Fancy a Fiver? (Halifax)

Member Name: HS28

Product:	Halifax
Date:	10/04/09 (288 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Many incentives, one being the Reward Account which gives you £5 a month for being in credit

Disadvantages: Savers Rates have gone downhill but so has the UK with the economic downturn (recession dare i say)

**My dealings with the Halifax**

Reviewing a banking service was never going to be easy as you base it on your own personal experiences with them which then means you can become very biased depending on whether or not they have hacked you off through bad customer service or excessive charges. I hope my review is fair about the Halifax tand he service I have had with them. My decision in joining Halifax in late 2008 is a strange one but has snowballed into me now having 3 types of accounts with them and becoming a very happy customer.

I have never been a big saver but have always had one main bank account with Barclays and a few others to save my money and keep my options open. Last year after realising that Ryan Air was getting ever so sneaky in adding on charges to your flight costs I worked out if you had a certain type of card you didn't have to pay the card fee. Now that may sound daft but the card fees can be a hefty whack as it charges you per person. It turned out if you had a basic electron card which is aimed at basic bank accounts or under 18s you didn't pay the fee. Me and my family like Ryan Air and so I hunted on MSE to find out more. Halifax was one of the banks who did this type of card. I already had my main current account with my main bank but thought I would open one of these to be my Ryan Air account and holiday fund.


**The Easy Cash Account**

The reason I wanted this account was initially because of the basic electron card and finding it on the website was hard to find at first. This is because this is a basic bank account which the government pushed all banks to create. The banks don't make any money out of them and so they are not heavily publicised. However if you go onto the website you can locate this and compare the account against other similar one Halifax have. With this account it is aimed at 16+ and does not require monthly funding. You get the visa electron card (a must for savvy saving Ryan Air travellers) which can be used in most shops where you see the visa sign. You get access to telephone and internet banking and no overdraft or account fees. This is a no frills account and you are meant to only use the counter in Halifax to pay money in over £500 and instead use the online facility or deposit machines for less. That was the only niggle I found but it turned out from my mum that they do let you pay in less despite what the information online said.

Opening this account was pretty straightforward and I did this online. You fill out the application on line and there is no credit check as it's a basic account. You get your pin and card in the post as normal and instructions on how to use the online banking. It was speedy in coming and there were good security measures in place to set up the online banking. Halifax do not use pin sentry like my other account but I am happy with the security and have never had any dodgy emails come through to me. The online service is good and I even found my transfers from Barclays were completed in the same day. I have since recommended this account to lots of people based on my Ryan Air problem!


**The Reward Account**

Once I had settled in with my easy cash I began to realise I didn't like Barclays anymore who I had been with for over a decade. I was paying Barclays a current account fee and getting things I didn't really want in return and was growing tired of them. I fancied a change and I saw an advert in the paper saying get a fiver with the Halifax Reward Current Account. So instead of me paying Barclays a fiver a month for my graduate account for not a lot Halifax would pay me a fiver a month just for paying my salary in. Well I thought in these economic terms customer loyalty was out the window and money making or saving was in! That is £60 a year for having a normal account and in these times you would need to save a heck of a lot to earn that in an ISA! Barclays had sent me a letter saying they were upping my fee to £7 a month and all I was really gaining out of this was RAC road cover.

To open my reward account I completed the online application form an as I was already a Halifax customer this was easier to do. This account is credit checked and you need to pay in over £1000 per month to earn the £5 reward whether you stay in credit or use your overdraft. On opening it you can select what overdraft you would like which of course they will means test. The overdraft fees are simple and in line with all the Halifax group banks where you pay a set amount for each day you use your overdraft. To open this account you need to put a £100 in to get your card sent out which is a visa debit card. The customer service was great and I got a phone call from Halifax to check how I was settling in and setting up moving my salary over and bills. This shows the leap in service form my basic easy cash account with them.

The online access was simple again and I can do instant transfers between my current and basic account. I am sent regular statements through the post for both accounts but can go paper free if I wish. They also sent me a good useful book on managing my money as well as a simplified guide to the reward account. I had the option to upgrade to the ultimate reward account but instead of getting a fiver it was like my old account with Barclays where you paid a fee for certain privileges and offers. I therefore have stuck with my £5 reward account.


**The variable web saver account**

I have only just opened this account with them and found the process simple again. I know saving rates stink at the moment with the recession and I don't intend on saving a lot anyway so that's ok for me. I opened this as I thought I may as well have a savings account to juggle my money around so that I can try to earn some interest over the year. The rate isn't great but is inline with all thee other banks considering these hate to say it but credit crunch times. Again I found opening it easy and you get to give your account its own nick name and say what you are saving up for which in my case is a holiday. You can do instant transfers between your accounts and get a cash card should you want one for depositing £10 or more. You don't face penalties for withdrawing but that is why the interest rate is pretty low. You get the interest from this yearly.


**Summary of the all the accounts the Halifax offer**

The Halifax does lots of other bank accounts ranging from the basic accounts like easy cash that I mentioned to card cash and express cash. It has a student account, the reward account or you can pay a fee to have the ultimate reward account. You can view these on the site and it does compare them to give a quick overview of what you do and don't get. They offer a lot of other accounts for saving and many financial products too which you can find out in detail about on the site. (www.halifax.co.uk)


**My overall thoughts**

What started off as a money saving idea for Ryan Air has led me to transferring my main bank account and opening a saver account. I am very pleased with my dealings with the Halifax over these last few months as they really do give you that ''extra''. Through one account I can now get my Ryan air flights without the debit card fees. Through the other I get rewarded for being in credit and don't pay any monthly fees and I now have an easier overdraft system to follow. The online facility is great and I couldn't say it was better than my other bank but it is secure and easy to use. I haven't had to phone to complain yet but have emailed for various things and got good speedy responses from them. I also found the phone call from the local branch a nice touch. I haven't had any negative dealings with them yet (maybe its still early days) and I have found them to be a user friendly and versatile bank.

Considering this bank is now Halifax, Bank of Scotland, Lloyds, TSB and us (well the Government) I find it still feels like a little and useful bank. I was worried initially with the take over which occurred when I took out the basic account but know with the government behind it my money is safe and I doubt ill ever have over 30k in there which is when your money is at risk. (more a live for today and spend, spend, spend although trying to change!)

Overall I am very pleased with the Halifax and they are a bank for me now but as consumer in these current times I will still be looking at the competition on the best bank deals for me personally. But I think the fiver reward incentive is a good plus point to attract customers in at the moment.

Summary: Fab accounts to suit us all and good customer service