Halifax charges entrapment with paper free service

amg1712

Don't go 'paper free service' with Halifax or it may cost you a small fortune!

I have a joint current account with my wife at the Halifax. We opened this account because we have our mortgage with them.


Due to the number of statements coming to my wife and myself, we opted after setting up the account to go ‘paper free service’, help save the environment and our shredder.

We had no problems with them until recently, when we went over that amount. I went to my local branch to deal with the problem as they had offered to increase the overdraft to £1200 previously. Now they were saying that the overdraft at £400 was more than I should have, but that I could continue with it as it is.

What has happened, is that we have gone over the overdraft and have been charged £595 within the space of 2 weeks. There are also more charges to follow.



My gripe with the bank is why they have made no effort to make customers aware of the circumstances of the account by any other means than there notifications area which is not the most notable. I only became aware because funds were diminishing so fast that I’ve checked my online account searching for answers. Apparently the onus is on the customer to go online and check for notifications. Surely if we had any idea of the problem at the beginning then it would not have escalated any further. At least some people get a phone call or a letter for their £35 charge. Surely after 1 or 2 charges it should have flagged up to check with the customer to see that they have seen they had been charged rather than let it run on and on. Is that so hard for Halifax to do? Going paper free means that you should be responsible to notice these small notifications, and thats if you know where to look for them! Monies being paid in have been struggling to catch up with all other account activity since.

I have spent 50 minutes on the telephone trying to redress this situation with no success other than to leave a formal telephone complaint. (0845 numbers) I used SayNoto0870.com or the price of that call alone may have cost a small fortune. I have also complain to the Office of Fair Trading by phone because this is leaving me in very difficult financial situation.

The bank have said they would get back to me within 5-7 working days and that they considered my case not important due to the fact at the time of writing this that I had available balance of £230.65. Now this may seem unimportant to them, but I had stressed to them that fees payable to my local authority for my works Licence were due through the account and that if bounced, would result in my licence being revoked, effectively making me unemployed. I told them I could understand people being pushed over the edge, feeling suicidal especially the way that when someone falls down, instead of letting them get back up this bank is consistent in kicking them into the ground.


I believe that the bank is willingly set in entrapment of customers and hiding behind ‘small print’ to behave worse than any ‘loan shark’ to make up for all their failings else ware in the markets. Perhaps it’s time for people to stand together and move around in clubs to cause big stir in the banking industry.

In the meantime I must try to beg, steal or borrow to see me through the short term.

I may be at fault for not checking online daily and not understanding the setup of their site. At the same time Halifax must take responsiblilty for letting this escalate to a ridiculous sum of money for these charges. It must show that there system is failing and therefore they are proving that they are making a profit from charges. How can they justify £35 for each transaction?

Where do I go now?

Andy

Ilian2008

Hi Andy, sorry to hear about your problem. Ive had something very very similar with HSBC and im having a huge fight with them at the moment. They follow very dubious practices and im having to refer it on to the ombudsman. Its horrendous and all geared to get your money when you cant afford it. I cant believe how unhelpful they have been and its just awful.

Make sure you fight it. Best regards

amg1712

Hi, Thanks for your support, I feel i have no alternative but to fight this.

I realies that I missed a item mention from my call to the bank, and that was that they could offer me a good will gesture by not not charging me for the next 3 notices that were gong to be added soon. If I accepted this, would that then set a president that I was liable and make it more difficult to reclaim any of these charges. Where do I stand?

rgb83

Hi, sorry to hear about your charges, i used to work for halifax bank accounts ( i still work for the bank but in another department) there are guidelines to what they can reverse or refund for charges, if they agree to refund a charge they have to refund all the charges for that day, you have a mortgage therefore you are classed as being high value, have you had any charges reversed before? if the agent on the phone cannot do them and they have referred it to customer relations they have to get back to you in 5 days but the phone number for them in on all the leaflets in the branches 'how to complain', it might be on the website too! phone them and if you are BT you dont pay for those calls now, explain that it has all happened from 1 instance and you were unaware of the problem, you put all your money through the bank and you have a mortgage with them, (which could be moved!!!) and also try and slip in how it will put you into financial hardship and difficulty if they do not agree to remove them, also you can go paperfree on statements but you can still be notified of any fees etc in writing. Hope this helps and good luck,

amg1712

Thanks for the advise. I made a note of it. Cheers!

moggymarts

thanks for that the same thing happened to me :mad: :eek:

DrScotsman

Ouch. Similar thing happened to me, although on a smaller scale and partially my fault.

They sent me a paper free document on the 7th May, telling me I got charged for going overdrawn (£35) and the Unauthorised Overdraft fee (£28). They then sent me one in the post on the 29th May, but I was in student accommodation and hadn't changed my address. Then come the start of June I got charged for another Unauthorised Overdraft fee (£28) for the next month.

I wasn't bothering with this unfair charges thing, so I worded the letter just claiming for the latter £28 and interest, as I think the letter actually did arrive at the start of June; i.e. even I was at the right address, too late for me to avoid this 2nd charge. They denied it. I think I'm going to try claiming for the whole lot now.

catmiaow

Halifax are one of the worst people to claim charges back from in my experience, so good luck. If I were you I would close the account once in balance and open with Barclays. Much better service from them.

cooki2222

When i go over my overdraft they usually email me a few days later lol, rediculous like but sure what can we do. Ive got my overdraft down to £200 now used to be £1000 it was interest free until they realised i was no longer a student lol. So the lower i keep the less interest i pay a month but, with this new overdraft charges coming in soon i may get rid of it soon lol