Rates, Rewards & Fees

What can I do to keep overdraft fees as low as possible?

• Repay any overdraft as soon as you can.
• Ask us about arranging an overdraft (if your account allows you to have one) as our fees are lower for planned overdrafts than unplanned.
• Check your available balance on the internet, by phone or through a cash machine to make sure you’ve enough money in your account to pay everything due. The money in your account must be available to withdraw – for example, you must wait for any cheques you’ve paid into your account to be available.
• Keep a record of any cheques you write and when they have been paid, so that you know how much money is left in your account. Someone can pay a cheque into their account up to six months after you’ve written it.
• Check your statements and make a list of the dates of your direct debits, standing orders and other regular payments – for example, mortgage, loan or rent.
• If a direct debit payment is due at a difficult time in the month for you – for example, just before you get paid – contact the company and ask them if they’ll collect it at a more convenient time.
• If you have fees to pay, remember to include them in your budget.
• If you have an Ultimate Reward Current Account, Reward Current Account or Current Account and go into overdraft in the course of a day, make sure you repay your overdraft by the end of the day to avoid paying the daily fee for that day.

Keep an eye on your balance and keep your overdraft fees as low as possible.

Direct debits, standing orders, cheques and debit cards all make life easier. Making sure you’ve enough money in your account to cover these payments will help you to keep overdraft fees as low as possible. If you bank online with us, you can transfer money from other accounts up to midnight to avoid daily fees or debit interest for that day. For other amounts you pay into your account – for example, cheques or payments made at a cash machine – you’ll need to allow time for the money to reach your account. For cheques this can take several days. It’s easy to check your account balance. You can do it 24 hours a day online, by phone or from a cash machine. Or call into one of our branches during normal working hours.

If you have money in your bank account (a credit balance), or pay in £1,000 or more each calendar month, we may pay either credit interest or a reward payment depending on the type of account you have.

 

Reward payments

If you have an Ultimate Reward Current Account or Reward Current Account and pay in £1,000 or more each calendar month, you will receive a reward payment.

Account	If you...	Amount of reward payment
Ultimate Reward Current Account or Reward Current Account	pay in £1,000 or more during any calendar month, you’ll receive one reward payment the following calendar month.	£5. This payment is ‘net’ of income tax, which means we pay it after taking off income tax at the rate set by law (currently 20%). If you’re a higher-rate taxpayer, you may have to pay extra income tax on the reward payment. (The gross amount is £6.25. This is the amount before income tax is taken off.)
	don’t pay in £1,000 in any calendar month, you won’t receive any reward payment for that calendar month.	None

The £5 reward payment will be paid into your account before the 10th of each calendar month.

 

Interest we pay on credit balances

If you have a Student Current Account, Cardcash account (account holders aged 16 and 17 only) or Expresscash account, we will pay you interest on the money in your account.

	Interest paid on credit balances
	AER %	Gross (before tax each year) %	Net (after tax each year) %
Student Current Account	0.10	0.10	0.08
Cardcash account	1.51	1.50	1.20
Expresscash account	1.51	1.50	1.20

AER stands for annual equivalent rate and shows what the interest rate would be if interest were paid and compounded each year. (In other words, you earn interest on the money you leave in your account.)

The gross rate is the rate of interest we pay before we take income tax at the rate set by law. The net rate is the interest rate we pay after tax (currently 20%).

We will pay interest to your account between the last day of the month and the first working day of the month after that. Interest is paid on the full amount in your account.

All interest rates are variable.

 

Account fees

Overdrafts

Depending on the type of account you have, we will either charge you debit interest or a daily fee for using an overdraft.

To get a planned overdraft, you must pay your salary or other regular amount into your account.
The amount we charge you for using an overdraft will depend on whether you use a planned or unplanned overdraft.

 

Monthly billing periods

We calculate the amount you pay in overdraft fees (including any returned item fees) using monthly billing periods. This applies to all accounts and means we divide the year into monthly billing periods that differ from calendar months as they start on the day after the first working day of the month. The last day of a monthly billing period is the first working day of the following month.

