MSE News: Anger over new Halifax overdraft fees

jambosans

emmaBZ wrote: »

ok im confused, we got a £2000 overdraft and are constantly in it at the minute, between £800-£2000 overdrawn a month so how will this affect us ?? i do have natwest account with no overdraft.. but as i have mortgage with halifax am not sure how to swap banks and pay overdraft back at what i can afford..?

See the below thread for details on how the changes effect you and some general advice:-
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1986907&highlight=

adidas

Do the charges apply to student overdraft? My last statement said charges were 0% in the arranged limit. I can't find anything on the website. I send all my mail to my home address so not checked my letters in a while. Would be grateful for some guidance.

opinions4u

adidas wrote: »

Do the charges apply to student overdraft? My last statement said charges were 0% in the arranged limit. I can't find anything on the website. I send all my mail to my home address so not checked my letters in a while. Would be grateful for some guidance.

No changes to the Student account. You won't be charged £1 a day for it!

Riot_Victoria

These changes have only just reached my knowledge and I have banked with Halifax for years. I hold my current accounts, savings, credit cards and mortgage with them and I have been what I would think is the ideal customer. I am very aware of my expenses and I always pay my mortage on time every month even though I am self employed and the recession has hit hard. I survived all of this by being clever and now this is happening. Currently my overdraft means that I don't have to stay awake at night because if a client doesn't pay me for a few weeks then the overdraft will cover the bills in that time so it's been a life saver and kept myself, my family and my company afloat and I have been able to zero out my overdraft almost every month and some months thankfully I've been in the black.

These are hard times and this change is basically going to cost me a fortune and take away any chance I would have of being comfortable with having the overdraft available to use to keep me going.

I went in to discuss this with someone in the branch - as they say "if you are unhappy please come speak to us". After explaining my situation and explaining that after being a customer who has never been affected by charges this is appauling he said that these were the two accounts they have if you're not happy with them then you can try somewhere else.

Erm so is that allowed? Is that what this has all come to, they have reached the point where they just don't care how their changes affect their long term customers and are quite happy to send them on their way?

I feel I have no other choice than to move my accounts elsewhere and I really suggest that anyone not happy should do the same if they can because surely we should have at least a little say in this after paying our taxes and all? What are they going to do when their 'good' customers go elsewhere and the ones who can't get accounts anywhere else due to being too overdrawn and having bad credit ratings have no other choice but to stay? I can't see how the Halifax will live through 2010 with this attitude.

opinions4u

Riot_Victoria wrote: »

These changes have only just reached my knowledge and I have banked with Halifax for years.

Welcome to the forum.

I'd suggest you open your post more regularly as the details of these changes were mailed over a month ago.

I hold my current accounts, savings, credit cards and mortgage with them and I have been what I would think is the ideal customer.

If you have savings do you need to be overdrawn? It sounds like you could easily avoid the charges in the new fee structure.

I am very aware of my expenses and I always pay my mortage on time every month even though I am self employed and the recession has hit hard.

Could changing the date you pay your mortgage to later in the month reduce the number of days that you are overdrawn, and help to reduce your charges?

I survived all of this by being clever and now this is happening. Currently my overdraft means that I don't have to stay awake at night because if a client doesn't pay me for a few weeks then the overdraft will cover the bills in that time so it's been a life saver and kept myself, my family and my company afloat and I have been able to zero out my overdraft almost every month and some months thankfully I've been in the black.

It sounds like you are using a personal current account as a business banking facility. That will most likely be in breach of the T&Cs of the account.

These are hard times and this change is basically going to cost me a fortune and take away any chance I would have of being comfortable with having the overdraft available to use to keep me going.

Perhaps you need to manage you cash flow better rather than relying on an overdraft facility for a personal current account to keep you business going.

Erm so is that allowed?

Yes.

Is that what this has all come to, they have reached the point where they just don't care how their changes affect their long term customers and are quite happy to send them on their way?

Most of their current account customers will be better off with the Reward account.

I feel I have no other choice than to move my accounts elsewhere and I really suggest that anyone not happy should do the same if they can because surely we should have at least a little say in this after paying our taxes and all?

Why not buy some shares in LBG? You could then attend the AGM and speak directly to the Chief Executive in public. It won't change anything though.

