How to get three lots of £5 a month every year, and the same again on top.
One of the easiest accounts to make actual cash from is the Halifax Reward current account. Jump a few hoops and you’ll get £5 every month, or £60 year.
And it gets even better as you can now open three accounts, earning £180 a year. And if you use my hack below, you could earn elsewhere on top, totalling £360!
Though this will take a bit more admin I think it’s worth giving it a go. Here’s how to get the extra accounts and a few tricks to meet the requirements that trigger the payments.
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What is the Halifax Reward account?
The Halifax Reward account is a normal current account, letting you do all the normal things you can do with one, such as pay direct debits and use a debit card. The app is pretty decent too.
There are regular bank switching deals for when you first join Halifax with a Reward account, or even get the cash as existing customer. These offers come and go, so check my analysis of the deal to see what the latest offer entails.
Where it’s different from other Halifax accounts is you can earn a reward each month. Though I’m focusing here on the £5 reward, you can choose instead a cinema ticket or three digital magazine subscriptions each month. You need to spend or save with the account to trigger the reward – more on this in a moment.
The account comes with a £3 monthly fee, though this can be avoided by depositing £1,500 into the account each month. You don’t have to pay this in one go or keep the money in the account so it should be easy to manage.
I’ve written an in-depth review of the current account here, including which reward I think offers the best value for money, so do check that out for more details.
How to trigger your reward
You don’t just get the reward for having the account. As well as ensuring the balance remains above £0, you have to complete one of two actions every month. Whichever you choose is locked for 12 months.
The first, which I’m not going to recommend, is to have £5,000 saved in your Halifax Reward account every day of the month. If you go below that figure for even one minute in a month you won’t get the bonus. But if you achieve this every month you’ll get the equivalent return of 1.2%.
This can be easily beaten in easy-access savings accounts right now, easily doubling how much you’d get in a year, if not more. You can find the best savings accounts available in my best buy tables here.
The other option is far better. You need to spend £500 a month on your Halifax debit card. You probably spend this much anyway. If you were comparing it to a cashback card, the rate is 1%. So that’s the same as what’s on offer from Chase Bank or the Amex Nectar card – my best buy cashback cards.
So doing this will be worth £5 a month, or £60 a year. Easy money.
£500 debit card spend workaround
However if you’re putting your normal spending on the Halifax Reward debit card, you’re missing out on earning this money from a cashback card. If you already use one of these then what’s the point in changing your payment card to get the same results?
Well there are a handful of other eligible spends that mean you won’t actually spend anything extra. This trick means you can get both the £5 Halifax reward and the same amount in cashback on your everyday spending using an alternative card – such as the Chase and Amex ones mentioned above. Or you might want to use the Stoozing method on a 0% purchase card to max your income further.
Adding to savings or current accounts
The easiest option is to use the Halifax debit card to add money to a current account or savings account at a different bank. Not many allow this, but the main ones are:
- Revolut current account
- Monzo current account
- Yorkshire Building Society savings account
- Skipton Building Society savings account
- NS&I savings or Premium Bonds
- Chip savings app
- Vanguard investments
What’s great about this method is you can simply move the money back to one of your current accounts. So it’s effectively a free £60 a year.
Also, if you’re adding money to investments, such as via Vanguard, be aware that it likely won’t make sense to then withdraw it – so that’s a longer-term strategy for your money.
It’s vital that you do add the money with the debit card rather than as a bank transfer or direct debit. Those other ways of adding cash won’t qualify you for the Reward.
Pay off your cashback credit card
Alternatively, you can make a manual payment of £500 with the Halifax debit card to clear part of your credit card balance.
This is worth it if you are using one to earn cashback, effectively meaning you’d earn the money back from your £500 spend (£5 if you have a 1% paying card, £4 if it’s 0.75%), and then get the Halifax £5 on top.
Be careful that you don’t end up doing this too close to your credit card direct debit payment. It’s always worth setting this up for the full amount due on the card to minimise the risk of forgetting and getting charged interest. But there’s often a cut-off a few days before the money is taken where the amount can’t be adjusted to reflect manual payments. If that happens you end up with the credit card company owing you cash!
It’s not the end of the world if this happens. You can request for the credit card company to refund you the excess. But it can take some time. To mitigate this, set the card direct debit for later in the month and pay the £500 to the card via Halifax at the start.
