Halifax online banking - interest rate not shown

jambosans

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

So some on here believe that the Halifax system whereby your money dissapears for a few days after you have paid it in to a new account is better than the LTSB system which is a live up to date system?

Yes. Bank of Scotland Online is as "live" and "up to date" as Lloyds TSB's offering. One quirk (which has never effected myself), doesn't detract from this. As far as security, perhaps you're right, I've never had any issues with BoS Online.

I find LTSB's service is middle of the road, and lacking in areas (up until recently the painfully slow implementation of FPS via Online). I (or increasingly, used to) find HBOS's service simple, and intuitive to use - with most of the features I require. Plus (even though it doesn't effect my usage) I hate the aesthetics of LTSB Internet Banking - it looks incredibly dated.

cottager

Dave_save wrote: »

The simple question is 'Why did they remove it?'. And the answer is.. to hide it.

I understand it to be a direct consequence of beginning to merge with the LTSB platform.
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=2283745

[Edit: sorry Dave, just realised you already knew this, as you have a post in the other thread with the info!]

Also:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=30417069&postcount=12

Joe_Bloggs

cottager said:
I understand it to be a direct consequence of beginning to merge with the LTSB platform.

This maybe the Lloyds TSB and others marketing spin that they want people to believe. If Halifax could be open and informative then so can Lloyds.

J_B.

opinions4u

Dave_save wrote: »

The simple question is 'Why did they remove it?'. And the answer is.. to hide it.

Joe_Bloggs wrote: »

This maybe the Lloyds TSB and others marketing spin that they want people to believe.

It's not spin and it's not about deception. The HBOS system is being killed off and certain things not currently supported by the LTSB systems have been removed prior to the move of customer data from one platform to the other.

If Halifax could be open and informative then so can Lloyds.

Is it technologically possible? Yes, of course it is.

Is the IT investment required to deliver this relatively minor enahncement something that Lloyds want to spend at a point in time when resources are tied up in more complex things? Absolutely not.

There is, apparently, a plan to deliver an all singing all dancing online service for BOS, Halifax and LTSB brands going forwards. I suspect this is more than a few months off though.

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

So some on here believe that the Halifax system whereby your money dissapears for a few days after you have paid it in to a new account is better than the LTSB system which is a live up to date system?

It is an odd quirk that applies to new current accounts for new customers.

Then again, can an existing LTSB customer open a new savings account and immediately fund it in the extrardoinarily simple way a Halifax customer can?

There are pros and cons to both systems. I just think it's a shame that they've been unable to take the best of both and implement that faster.

Just wait until some of the antiquated LTSB branch procedures hit Halifax customers !

Joe_Bloggs

opinions4u Said:-

It's not spin and it's not about deception.

Is it technologically possible? Yes, of course it is.

Is the IT investment required to deliver this relatively minor enhancement something that Lloyds want to spend at a point in time when resources are tied up in more complex things? Absolutely not.

If the Lloyds IT staff are mystified/ignorant/stupid then why not ask the Halifax IT staff how they managed to connect current interest rates from savings products as they applied to the individual. This is not rocket science. The 'facility' used to exist and now it has been trashed/curtailed/sidelined/deleted.

J_B.

jambosans

Joe_Bloggs wrote: »

If the Lloyds IT staff are mystified/ignorant/stupid then why not ask the Halifax IT staff how they managed to connect current interest rates from savings products as they applied to the individual.

It's less merger, more takeover. LTSB want HBOS brought in line with their current offering of internet banking (regardless of how backwards it may seem for HBOS customers). Stripping a service back to make it compatible with ye olde Lloyds, then re-launching all the brands on a new platform (or upgraded one) will be more cost effective.

The discussion needs to differentiate between why HBOS have removed this feature and why LTSB do not offer this feature. Even after moving forward with a new LTSB and HBOS online offering, I doubt this feature will return. LTSB in particular are big on their twelve month bonus periods, which means working out the rate you're on is more complex. Confusion often results in customers on lower paying savings accounts, which is without a doubt, of benefit to the business.

Joe_Bloggs

I hope this feature will return because it has been personally useful and is clearly feasible.
If Lloyds Tsb Halifax, also ran etc. is too big to make changes then perhaps it is too big to withstand a competitions scrutiny.
J_B.

Mikeyorks

Lots of experience with Halifax over many years ..... most of it good but with some notable exceptions. Only recent exposure to Lloyds TSB .... and the comparisons don't bode well.
The online looks in dire need of refurbishing. I opened an (Vantage) account in the OH's name .... then found setting up an online transfer facility was blocked, as the account was new! Rang them - as requested - and set up smoothly enough ..... but I could have done it easier online.

Sent an R85 in with the specimen signature (their T&Cs are pretty devoid of info on this). But the account doesn't show tax status (Halifax did ..... and you simply rang them to place an R85) so had to wait for the first payment of interest to reveal it had been paid net. So we'd obviously placed it with someone whose job it wasn't ... and they'd binned it.

Rang their helpdesk .... 'Oh - we send those to HMRC' ...... 'No you don't - they're for you to register on the account' ...... 'Ah - but we need their permission to pay you gross!' ....... 'No - the R85 is your permission'. So we talked about the weather for a couple of minutes .... as she seemed on safe ground with that. But I did manage to identify it's Branch or bust. So I found a local Branch .... took it in 'Ah .... I'll send that off ... as HO register them!'

Surprisingly it has , apparently, been registered as the 2nd payment of interest is 'gross'. But .... unlike Halifax .... no retrospective application in order any tax deducted thus far (in the current year) is credited.

As I said ..... the CS and useability comparisons, thus far, are all negative.

Alpine_Star

zombiex wrote: »

It went on that they had reviewed what customers wanted and this facility was not among those requested...

So they're saying that they believe that the interest rate is so unimportant to their savers, it's not worth mentioning. Even this woeful explanation doesn't quite chime with the one they gave BBC Moneybox yesterday, before it was withdrawn and substituted with another.

Listen from 8 minutes and 45 seconds in http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/money_box

In brief,. these people are stupid. And they think their customers are too.

anamenottaken

zombiex wrote: »

. . . It went on that they had reviewed what customers wanted and this facility was not among those requested...

I would be interested to see the results from your customer trend survey where this feature was counted as not important.
. . .

You say that you looked at the most commonally used areas of the site, I would have said that if customers were asked (I know I was not) that this was a very important function of the online systems you provided.

1 - customers requesting the feature - displaying an interest rate is not the highest priority, of course - being able to make faster payments, set up and amend standing orders, transfer between accounts, fees and so on are far more important so one can see that it would not be in the top three, say.

2 - results of survey - the answers you get will depend on the questions asked

3 - commonly used areas - when something is automatically displayed it is impossible to know whether the data is "used". And, of course, if it is displayed there is no need to go hunting around the rest of the website trying to find the information - so it might appear that people aren't looking for the interest rates because they didn't need to seek them out!

Definitely a retrograde action on the part of Halifax/LTSB.