What are they going to do when their 'good' customers go elsewhere

The good ones who stay in credit will log on to their online banking on the 2nd of each month to check their £5 reward has been paid. Some of them will post on here to share their joy!

and the ones who can't get accounts anywhere else due to being too overdrawn and having bad credit ratings have no other choice but to stay?

If the "too overdrawn" customers had bad credit ratings they wouldn't have been given an overdraft in the first place.

I can't see how the Halifax will live through 2010 with this attitude.

I don't see why you think a change to the charging stucture on current accounts will bring the bank to its knees.

lazer

cowbopper2 wrote: »

I've just done a quick read through the banking code and believe this applied in some cases...

"6.4

If the change is to your disadvantage, we will tell you about it personally at least 30 days before we make the change. At any time up to 60 days from the date of the notice you may, without notice, switch your account or close it without having to pay any extra charges or any
interest for doing this."

Surely, on this basis i can close the account and pay back the overdraft by arrangement (understanding that interest will still accrue) It would appear that every available alternative offering is a 'disadvantage'

If you were closing an account in which you had £1,000 - you would expect the bank to gie you that money - yes?

So if your closing an account in which you owe the bank £1,000 - you pay them.

Rememeber - an overdraft is not a loan it is a facility of your current account, you cannot have the overdraft without the current account.

For those of you that say you have an overdraft of £x and are repaying this at £y - why do you not have the overdraft in the in your main current account? Or do you mean that you £y is tha amount of money you don't spend in a month so it reduces your overdraft balance at the end of that month?

wishface

what other banks have concrete plans to do this?

rb10

wishface wrote: »

what other banks have concrete plans to do this?

None have announced it publicly so far.

But that's not to say that they don't have concrete plans for it.

wishface

What's annoying is that people respond to complaints like this by saying 'if you don't like it, take your money elsewhere'. For some that's not possible. You need a ton of specific ID to open an account (or a LOT of money). Lloyds TSB for instance wouldn't touch me because I didn't have a drivers license or passport, and they will ONLY consider both.

Decisions like this will affect a lot of people very badly. This is just immoral IMO.

zaman6

I had always operated with one BofS current account, and a bill payment account, so I didn't mistakenly go into money that was earmarked for bills. BofS did away with their bill payment accounts at some point, so I now currently have two current accounts which would be subject to up to £31 per month each. My gripe with them was about the bill payment account which was only ever that having been converted into a current account and was now subject to extortionate charges. I was told they only have current accounts, and they couldn't change it to a bill payment account (despite that being one of their suggested 'solutions' in their leaflet.

I am one of the customers who the bank were suggesting contact them to see if I had the best account and how to deal with my overdrafts. I spoke to an adviser who initially tried to get me to take out a personal loan with them to pay off the overdrafts. They then suggested I add the money onto my mortgage over a ten year period, which with the £99 admin fee, would have resulted in me paying an additional £400 interest on top of £1500 - the final 26 1/2 months would have been interest alone.

I am fortunate in that my mother offered me an interest free loan to clear my overdraft, however what further annoyed me about BofS was that when I met with the advisor, I was 'advised' that I wasn't getting the maximum benefit from my bog standard current account so she suggested I change to a Reward account then I could receive the £5 a month for paying in over £1000. What she DIDN'T say, and she stated that I was correct when I summed up, that "is that me sorted, so I am OK until 6 December when the charges start?". She did not tell me that they would start to charge me £1 per day from that point. I have not received anything in the post from them since that time, although on checking my statement online I notice that they had notched up £15 charges up to 15 November - at which point I hastily put in the loan from mum to stop me incurring any more. I am more than annoyed at, as far as I am concerned, unnecessary charges that could have been avoided had the advisor been honest with me at the time and informed me that the £1 charges would be from that point.

I intend to take the matter further, but I don't hold out much hope for reclaiming those few days charges. If I hadn't changed the account, the £1 a day would not be starting till 6 December. It appears to be yet another tactic by BofS to acquire the maximum amount of money from customers.

At least the loan from mum has allowed me choices I didn't have before, so it is with great pleasure that I can tell BofS to get to, and have now changed to an Alliance & Leicester Premier Direct Account. The only thing I am unsure about is whether I can transfer over the old 'bill payment account' current account as well as the main current account. I normally transfer over £500 per month into the bill payment account - would this constitute 'paying in' £500 per month?