Sadly, this only works with a credit card, not a debit card. So if you’re getting the 1% cashback from Chase Bank using its debit card, you’ll have to rely on the savings transfer method instead.
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The multiple Reward account hack
All the above will work for each Halifax Reward account you open, up to a maximum of three. So you can avoid the fee by depositing £1,500 a month into each account. And you can get the reward by spending £500 on each of the three debit cards.
But that doesn’t mean you need £4,500 to add to the accounts. There’s no need for that money to come from an external bank, so you can actually use the same £1,500 you put into the first account and move it to the next, and then again to the third.
In fact, you could shift a smaller amount back and forth between each one, whether that’s £100 or £500 or any other amount. You just need to ensure that a total of £1,500 reaches each account in the month.
You can do this manually at the start of the month, meaning the money moves through all three in a matter of minutes. Or you can automate it via standing orders, though there’s a risk that the initial payment doesn’t reach the first account, perhaps due to weekends or bank holidays delaying a standing order from a different bank.
Of course you’ll need to leave £500 in each account to use on the debit card spending, so it makes sense to end up with that initial £1,500 split across the three accounts. Though technically you could just use the same £500 if you’re planning on adding that cash to one of the savings accounts, transferring it back to your account and so on.
You can then use each debit card to add money to one of the options listed above, or to pay off part of one or more credit cards. Obviously you’ll need to open up accounts with the savings providers first.
You could pay the three lots of £500 into just one of those accounts or pay off one credit card. However you’ll need to enter each card number for each payment every month, and it can be quicker to make the payments if each Halifax debit card details are stored in the end payment account. It’s up to you.
How the £360 adds up
Here’s how each step of the hack adds up to £360 a year.
- Scenario A. You use a standard debit or credit card for your monthly spending and earn nothing at all
- Scenario B – You instead spend £500 each month on a Halifax Reward debit card to earn a £5 reward each month, or £60 a year
- Scenario C – You use the Halifax Reward debit card hack to earn the £5 (as detailed above) and you instead put normal spending on a cashback card and earn another £5 (if paying 1%). That’s a total of £10 a month, or £120 a year
- Scenario D – You get one or two extra Halifax Reward accounts and repeat scenario C. You end up with £20 or £30 a month combined, or £240 or £360 a year
Which Reward is best
Andy’s Analysis
As mentioned, I choose to get the £5 cash reward each month, but there’s no reason why you can’t mix it up with the other options.
Potentially the cinema tickets are worth more, though this can vary around the country. Plus it’s possible to nab cheap or free Vue tickets from other sources.
But I’d definitely avoid the magazines as you can usually pick up free digital copies via your library.
I’ve covered this in detail in my review of the Reward account.
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Applying for extra Reward accounts
You might be concerned about opening up more current accounts with Halifax – but you don’t need to. In my experience, which is reflected by members of our Facebook group, there’s no hard credit check for extra accounts. This means if you are rejected (there’s no guarantee Halifax will let you have additional accounts), it won’t impact your credit score. So there’s not really any risk. Saying that I’d possibly space out the requests over a few months.
The process is also really easy. In your Halifax app you’ll see a button at the bottom of the screen called Apply. Tap that then choose “Upgrade your current account”. As well as options to upgrade you’ll find “open another account” listed. Click through and fill in a few details. The whole process took me just two minutes.
Just wanted to let the community here know that both myself and my wife opened 3 Halifax reward accounts in order to get the 3 x £15 per month. However, when I we attempted to our individual Revolut accounts to top up using the debit card with £500 you need to , Halifax immediately sent a text saying they had cancelled the top up transfer and to call them immediately….my wife called up and was on the phone for ages to get the transfers pushed through but it was deemed unusual behaviour to do this kind of transaction on this account type…given that this will need to be done every month to get the cash benefit, I decided it is not with the aggro so decided to close my accounts before they charge me £5 per month for the privilege…anyone else want to share their experience or offer a way they have made it fork for them??? Many thx all
Don’t use Revolut use Chip pay off a credit card use Monzo Starling and a building society that accepts debit card payments and leave funds in each for at least a week
Just a quick one Andy!
Do you have to physically make these 3×500 payments from the 3 Debit Cards associated with the Rewards accounts or is it possible to set up standing orders with Debit Cards – so it could run on auto-pilot?
I don’t know much with regards to how standing orders work! Whether it would come out of the account attached to that Debit Card and not count as an actual Debit Card payment or if a standing order can actually be set up on the card itself.
