Halifax Overdraft New Charges

manic_cow

blued wrote: »

Maybe over time other banks will follow but it costs nothing to change bank. First Direct and A&L actually pay you £100 to switch to them.

This is true and A&L do give you an overdraft interest free for the first year but then they have a 50p charge a day for using it once that period ends. I should know, I completely forgot my interest free period was up and ended up £4.50 down this month. The difference with A&L though is that they cap their charges at £5 a month. From reading the letter my Mum had from halifax it doesn't seem they do. She has an overdraft of about £3000 which she near enough lives on (I keep telling her to visit the dfw section here but she doesn't listen) so it seems she'll be charged £2 a day according to their letter :eek: (it's £1 a day for overdrafts upto £2500, £2 a day for £2500+).

Time to switch methinks.

Nathan_Spleen

opinions4u wrote: »

Each time I've read that I have interpreted as the poster believing it wrong that there should be any cost attributed to an arranged overdraft.

For the love of god the qoute you posted contained the line ''I was paying between £5 and £7 a month for being in my overdraft which I thought was acceptable''.

How on earth can you interpret this as ''believing it wrong that there should be any cost attributed to an arranged overdraft''.

You couldn't reason your way out of a sopping wet paper bag riddled with holes with any degree of integrity.

opinions4u

Nathan_Spleen wrote: »

How on earth can you interpret this as ''believing it wrong that there should be any cost attributed to an arranged overdraft''.

It probably has something to do with the sentence

I didnt think I should pay its arranged but what can you do?

You couldn't reason your way out of a sopping wet paper bag riddled with holes with any degree of integrity.

Unless the OP wishes to clarify what was intended you can only go off the words that have been written. I deliberately posted the wider quote above to better highlight the context and contradiction within.

I'm beginning to think that you starred in the Three Billy Goats Gruff.

Nathan_Spleen

The qoute in bold is clearly ambiguous not to mention gramatically incorrect.

The sentence you chose not to highlight is unambiguous and gramatically sound.

Yet you chose the latter on which to base your interpretation.

Comical Ali aka Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, former Iraqi Information Minister said, at various press conferences:

''There are no American infidels in Baghdad. Never!''

''They're coming to surrender or be burned in their tanks''

''My feelings - as usual - we will slaughter them all''

I wonder. Did this deluded individual retire to Saudi Arabia as was widely reported or did he in fact become a bank manager and join a popular consumer forum?

g3mini_2

I have a large overdraft with the Halifax which I am unable to clear at the moment because I am in financial hardship therefore incurring £60 - £70 mth charges. I currently have a claim pending for bank charges which they have refused to consider on hardship grounds. I would love to be overdraft free but unless you have enough surpus income to clear it you are stuck & they don't seem to want to help. Unlike RBS who I have another overdraft with .... they contacted me & said that they would waive the charges & if i agreed to reduce my overdraft each month at an amount that was affordable. I have stuck to this & have not been charged for being overdrawn.

denisue

Hi - I also only joined the forum today to alert people to the way Halifax has changed
its overdraft rates.
I am now looking for an alternative bank - not that my pittance will make that much difference to them !!:mad:

Comyface

opinions4u wrote: »

I'm beginning to think that you starred in the Three Billy Goats Gruff.

Lol! :rotfl:

BTW, I read the meaning of the OP the same as you did. :cool:

Innocenti

I am with the Halifax and I also have an O/D with them. Mine is for £150 so it isnt too bad. I sometimes go into it and sometimes dont, depending on the amount of bills or unexpected purchases (new exhaust for the car etc), and I am furious with them. It is an arranged overdraft, they have agreed that I can spend £150 of their money and I pay the interest on it, and now suddenly they are changing the rules and charging me £1 a day without any consultation.

Yes, it is their money as somebody pointed out but I was paying the interest on it which wa agreed when I signed for it.

I have a joint account with my OH but never really used it (Natwest) but now I will transfer all my DD's and wages and working tax credits and child benefit to our joint account.

YorkshireBoy

Innocenti wrote: »

...depending on the amount of bills or unexpected purchases (new exhaust for the car etc)...

Bills, ie utilities etc, are (largely) known in advance though, and as such can be budgeted for can't they? Re unexpected purchases such as your car exhaust example, then a credit card (ideally 0% on purchases for x months) will come in very handy.

they have agreed that I can spend £150 of their money and I pay the interest on it

And you have agreed they can vary the account T&Cs with 30 days notice. Indeed, they issued a press release earlier this year (and wrote to customers I believe) clearly setting out their plans to migrate all customers to the new Reward structure "later in 2009". Ample notice to get out of your overdraft or make alternative arrangements?

and now suddenly they are changing the rules and charging me £1 a day without any consultation.

What consultation did you want/expect? An individual one or a 'vote' for all account holders?

I have a joint account with my OH but never really used it (Natwest) but now I will transfer all my DD's and wages and working tax credits and child benefit to our joint account.

How long before NatWest move to a similar charge structure? Months?...a year? You can bet your bottom dollar it'll happen just as soon as the bank charges case finally ends.

T39andcounting

I joined the site today because if this issue as well. I've read through the post and wanted to clarify after an account review today:
Halifax will start charging £1 per day for all un-arranged overdrafts under £2500 from some time in December. If you go over your overdraft limit you'll be charged £5 per day.
I have an account with Halifax with a £1150 overdraft. The amount I'm overdrawn varies, but I'm overdrawn for the whole month, so I'll start paying £30 per month, compared with the ~£15 I currently pay. But if I had a maxed out £2500 over draft I'd actually be paying less at £30/month than I would be now with interest. Also, if I occasionally dip into unarranged overdraft now I get a £50+ charge, whereas in future it'll only be £5.

So basically as I read it, Halifax will be penalising anyone on a low-medium income (those who can't get a max £2500 overdraft) and penalising those who manage their money and don't go into the unauthorised overdraft. But anyone with a £2500 overdraft (ie those with higher income jobs and good credit) will pay less, and anyone who occasionally dips into unauthorised overdrafts will not be put off.

So high earners who are crap at managing their overdraft will be better off, and low earners with a small overdraft and who manage their money well (at least they don't go into unauthorised overdraft) will be much worse off. It also will encourage anyone who's in their overdraft most of the time to max it out. You won't pay any less, so why not!

Don't get me wrong, I don't like paying big charges for going into unauthorised overdrafts, but it sure puts me off doing it on purpose. They could cut these a fair bit, but I think they've gone the wrong way here.

As it's not a great time to get a small loan to pay off your overdraft this just seems like a way for halifax to make more money! I'll be closing my account as soon as I can and moving to another bank. Suggest everyone else does too.