Old Halifax bank account - can it be reactivated?

CLONNEN

My parents went bankrupt in 1997 and all their bank accounts were frozen. One of them was a Halifax current account - it was the only one they didn't receive a letter of notification about the account freezing. My dad assumed since he hadn't been notified that the account was still working but when he tried to use the Debit Card to pay a bill he was told the card number was invalid so obviously it must have been frozen like the rest.

My dad still gets a new debit card through the post every few years but they can't be used to pay for anything. The account is one that he had to open to qualify for another Halifax product so it only has the £10 opening deposit in it. He never used it for paying anyone so we assume that's why we were never notified of its frozen state.

My dad is interested in the new Halifax Reward current account but reckons he wouldn't be given it as he still has the other one. Can he have the old current account reactivated and upgraded to the Reward current account? Or is it possible to close the old current account and then apply for the new one? My parents are now clear of bankruptcy (cleared after 7 years in 2004).

noh

He doesn't need to close the existing account to be able to apply for a Reward Current account.
I currently have five Halifax current accounts three of them Reward accounts.

CLONNEN

Yes okay so Halifax allow multiple accounts.

What my father is concerned about is will the new account be able to function normally - pay bills, make cash withdrawals etc. or will the frozen status carry across from the old account?

He doesn't want to switch his pension, benefits payments etc. from his Nationwide current account if he cannot take money out from the Halifax Reward account.

noh

CLONNEN wrote: »

Yes okay so Halifax allow multiple accounts.

What my father is concerned about is will the new account be able to function normally - pay bills, make cash withdrawals etc. or will the frozen status carry across from the old account?

He doesn't want to switch his pension, benefits payments etc. from his Nationwide current account if he cannot take money out from the Halifax Reward account.

Why should it? Can't think of any reason.
Why doesn't he just ask Halifax the question?

rb10

As he's been discharged, it would seem unlikely that they'd freeze a new account.

However, having been bankrupt recently, it may be that they won't open a new account for him (as it is subject to a credit check). So it may be a safer bet to see if he can remove the block from this account and upgrade it to a Reward account. (That's assuming the one he has now has a Visa Debit card and not Visa Electron.)

jonesMUFCforever

The old account may be dormant.
Tell him to go to his branch with ID and address confirmation to reactivate the account.

sharpy2010

CLONNEN wrote: »

Yes okay so Halifax allow multiple accounts.

What my father is concerned about is will the new account be able to function normally - pay bills, make cash withdrawals etc. or will the frozen status carry across from the old account?

He doesn't want to switch his pension, benefits payments etc. from his Nationwide current account if he cannot take money out from the Halifax Reward account.

I used to work at Halifax and what will have happened is that he will have a "TRI" marker on the account. What this means is that it blocks the account from being used. However, it can be removed by people in Halifax head office at any time they see fit to do so. Branches cannot remove it though.

If a new account is set up, the TRI marker will not carry across from the old account, so the new account would work correctly.

Hope that helps.