Problems closing my Halifax account.

pgordon2

Hi,

We've had nothing but trouble from Halifax, so we decided to close our account. We transferred or stopped all our standing orders and direct debits, and stopped using the debit cards.

On the 6th of March we went into our local branch to close the account. At this point, there were no standing orders or direct debits, we hadn't used the cards for at least two weeks, and we had long since destroyed the cheque books.

We were told at the counter that we had to pay some money to cover the small amount we were in our overdraft, some debit interest, plus a £21.99 payment that had already started process. We paid the amount asked in full in cash. We were told categorically that there was nothing else pending on the account, that the account was held and nothing could go in or out. We were told that our balance was cleared and head office would close the account within a few days.

Today we received a letter asking for a further £27.80 to clear our account! I have just phoned the customer services only to be told that we owe them one months premium account fee (£12.50), even though in the branch we were told there was NOTHING outstanding.

They also claim we have to cover a debit card payment of £15.30 to a cinema. This surprised us as A) we hadn't used the cards for a FORTNIGHT at the point we closed the account, and we havent been to the cinema in question for a long time. At first the guy on the customer support line didn't believe us, until he investigated further and found that the payment in question was from November 2008! Nearly FOUR MONTHS before we closed the account and were told there was nothing pending.

Surely there must be some kind of time limit in which companies have to process card transactions? What are our rights here? Surely if the account was closed, the payment should never have gone through anyway? Do we have to pay the money that Halifax are asking for, despite the fact that we were told that we had definately cleared the account and nothing was pending, and especially given that they now want money from a four month old card transaction?

cifpower

The transaction was authorised in November and the merchant has 6 months to claim the money I believe

rb10

When you pay for something using your debit card, it will show up as an authorisation on your account - i.e. the available balance will drop, but it won't show as an entry on your statement. What has happened at this stage is that the bank is promising to pay the retailer (i.e. cinema in this case) that amount, and then usually a few days later, the retailer will claim the money, and it will leave your account. The reason for them doing this is that it is cheaper for the retailer to process, say, one transaction for £100,000 than 10,000 transactions each for £10.

But, if the money isn't claimed within a few days, the authorisation will drop off your account (as it may be that the retailer has no intention of claiming the money, the bank doesn't know), so there will be nothing showing as pending.

However, as you authorised the transaction, the retailer is still able to claim it, up to six months after the date of the transaction. And, despite the fact that the account had been closed, you are still liable for transactions made before the date of closure (such as this one).

You will need to pay Halifax the money, as it was a transaction that you authorised on your account less than six months ago. It is just unfortunate that some retailers will take absolutely ages in processing transactions. This sort of delay is not common, but is still an occasional occurance.

withnell

TBH you should be grateful that they don't seem to be charging you any interest on the negative balance!