MSE News: Reaction to Halifax's changes

deeb1234

Im reading everywhere about the charges for the Halifax etc and the advice is ditch them, move, transfer to credit card, change to the Reward account. All well and good but can someone give advice to the many people who like me have the following situation:

Have a Halifax Overdraft and use it every month (without fail)

I am currently paying off a lot of debt and this includes reducing the amount i use my overdraft each month.

However:

Im in debt, have bad credit history (obviously), cannot get another current account with an overdraft (obviously), no longer have a credit card and wouldnt be given one if I tried.

So whereas I have been reducing my authorised overdraft by £10-£25 a month, there is very little point in doing that now as regardless how much i reduce it I will still have to pay upto £31 a month regardless of how much I owe.

Im sure there are many other people like me who are in the same boat, so what do we do????????

I have a £500 overdraft and if i can afford to reduce this by £25 a month until cleared then this would take 20 months. But under the new scheme I would need to pay £56 a month as i need to cover the £31 charge a month!!!!! Ive seen better deals on Pay Day loans!!!! Any advice welcome

Many Thanks for listening

:-)

Dee

opinions4u

deeb1234 wrote: »

Im reading everywhere about the charges for the Halifax etc and the advice is ditch them, move, transfer to credit card, change to the Reward account. All well and good but can someone give advice to the many people who like me have the following situation:

Have a Halifax Overdraft and use it every month (without fail)

I am currently paying off a lot of debt and this includes reducing the amount i use my overdraft each month.

However:

Im in debt, have bad credit history (obviously), cannot get another current account with an overdraft (obviously), no longer have a credit card and wouldnt be given one if I tried.

So whereas I have been reducing my authorised overdraft by £10-£25 a month, there is very little point in doing that now as regardless how much i reduce it I will still have to pay upto £31 a month regardless of how much I owe.

Im sure there are many other people like me who are in the same boat, so what do we do????????

I have a £500 overdraft and if i can afford to reduce this by £25 a month until cleared then this would take 20 months. But under the new scheme I would need to pay £56 a month as i need to cover the £31 charge a month!!!!! Ive seen better deals on Pay Day loans!!!! Any advice welcome

Many Thanks for listening

:-)

Dee

Get it down to below £300 and change to the Ultimate Reward account. Ideally in the next month. This may involve a short term reprioritisation of which debts you repay, but would cost you £12.50 a month instead of £31. The insurances with it may save you money too.

tomasfoley

OK I have read this thread and article and maybe Im missing something, but where is the answer to the question, how can I do anything about this change.

In my opinion you sign up to a "product" (the banks term for an account in these days or rip-off banking) that offers an account along with an explanation of the terms, meaning I could go elsewhere if it wasnt for me. You should have that product for the time your with the bank. Mobile phone tarrifs are the same. Its what I signed up for.

In my case I get a £100 overdraft and a interest rate on that authorised per month, usually £1.30PM. I have had the offer, in fact every ontact with Halifax, the offer has been shoved in my face to "Upgrade my account" I dont want a different account.

Now I get a letter that's supposedly a 60days notice landing on my doorstep around 30days prior to a total change of my account without my authorisation to paying £30 Per Month instead of £1.30. If you were a cynic and believed that this has absolutely nothing to do with "simplifying our account system in response to the needs of our customers" and actually has a lot to do with a HUGE bumper income in outrageous charges for the benefit of our employees annual bonus scheme thats allready bloated with far too much xmas pudding in the board room. Then you may believe that they even timed this "convenient customer focused" switch-over to coincide with Royal Mail and the postal strikes. A shorter notice period gives those who live by authorised overdrafts an even harder time clearing into credit before the charges kick in. And to be even more cynical. Look how those chanages land just before christmas, just to cause even more hurt. Dont clear the overdraft and its Halifax who will be bellowing Santa laughter on this one.

And lets not forget something here. This is absolutely targeted against the low income side of its customer base. Because whilst we all have overdraft facilities, its those with low income that will struggle the most to find the money to clear their overdrafts before Halifax turn them into a regular monthly pillage victim. There was a time only loan sharks targeted the low income sector of society, now banks are getting in on the act and nobody seems prepared to protect them from this morally deplorable opportunistic attitude from the Banks that they are easy pickings.

I personally think its worse than the loan shark sector because we didn't even sign up to the rates we are being forced to pay, either willfully or through being decieved. We had our terms smacked in our faces and left stuck in the overdraft trap we cant opt-out through leaving the bank until we can clear. Plus it seems all the executives of the major banks share MSN and co-ordinate these "customer focused" changes so even if we wanted to opt out all the others are pulling the same trick. And when it comes to actions of a highly questionable moral nature, its so much easier when we all take the leap of bad-form together.

