Standing Order On Halifax Keeps Changing On Its Own!!!

Lady_K

My daughter has set up a standing order on her Halifax student account to pay her halls fees for university. This has been set up to be paid monthly as her NHS Bursary is paid monthly too. We are worried sick because the date and amount of the standing order keeps changing, in fact one payment was supposed to be for around £250 and it changed to almost £900 and the date was changed to 3 days earlier than she had set it at. It was taken out and left her in the biggest mess.

The bank wouldnt take responsibility and niether would the halls. We don't understand why this is happening as its supposed to be a standing order not direct debit, I thought standing orders were only controlled by the account holder? We aren't sure if the halls have some kind of control over what goes out through this standing order or what but surely they shouldn't have. She has checked tonight again and the payment she had set to come out on 23rd Jan for £250 has now been changed to 26th April for over £600!!! I know shes noticed this now and has changed it back again but what we are worried about is it seems to change on its own accord to different dates and different amounts. It doesnt ever change to lower amounts though its always higher so even though shes changed it back again now it could change back again overnight to another different date and amount. Shes had to change it many times and we are so worried as she can't afford any charges whatsoever.

To call Halifax herself from University on her mobile to thier high cost number and having to wait in the queue would cost her a fortune and shes supposed to be able to bank online anyway and shouldn't need to do this. She did ring them before when the £900 came out but they said they needed proof of her telephone call, time and date that she changed it but it was done online. And besides that they could have said she changed it back again anyway.

I'm concerned as to why this is happening and wondered if anyone else has experienced this?

M_Thomson

Lady_K wrote:

My daughter has set up a standing order on her Halifax student account to pay her halls fees. This has been set up to pay monthly as she gets her NHS Bursary monthly too. It's very worrying that the date and amount of the Halls fees payment keeps changing, in fact one payment was supposed to be around £250 and it changed to almost £900 and the date was brought forward a few days too. It was taken out and left her in the biggest mess.

The bank wouldnt take responsibility and niether would the halls. We don't understand why this is happening as its supposed to be a standing order not direct debit. We aren't sure if the halls have some kind of control over what goes out through this standing order or what but surely they shouldn't have. She has checked tonight again and the payment she had set to come out on 23rd jan for £250 has now been changed to 26th April for over £600!!! I know shes noticed this now and has changed it back again but what we are worried about is it seems to change at its own will to different dates and different amounts but it doesnt ever change to lower its always higher so even though shes changed it now it could change overnight to another different date and amount.

To call Halifax herself from University on her mobile to thier high cost number and having to wait in the queue would cost her a fortune and shes supposed to be able to bank online. She did ring them before when the £900 came out but they said they needed proof of her telephone call time and date that she changed it but it was done online. And besides that they could have said she changed it back again anyway.

I'm concerned as to why this is happening and wondered if anyone else has experienced this?

It sounds to me like it may be a direct debit rather than a standing order. When somebody is paid buy standing order they cannot vary the amounts. The only person who can change dates and amounts is the account holder.
If it does turn out to be a standing order, you mention that your daughter was told that it had been changed online. Is she sure that nobody has got access to her online security codes? It might be an idea to get these changed. Has she checked that the halls are receiving this money and also that the sort code and account number matches the halls? It could be that somebody has access to her account codes and is trying to send money to their own account.

Lady_K

Its definitely a standing order and they are recieving the payments so far as she gets a monthly statement. Although yes I have thought she really needs to change her password just in case and probably some of the questions too they ask. I'll ask her to double check the sort code and account number again aswell. She has direct debits but this is her only standing order... it's very worrying

amandathepanda

If it is a standing order, it should be for a set amount on a set date each month as per the instruction she signed. Did she set up the standing order online or did she fill in a paper based form and send it to her branch?

Lady_K

No she set it up online but with standing orders you dont need to sign I have created them myself in my own Halifax account but mine stayed the same I don't know what the hells going on with it but Halifax are completely useless

amandathepanda

Have you spoken to Halifax online helpdesk rather than the branch as they will probably know more about online procedures.