I have an Halifax account. I never meet the £500 spend to earn £5 monthly. I do pay direct debits and transfer the balance to pay off my credit cards but apparently do not meet the spend (I transfer much more).
How can I gain the £5? What process do I have to do? Take the money out and deposit it again? Any help would be useful
Can you purchase premium bonds with the hx debit card to reach £500 spend? If so, how do you do this please?
Yes, you can. Details are on the ‘buy more’ page once signed into your NS&I premium bonds online account.
A tip would be open your extra Reward accounts at the start of the month so you have time to fund them. Also allow for delays in getting your card so you can do the debit card transaction which usually takes four days to register with Halifax.
Your new card details do also appear in the app but take about the same time as the card to appear.
I applied for two accounts in the same month and it worked OK.
The same again hack is missleading as it has nothing to do with Halifax. I already get 1% off my supermarket shop and 0.25 on all other purchases with my Natwest credit card so getting an amex card would only get me 0.75% on some shopping and as so few places accept Amex it’s not something I would consider
I don’t know
Is halifax reward account not £17.00 a month?
I would love some clarity on the Halifax Reward. The best I found was “Some bank accounts pay a loyalty reward each month to the account holder. These banking awards are taxable income, taxed as ‘other’ income. They are not classed as bank interest and do not count towards the personal savings allowance. The accounts where the customer receives ‘cash back’ as a result of purchases made, is not taxable.”
I am buzzing, Andy, Thanks so much for the tips. I have started the process. I have upgraded one of my personal accounts to reward. I already have a joint account which is reward and I now opened a new reward account. So need to do the next stages of transfer £1500 in to my 2 personal reward accounts and do debit can transfer of £500 to my chip account.
Lots of steps but achievable.
Thanks again, Andy!
Does this count as interest for tax purposes?
I would love some clarity on the Halifax Reward. The best I found was “Some bank accounts pay a loyalty reward each month to the account holder. These banking awards are taxable income, taxed as ‘other’ income. They are not classed as bank interest and do not count towards the personal savings allowance. The accounts where the customer receives ‘cash back’ as a result of purchases made, is not taxable.”
No. Halifax takes the tax off. So the £5 is a net amount. They will give you a tax statement at the end of the year.
Hi Andy
Your site is amazing and I’ve saved loads on your advice on hacks! Regarding the Halifax Rewards on opening the 3 accounts to game £360 do I need 2 direct debits in each single account to receive the £5 rewards back?
No direct debits needed at all for this offer!
Starling also let you deposit by debit card – that’s how I meet the £500 spend.
Need to get 2 more reward accounts ASAP!
Great news for people with Starling accounts:-)
Is that the ‘Send a payment request’?
It sounds to me like the ‘share your bank details’ option is a simple bank transfer which doesn’t qualify?
I have been getting 3 lots for a while. One in my name. One in my wifes name and a joint one.
Can I have 3 joint ones as well as 3 in each of our names
So you can have three each, but only one Reward from a joint account, which means the best you can do as a couple is to add to solo accounts. Or close the joint account and open up another two solo ones to replace it
It’s not clear how you can further double up the £180 from three accounts to get a total of £360, or maybe I’ve missed it?
If you use a cashback card paying 1% to spend £500 rather than put that same normal spending on the Halifax card you’ll earn another £5 each month. Repeat that across the three cards (so a total spend of £1,500 on the cashback cards and another £1,500 to savings etc via the Halifax cards) and you’ll get £360 a year.
Don’t agree with the spend cashback portion described above amounting to £180. As a customer, I can put my spend on any card which is most beneficial to me. I can’t say the amount of cashback I earnt on those cards can be added to the “£360 hack” mentioned in the title of the article.
At the same time, I understand where you are coming from. For someone who puts their daily expenses on a Halifax debit card, it will be an extra £180. But they shouldn’t be putting their expenses on a debit card which doesn’t earn them anything, in the first place.
Could we use Revolut as a staging account for Chase? With this I mean that we could make 3x£500 payments (1 from each HX Rewards) to Revolut, only to transfer them into a Chase Current Account, in order to spend at 1% Cashback?
Yep absolutely
do you know if payal would work, sending to friends and family for th 500 quid spend?
I don’t know, but you can try as quid and see if it tracks in the Halifax app.
It does. I have used this a few times, when my credit card spending wasn’t high enough to warrant a 500payment.