I would be interested to know why is it that they have the legal right to make changes to their products like this?? Is there anyway to appeal?? Who can we make complaint to??

Also I would like to call on people here to consider this, even if it does not affect you directly. Do you really think people should bank with establishments who behave this way to the low income members of society??

And finally where the hell are the authorities of this country to protects consumers, the banks clearly have clearly become so over confident in the goverments intention of their "survival" they get away with anything....

apt

You make a very fair point that those with low incomes and have an overdraft are most vulnerable. The before Christmas point is less strong. These charges have been mooted for a long time, and Halifax has already abolished the moneyback account which was the most favourable deal for those living overdrawn. By bringing it in before Christmas that at least gives people affected the opportunity to cutback on Christmas spending, a lot of which is excessive. Introducing the charges just after Christmas would have been the truly cynical excercise.

tomasfoley

apt wrote: »

By bringing it in before Christmas that at least gives people affected the opportunity to cutback on Christmas spending, a lot of which is excessive. Introducing the charges just after Christmas would have been the truly cynical excercise.

If you agree with the point it is directed at the low-income side of their customer base. Then they are not the types of people for whom "excessive" Christmas spending is a trait. In which case we are talking about them having to cut into spending for Christmas that's already a time of hardship. IMO Very very low of them.

bristolleedsfan

Tomasfoley :beer: rather than quote all your text, can I respectfully remind you that overdrafts are not a right and are repayable on demand within the T+C that you signed up to so Halifax have every right to give you and everyone else notice that they want the overdraft repaid immediately. Please forgive me if you mentioned this apparent fact within your long text. :cool:

tomasfoley

Well im assuming you realise I didn't mention that in my long text otherwise you would not have posted.

An overdraft is referred to as a "facility". To facilitate your financial requirements. I hear people say here that they are often frowned upon for using this. Credit is a service we all need at a time, maybe we even choose to live within it. We pay the bank for that facility. To me that's a fair arrangement and should not be frowned upon by others for the way we choose to conduct our affairs.

This is clearly not the cancellation of an overdraft. Its the total transformation of an account to one that's only vaguely recognisable from what it once was. I can understand the legal right for a bank to make a change in T&C's, mostly that's provided because T&C's often need clarification, fees reduce and increase depending on the market etc. But to totally turn a product and credit agreement from one thing to another is IMO abuse of the banks rights.

Im really still unclear as to why you felt the need to remind me of this clause, because it has no relevance to wether its justified for a bank to behave as they have.

PS Removing a overdraft should only be done where there is evidence a customer cannot handle their current limit. To remain out of credit yet within your overdraft limit and paying the charges, is in no way demonstrating you cannot manage that overdraft.

jb66

I'd switch to A+L through quidco, but i dont want to affect my credit rating, so i've decided to move to the reward account for now and make sure that I have a minimum of £50 in my account at all times to get the £5 every month

Norfolk_Poppy

Well it's come at just the right time for me...Not!
My ex husband stopped paying maintenance for my 3 children last month and while the CSA chase him up, my overdraft is going to skyrocket.

I would just add that I wish that I had changed from the Halifax before now. I don't think that I have ever come across such unhelpful staff. It's not like they balance out their remarks when you are in credit and say well done, just nasty little jibes as with Lynie.

I too am now working on how to ditch the Halifax.

bristolleedsfan

tomasfoley wrote: »

Im really still unclear as to why you felt the need to remind me of this clause, because it has no relevance to wether its justified for a bank to behave as they have.

.

Post 24 " I would be interested to know why is it that they have the legal right to make changes to their products like this?? Is there anyway to appeal?? Who can we make complaint to??"


Reality is that Halifax could have under its T+C demanded that all its overdrafts were repayable upon demand and then invited its account holders to reapply under its new charging structure. Rather than cause massive inconvenience to those who are unable to repay their overdrafts Halifax has instead given notice of its new charging structure which enables those affected to take their business elsewhere if they both so wish and are able to do so.

Others have made reference to "taxpayer bailout", savers outnumber borrowers by a significant majority, bearing this in mind I believe that the majority of taxpayers would wish for Halifax to have a charging structure that is fair to the majority of taxpayers.

I have tried A+L Current Account, in fact im temporarily returning for the 50.00 Cashback Site + 100.00 switching incentive. ( not completely switching though. ) IMO from experience Halifax online banking is far superior to both Abbey and A+L and Halifax tends to have branches in more places than A+L so when people are making comparisons with A+L they are not IMO comparing like with like.