Halifax has bumped up the prizes on offer in the Savers Prize Draw in June. So, if you hold a savings account or Cash ISA with Halifax or Bank of Scotland, you could be in with a chance to win up to £500,000 on 3rd June.
The £2 million prize pot is broken down as follows:
|
Prize |
No. of prizes |
Total |
|
£500,000 |
2 |
£1000,000 |
|
£100,000 |
3 |
£300,000 |
|
£10,000 |
10 |
£100,000 |
|
£1,000 |
500 |
£500,000 |
|
£100 |
1,000 |
£100,000 |
|
Total |
1,515 |
£2,000,000 |
The Savers Prize Draw runs every month, though usually the top prize is a more modest £100,000. Halifax does run occasional 'superdraws' though, with boosted prize pots. The last one was in February, where three winners took home £300,000 each.
Eligibility
You need to hold at least one qualifying Halifax or Bank of Scotland savings account (including Cash ISAs, Term Deposits and Instant Access) which has at least £5,000 for the whole calendar month before the draw.
[SPOTLIGHT]Children’s accounts and investments like Stocks & Shares ISAs are not included.
For joint accounts, each account holder must register individually and the cash in the account will be split equally between each holder to calculate the qualifying balance.
To enter, savers need to fill in the online registration form before 31st May. Only one entry is allowed per account holder so if you enter more than once, your last entry will be counted.
How they compare
The problem with the Halifax Savers Prize Draw is that the rates on most of the bank's savings deals are poor.
For example, on the Halifax Online Saver you get just 0.9% AER on balances from £1 to £19,999. But you could help yourself to 1.50% with the Kent Reliance Branch Easy Access Savings, or if you don't live near a branch, there's also the West Brom BS Limited Access Saver paying 1.40%.
Or if you locked your money up with the Halifax Five-Year Fixed Online Saver bond, you'll get a rate of 1.80% on balances over £500, but AgriBank will give you a rate of 3.30% on its Fixed Rate Savings Bond over the same term. Just bear in mind that the AgriBank account needs a £10,000 minimum investment and offers a different level of protection as it's a member of the Malta Depositor Compensation Scheme rather than the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (€100,000, which is worth about £77,000, compared to £85,000 with the FSCS).
As for ISAs, you’ll get 1.05% with the Halifax ISA Saver Online, which includes a bonus of 0.80% for 12 months. But you can get 1.50% from both NS&I and the Skipton Building Society.
Really, the main reason to go for a Halifax Cash ISA, besides the entry into the Savers Prize Draw, is that having one will boost the rate on the Halifax Junior ISA from 3% to 4%.
Have a look at more savings accounts and ISAs with lovemoney.com