Halifax to relaunch regular saver @10%+

debbie42

greengirl999 wrote: »

I went into Halifax today & made an appointment to speak to someone next week about opening this account. On the letter it says "Financial Review" with a "Personal Financial Advisor", which may take up to an hour. Has anyone else had one of these?

No, but they did try and steer me that way. I firmly, but politely, declined, and a savings advisor opened it for me on the day. I'd avoid it at all costs if you are just planning on opening a Regular Saver: it isn't necessary, though you can understand why they try to do it this way.

Gambit

debbie42 wrote: »

No, but they did try and steer me that way. I firmly, but politely, declined, and a savings advisor opened it for me on the day. I'd avoid it at all costs if you are just planning on opening a Regular Saver: it isn't necessary, though you can understand why they try to do it this way.

Makes me glad I ended up opening mine at quarter to 5 on a Friday... no chance of them trying to sell me things at that time! :rotfl:

The advisor just said: "I can open it for you now but it'll have to be quick I'm afraid!" Like I would say, "Oh no, I'll come back another day when you can draw the process out and try to convince me to invest in products I dont need."

Gambit

sloughflint wrote: »

My understanding was the anniversary date was from date funds hit the account ( edit: it is, just checked online); in which case the later the first payment the better and then 12 subsequent payments on the first of each month.
Manual payments fine.

Sorry guys, I'm still a bit confused about this whole 13 payments thing. I've opened my account (4th July) but not put in the first payment yet. Does that mean if I put it in on say 16th then my account will mature on 16th July 2009 meaning that if my SO is set up for the 1st of the month I will be able to pay in 13 payments? Is that right or am I confusing myself. Is this worth it considering that my last payment will only be £100? (as I am drip feeding it so starting off at £500 but will be £100 for the last 2 months)

Thanks for any advice that can be given about this...

ej3ae

I too was very confused about this...

My understanding from other regular savers (other accounts and other people on here) and from the terms and conditions of this particular one are that you can make an initial deposit (say on 9th July) and then subsequent SO payments every subsequent calender month (e.g. from 1st August onwards) beyond that until maturity in July 2009. The only people that seem to say the 13th payment is not allowed are people in the branches but i'm not entirely sure they always know what they are talking about. I spoke to a few halifax employees about my account and got a slightly different story from them all. I'm not going to cancel my SO until after the account matures so I intend to make a total of 13 deposits. If anything I would be worried about falling foul of not making any contribution in the final month so I think that doing as the people in the branch say would have more chance of breaching the terms and conditions than making the regular SO payment on 1st July 2009 (for those opening now).

I can't see as it would make much difference to them as the interest earned on the final payment will be comparatively minimal, and I had no trouble with the Lloyds TSB monthly saver.

Gambit

ej3ae wrote: »

I'm not going to cancel my SO until after the account matures so I intend to make a total of 13 deposits....I can't see as it would make much difference to them as the interest earned on the final payment will be comparatively minimal, and I had no trouble with the Lloyds TSB monthly saver.

I was going to let the SO run until I get a maturity notice from the Halifax too just to make sure. My planned monthly payment was going to be 18th of the month (due to payday) but wondering if I should change this to the 1st in order to get this 'extra' payment in and earn a bit more interest...

Gambit

sloughflint wrote: »

Don't worry.Yes you're right.
The idea is if you funded £500 on the 20th July say, the account matures on 20th July next year and you can squeeze in 12 payments on the first of the month ( August to July inclusive)....
In other words you are maximising as much into the account as early as possible into the term. So last month, people were paying in as close to the end of June as possible (28th cut-off). For July, Hal is insisting on funding before the 20th.

Ok, that makes sense!

spaceraiders

I bit the bullet and opened my 12% regular saver. The Halifax staff aren't well informed though. The first person I spoke to said I could only setup a standing order from a current account when that is not the case.

I'm getting confused by this 13 payments stuff as well. It's the 8th now. Should I be paying my £500 in tomorrow or wait until the 19/20th?

My explanation: if I was able to put my £500 in on the 31th of this month, the day after I could put another £500 in, the maturity date would be the end of July next year meaning I would have a £1000 lump getting the full 12% interest (minus a little for the extra day). If my initial payment was on the 1st July, that would be only £500 getting the full 12% instead of £1000. Therefore, you should make the opening payment as late as possible i.e. the 20th. The guy on the phone said this wouldn't work but couldn't explain why.

Does that make sense? Should I be paying in as late as possible for the first payment and then on the 1st (the earliest payment date) from then on?

spaceraiders

sloughflint wrote: »

By opening as late as possible in the month,
So here, the difference between funding initially on 11th or 20th on £500@12% is £1.18 net
Sorry for the confusion.

lol

For the amount of time I've spent looking at this, you get to a point where you should just do something and move on for the amount of extra savings you'll make. :-)

Gambit

sloughflint wrote: »

Sorry Gambit. If you are only putting £100 in the last 2 months, then the difference between paying your £500 tomorrow or 20th is 23p net if 12%

Well that settles it then... I'll just pay it in this week as planned and keep to my original monthly payment! :rotfl:

ih8stress

sloughflint wrote: »

I was guessing that you were funding from an HBOS account and have internet banking facilities?
If so, you go to payments and transfers to see what's been set up. If nothing, then you can set up the SO yourself.

edit: sorry ih8stress. I must have confused you for another poster. You don't mention funding from an HBOS account so ignore above.

Hi

My SO will be coming out of my current A & L account each month. (After I have transferred the funds from an instant high interest account - still looking at the best one to do at the moment (advice appreciated), UNLESS I will be able to transfer the money directly from the instant account when it is sorted. I have a feeling this is only applicable to current accounts though.

I don't have internet banking facilities and would prefer not to go down that route at the present time.

So, is it possible for me to check on how the Halifax have set up my SO's in any way?