to be no lower than 0.50% below the Bank of England base rate until at least 1 Jan 2013 for balances above £2,500

Sorry Paul - I think it's confusing as well, but the 6.25% Guaranteed Saver Reward is clearly shown as fixed rate for one year ... provided you open it up to Oct 2008. Top of the page - where you've quoted from the Guaranteed Saver - at the bottom.

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

uk1

...... following my last post re one jointly owned account with a single £5k being the qualifier for each joint owners seperate RS accounts, it further occurs to me that there doesn't appear to be anything currently in the rules as far as I can see where any family or close trusting friends couldn't use the same nomicated account so long as they are happy for the proceeds to end up there.

The rule says " ..... and you keep at least £5k in your nominated account for the first year ........". The operative phrase here is "your nominated account" and in this context can have two different meanings. It might mean "the account that you own", or equally it might mean in "the account that you have nominated". Both meanings could comply with the descriptor "your nominated account".

I haven't tried this because I can't, but it wouldn't suprise me if anyone could use someone elses qualifying account as a nominated account .... as long as they trusted them of course and as long as the account number was accepted when enroling. I do not know whether it will technically allow that. If it were true then any nuumber of people could pool a single £5k to get the 12%.

Perhaps a more practical application for this idea might be if a parent or grandparent were considering a regular saving plan for a year - then this might produce the 12% rather than the 10% if they could point their own £5k account?

cundall

Is the best way to just keep 5k in the Guaranteed Saver account and then transfer the £500 from any other account? As you cannot take funds out of the Guaranteed Saver account with the first year.

Mikeyorks

uk1 wrote: »

but it wouldn't suprise me if anyone could use someone elses qualifying account as a nominated account

Agree with your post #435 .... but not this one. I would be amazed if you could 'nominate' an account in which you didn't have either a sole or a joint interest. Notwithstanding how you read it .... the software isn't going to allow a link to an account that has no underlying relationship to you.

Mikeyorks

cundall wrote: »

Is the best way to just keep 5k in the Guaranteed Saver account and then transfer the £500 from any other account? As you cannot take funds out of the Guaranteed Saver account with the first year.

You can't put the £11k into the Guaranteed Saver and then fund the RS from there ... as there is a maximum of 1 withdrawal to keep the 6.25% fixed rate. You can only go to 4 withdrawals at the 5.25% rate (which you've just made variable by going over 1 withdrawal) .... so it's not a viable option?

blizeH

Hang on a second, can someone explain the 12% thing please? I assumed it just meant that if you deposited £5k over the course of the 12 months (out of the £6k possible) then you'd get the extra 2% bonus?