So glad I am leaving the Halifax

biscit

Indeed, an authorised overdraft is a sensible precaution for the little bumps in the road. The people who are bad with money are the ones who treat the bottom of their account as the bottom of the overdraft, and scream such blue murder at "unfair" charges that we end up with structures like those at A&L and the Halifax.

Butterfly_Brain

Don't get me going on those MUPPETS !
Last year we had a quote for their house insurance of £692 which we had since buying our house in 1995 we thought it was extortionate so we went elsewhere and got it for £400 pa less. When I phoned to cancel the woman on the phone was really nasty and asked why we didn't go to them to see if we could get a cheaper quote so I said ok can you beat £191 house and contents combined and she stammered and said no so I said there you go then I am taking my custom elsewhere. To top it all we realised that all these years they had added it to our mortgage which made interest for them :mad: but made our mortgage bigger.
I wish I woke up to their scam sooner and as a warning to others don't be fooled into having your Mortgage lenders insurance you can get your insurance from anywhere as long as the Mortgage lender is named on the policy.

Derby2

Here's another update!

I received a letter from the Halifax saying they were declining my complaint. They said the standing order was amended online on the 18/2/2010 (it wasn't) and that it was still due to finish on the 1/4/2010.

At this stage all I want to do is get away from the Halifax, so I called up saying I had been told in the response to my complaint that the standing order was still going and that I didn't want it taken out in April.

The chap on the phone proceeded to tell me it was indeed cancelled, which of course is where i started in the first place.

So, I left it with them to investigate and they are still telling me conflicting information. Brilliant.

I've now sent them a letter asking for 1) Details of the computer from which the standing order was 'amended' 2) Details of who cancelled the standing order and when 3) written confirmation that the standing order is indeed cancelled and that I won't be going through this all again next month...

Derby2

Musicmaker29/biscit,

I agree completely-the only reason I have an overdraft is for the end of the month when I might occasionally go a little overdrawn. The charges are now massively disproportionate for how much I go overdrawn once in a blue moon so I decided to move.

I was dismayed when one of the girls on the phone asked me 'why I was leaving-was it because of the overdraft charges?'. When I replied 'yes, have you had many people leave' she laughed and said 'lots of threats of people moving but they never go through with it.'

Oddly I didn't get the joke...

DebtHater

oscardog wrote: »

Have had 3 Halifax accounts for years.

Never overdrawn and no problems - kiss of death or just lucky? (Maybe both!!)

They do have some happy customers you know!

Been with them for a few years now, never had any issues. They were also very helpful when I needed to claim back a Direct Debit that went out when it shouldnt have (not Halifax's fault though, Orange took a DD 3 times in one month!)

They were also the only back that would give me a £5K overdraft when I needed it, HSBC wouldnt give it to me because they are stuck up, Natwest I cant stand and banks like Abbey and Barclays are just cowboys. Ive been there and had accounts with them all, Halifax rule!

papalaz

ive got a cardcash account with them. Due to my own fault i had insufficient funds for a direct debit. I was prepared to take the hit which last time it happend a few years ago was £35 charges i think. Was suprised to find that the charge was now £15. Some may argue that that is still too much but im happyish with that figure.

heatheryone_2

Just an update on my situation - I rang the Halifax to check that what my branch told me was correct, and the lady I spoke to was very helpful. The bank advisor was correct - the reason I was charged 70p is that it was a charge for being overdrawn the previous month, before student status was applied to my account. The mystery as to why it was 70p was also solved - apparently I had paid off my overdraft by the time the £1 a day charge came in.

So I'm happy to praise the Halifax call centre staff, or at least the lady I spoke to. But I'm still not impressed that my branch asked if I wanted them to bother looking into it as "it's only 70p", and I could have done without the bank advisor trying to flog me a credit card...