You’ll only ever pay one set of overdraft fees per monthly billing period.

We’ll give you at least 14 days’ notice before we take any fees or interest out of your account.

The table below provides examples of how monthly billing periods work:

First day of monthly billing period	Last day of monthly billing period	Date we take the fees from your account
2nd April 2011	3rd May 2011	1st June 2011
4th May 2011	1st June 2011	1st July 2011
2nd June 2011	1st July 2011	1st August 2011

In the above example, April’s monthly billing period starts on 2nd April because it’s the day after April’s first working day. The monthly billing period ends on 3rd May as this is the first working day of the following month. We give you at least 14 days’ notice before we take any fees from your account. We take the fees on 1st June.

In May, the 1st is a Sunday and the 2nd is a bank holiday. As the 3rd is the first working day, the monthly billing period starts on the 4th. The monthly billing period ends on 1st June as this is the first working day of the following month. We give you at least 14 days’ notice before we take any fees from your account. We take the fees on 1st July.

 

Ultimate Reward Current Account, Reward Current Account and Current Account daily overdraft fees

If you have a Reward Current Account, Ultimate Reward Current Account or Current Account, we will calculate any daily fees that apply to your use of an overdraft in each monthly billing period.

Account	Planned overdrafts		Unplanned overdrafts
	Amount of overdraft	Daily fee	Amount of overdraft	Daily fee
Current Account or Reward Current Account	Up to and including £2,500	£1	All balances	£5
	Over £2,500	£2
Ultimate Reward Current Account	Up to and including £300	fee free	All balances	£5
	From £300.01 to £2,500	£1
	Over £2,500	£2

Representative example
So, if you use a planned overdraft of £1,200, then we’ll charge you £1 a day when you use it.

If you have a planned or unplanned overdraft, your statement will show the amount of fees we’ll take from your account. If you have to pay fees for any unplanned overdraft, we’ll also tell you about these by sending you a letter. We’ll send you regular reminders if you continue to use an unplanned overdraft.

 

Student Current Account, Cardcash and Easycash debit interest

	Variable interest charged on overdrawn balances
	Amount of planned overdraft	Planned overdraft rate	Unplanned overdraft rate
Student Current Account	£3,000 or less	Interest free (0% EAR)	1.82% a month (24.2% EAR)
	Over £3,000	0.58% a month (7.2% EAR)	1.82% a month (24.2% EAR)
Cardcash	n/a	n/a	2.20% a month (29.8% EAR)
Easycash	n/a	n/a	n/a

Representative example

So, if you use a planned overdraft of £1,200 the interest rate we charge will be 0% EAR variable.

For planned Student Current Account overdrafts of more than £3,000 we will charge interest at the planned rate on the whole of the overdraft.

EAR is the equivalent annual rate. This is the actual annual interest rate for an overdraft. It doesn’t take into account fees and charges.

There is no debit interest to pay if you are aged under 18.

 

Fees for Student Current Account, Cardcash and Easycash

Type of transaction	Description	Fee
Returned item fee	A fee we charge where you do not have enough available money to make a payment and we do not agree to give you or extend an unplanned overdraft. In this case we will not make the payment.	£10 (charged no more than 3 times a day on Cardcash and Easycash accounts and no more than once a day on Student Current Accounts)
Unplanned overdraft monthly fee	A fee we charge for every month in which you at any time have an unplanned overdraft.	£28 (Student Current Accounts only)

We will not charge Returned item fees if you are aged under 18.

If we have a valid reason, we can choose not to charge a fee that you would otherwise have to pay.

 

Ultimate Reward Current Account monthly fee

If you have an Ultimate Reward Current Account, there is a monthly account fee of £15 which we take from your account on the first working day of the month. If you open a new account after the first working day of the month, that account fee will be proportionate and taken on the first working day of the following month.

