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Halifax unfair action
Mike.e_4
Posts: 1 Newbie
Hello
I wonder if can help and/or advise me if I should take action on the following
On a Saturday I paid a bankers draft for £7000.00 drawn on the Bank of Ireland into my Halifax account.
On the following Monday I found my debit card was being declined. I contacted the Halifax and they informed me that my account had been suspended as they considered the Bankers draft to be fraudulent.
This meant I had no access to my money, over £8000.00 which was in the current account. This amount does not include the bankers draft.
I would like to know if the bank has the right to suspend my account. I can understand they may have thought the draft was a problem and that they would have the right not to credit that amount to my account. But suspending the account and cancelling debit cards and refusing access to my cleared funds was acutely embarrassing, left me in an undignified situation whilst attempting to make a purchase on the card.
Had I not contacted the bank, the first I would have known about this was a letter I received 5 days later telling me my account had been suspended but giving no reason and asking me to provide documentation which I would not have due to my personal circumstances and if I did not provide all this my account would be closed. all very curt and ambiguous.
When I first contacted the bank and found they doubted the validity of the bankers draft I asked them to make a telephone call to Bank of ireland to confirm the authenticity of the draft, which they said they could not do. In order to resolve this I paid a visit to my local branch, after one and half hours in the branch they "allowed" me to draw up to £1250 from my account even though there were cleared funds of over £8000 and also knowing that because of their action in suspending the account I had no debit card to access further funds.
On the evening of that day I received a phone call from the Fraud section of the Halifax to say the draft was Ok. I asked them how they confirmed it and they said they made a telephone call to the bank of Ireland.
10 days later I now still have no access to my funds via a debit card as I now have to wait until new card and pin is issued. All in all a real shambles and very stressful for me. Is there anything I can do, should i seek compensation?.
Sorry its such a long email.
Thank you
I wonder if can help and/or advise me if I should take action on the following
On a Saturday I paid a bankers draft for £7000.00 drawn on the Bank of Ireland into my Halifax account.
On the following Monday I found my debit card was being declined. I contacted the Halifax and they informed me that my account had been suspended as they considered the Bankers draft to be fraudulent.
This meant I had no access to my money, over £8000.00 which was in the current account. This amount does not include the bankers draft.
I would like to know if the bank has the right to suspend my account. I can understand they may have thought the draft was a problem and that they would have the right not to credit that amount to my account. But suspending the account and cancelling debit cards and refusing access to my cleared funds was acutely embarrassing, left me in an undignified situation whilst attempting to make a purchase on the card.
Had I not contacted the bank, the first I would have known about this was a letter I received 5 days later telling me my account had been suspended but giving no reason and asking me to provide documentation which I would not have due to my personal circumstances and if I did not provide all this my account would be closed. all very curt and ambiguous.
When I first contacted the bank and found they doubted the validity of the bankers draft I asked them to make a telephone call to Bank of ireland to confirm the authenticity of the draft, which they said they could not do. In order to resolve this I paid a visit to my local branch, after one and half hours in the branch they "allowed" me to draw up to £1250 from my account even though there were cleared funds of over £8000 and also knowing that because of their action in suspending the account I had no debit card to access further funds.
On the evening of that day I received a phone call from the Fraud section of the Halifax to say the draft was Ok. I asked them how they confirmed it and they said they made a telephone call to the bank of Ireland.
10 days later I now still have no access to my funds via a debit card as I now have to wait until new card and pin is issued. All in all a real shambles and very stressful for me. Is there anything I can do, should i seek compensation?.
Sorry its such a long email.
Thank you
0
Comments
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Write a letter of complaint or ask them for copy of complaint procedure first. I should think you would get a small amount for the interest and trouble caused.0
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Don't forget that if those cleared funds were also from cheques they arent technically cleared from fraud for 6 months
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crispy_chris wrote: »Don't forget that if those cleared funds were also from cheques they arent technically cleared from fraud for 6 months
That used to be the case. It is now certain that cheques will clear after 6 working days.0 -
That used to be the case. It is now certain that cheques will clear after 6 working days.
You're mistaken, they cannot withdraw the funds after "certainy of fate" (the sixth working day), unless due to fraud.
A quote from the Halifax website confirming this:-After six bank working days we can only take the amount of the cheque out of your account if you have been a knowing party to fraud.Anything I post is my opinion, so from time to time I may be wrong. I try to provide answers based in fact, however I don't know everything, so (like all posters on MSE), take what I say with a pinch of salt.0 -
You're mistaken, they cannot withdraw the funds after "certainy of fate" (the sixth working day), unless due to fraud.
A quote from the Halifax website confirming this:-
I'm not mistaken on the basis of what I said, I am just mistaken for not mentioning about the fraud bit. :rolleyes:0 -
I'm not mistaken on the basis of what I said, I am just mistaken for not mentioning about the fraud bit. :rolleyes:
You were specifically referring to a post about fraud. Although "cleared from fraud" is not the best wording when talking about cheques, your reply clearly suggested (within the context of what you were responding to) that cheques could not be withdrawn after certainty of fate, period - fraud or no fraud. So in that respect you are completely mistaken.Anything I post is my opinion, so from time to time I may be wrong. I try to provide answers based in fact, however I don't know everything, so (like all posters on MSE), take what I say with a pinch of salt.0 -
The Irish banks as a whole are the victims of large scale draft fraud, particularly AIB.
They're lying when they say there's no telephone number to ring, it's called an interbank cheque enquiry and ALL banks participating in sterling clearings offer this facility (either themselves or through their clearing bank if an agency).What would William Shatner do?0
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