 

Fees for special services

The section below outlines the fees we can take from all accounts in different circumstances. When you request a special service, you will be told when we will take the fee out of your account.

Fees for special services	Stopped cheque (except for lost or stolen cheques)	£10
	Special presentation of cheque	£10
	Banker’s draft	£20*
	Bank reference	£10*
	Extra statement	£5
	CHAPS (Clearing House Automated Payment System) payment	£25
	Foreign drafts, foreign currency, traveller’s cheques and transferring funds electronically abroad	Please ask for details

 *We do not charge these fees if you are aged under 18.

 

International payments into your account

International payments into your account for £100 or less (after we’ve converted the money received into your account into sterling)	£2
International payments into your account over £100 (after we’ve converted the money received into your account into sterling)	£7

We’ll convert the money you’ve received into pounds sterling on the day we pay it into your account.

 

Fee-free period

If you’re a new customer and say on your application form that you’re transferring your main current account to a Reward Current Account, Ultimate Reward Current Account or Current Account, you won’t pay any daily planned overdraft fees for three months after opening the account. You’ll still pay cash machine charges and fees for special services.

 

Using cash machines

If you take money from your account using any Halifax or Bank of Scotland cash machine, we won’t charge you for the withdrawal.

However, if you use a cash machine that isn’t a Halifax or Bank of Scotland cash machine, you may be charged by the machine owner. If so, the machine will show you the amount and tell you that it will be taken from your account when you withdraw the cash.

 

Buying goods and services in a foreign currency

If you use your debit card to withdraw cash or pay for goods and services in a currency other than sterling, the exchange rate we use will be the Visa Reference Exchange Rate. We will charge a foreign exchange fee of 2.75% of the amount of the transaction and a £1.50 fee for each payment or withdrawal.

 

Bank fees

You may have to pay bank fees if:

• you do not have enough money in your account and have not agreed a planned overdraft with us, or
• the payment takes you over the limit of your planned overdraft.

The table below gives some examples of how you might use your account when you haven’t enough money in the account, and our fees if you do so.

We developed these examples with the Office of Fair Trading and leading consumer groups to help you to think about how changing the way you use your account can affect the amount we may charge you.

These examples are meant to show how different actions can result in different fees. They are only examples so you shouldn’t see them as actions you might take or fees you might have to pay.

We may not allow you to use your account in the ways shown below. You should avoid going overdrawn wherever possible and you should contact us if you need help to manage your account.

We could add other fees and interest to your account if you try to make payments when you do not have enough money.

Choose an example below which shows how you might manage your account. If you have recent bank statements, use these to help you choose. Once you have worked out reasons why you might be charged, it could help you to avoid fees in future.

 

Scenarios

	Reasons that you might be charged	Student Current Account	Cardcash account	Reward Current Account	Current Account	Ultimate Reward Current Account	Easycash
1	We refuse a payment from your account because there is not enough money in your account.	£10	£10	Nil	Nil	Nil	£10
2	A payment from your account takes you into an unplanned overdraft by less than £10. You are overdrawn for one day during the month.	£28	Nil	Nil	Nil	Nil	Nil
3	A payment from your account takes you into an unplanned overdraft and you make another payment from the account while you are overdrawn. You use an unplanned overdraft for two days in a row during the month.	£28	Nil	£10	£10	£10	Nil
4	A payment from your account takes you into an unplanned overdraft, and you make nine more payments from the account while you are overdrawn. You use an unplanned overdraft for 10 days in a row during the month.	£28	Nil	£50	£50	£50	Nil
5	A payment from your account takes you into an unplanned overdraft. You use your overdraft for one day. However, on three more occasions during the month, a payment takes you into an unplanned overdraft. On each of these occasions you use your overdraft for three days.	£28	Nil	£50	£50	£50	Nil
6	A payment from your account takes you into an unplanned overdraft. You use your overdraft for 21 days in a row during the month and you make 12 more payments from the account while you are overdrawn.	£28	Nil	£105	£105	£105	Nil