Halifax rewards accts block?closed not happy with conduct of accts,UPDATED 11-11-10

Mikeyorks

pcyam wrote: »

She was quite nervy when I spoke to her and its making me all nervous now, whats the worse that can happen (pay all the money back??) I havent broken any T&C's have I??

'Nervy' is possibly her natural demeanour. Not a chance of being asked to repay the 'Rewards'. You've fulfilled the T&Cs and it's just the way you're funding the accounts that's triggered an alert.

I'd tend to make it, if you can, 3 x £1k or 6 x £500 ....... as opposed to the high multiples you're using.

pcyam

Mikeyorks wrote: »

'Nervy' is possibly her natural demeanour. Not a chance of being asked to repay the 'Rewards'. You've fulfilled the T&Cs and it's just the way you're funding the accounts that's triggered an alert.

I'd tend to make it, if you can, 3 x £1k or 6 x £500 ....... as opposed to the high multiples you're using.

Think im going to do what I was doing before £1000 so that I dont have to go through this every, plus its a lot quicker and cuts down on halifaxs ink too:D-how do I stop all statements being sent because I have managed to change all but 1 it's greyed out and doesnt let me have internet statements.

Loughton_Monkey

pcyam wrote: »

She was quite nervy when I spoke to her

This is what you get at Halifax these days. They're all 'nervy', because they suspect all customers of being 'secret talent scouts' looking for material for their next TV ad.

pcyam

mum has been into the branch taken all the stuff they want, and the business manager has said that the fraud team are not happy with the conduct of the accounts and the branch are going to close all the bank accounts and the savings/bonds too, and will do further investigation. No other reasons, and she is not able to give a reason as to why and what further investigations?? but if the accounts are all closed how can they do further investigations??

But they're quite happy to keep the home insurance in place!!

I presume it means that we will not be able to open any halifax accounts in the future, what are the chances with any Halifax accounts under the group??
any ideas anyone??

pcyam

is this going to show on my credit file>?>?

pcyam

They've closed all my mums accounts, and i've taken the day off work on thurs with the intention of them saying that all accounts are to be closed, BUT... I switched my accounts over to halifax last month so they've switched my standing orders over-which isnt a massive problem as I can set them back up on my previous account, but theyve written to me today to say that my salary will be paid into my halifax account this month (and Im due to be paid this friday!!!) I'm completely forgot about my salary so will ring HR tomorrow, what do I do if they say its too late your salary will be paid to halifax and not my old account?? I dont want it to bounce back to my employers as it will take forever and a day to get the money back, but I cant get any other days off till 2 weeks and 2 weeks is a long time to get my salary.

Also, on the letters they've sent us, they've basically saying we are doing fraud on the account, yet they can clearly see whats happening on the account and as far as it goes we;ve not broken any T&C's, have we got grounds to complain about this?? Also, if they are sayings it fraud will this show up anywhere eg credit file or do they hold this information internally only.

TIA

masonic

If you're being paid on Friday, then it should not be too late to get that changed.

There are certainly grounds for complaint. They are basically inventing this alleged fraud in order to close your account without giving you the 2 months notice set out in their T&Cs. They are perfectly entitled to close your accounts for any reason after giving you the appropriate notice, but to worm their way out of their obligations by playing the 'fraud' card is not something I would have expected to see.

brokeinyorkshire

The bank normally gives sixty days notice under the FSA rules.

Grounds to close an account can differ but if the customer has made numerous fraud claims for such things as payday loan companies then the bank usually asks them to close their account. If there is a security issue then the customer can also be asked to close their account.

When you say they are accusing you of ' doing fraud ', did they explain in what way?

anselld

I am guessing "fraud" might be as simple as 3 people from the same family having the same password and memorable info and completing multiple transactions on three accounds from the same PC in a very short time.
The "fraud" being that you are not supposed to share security details with anyone, even same family.
Seems a bit harsh though if that is the case.

jambosans

There are certain things banks don't like which are not really covered by your terms and conditions, but the below, Get Out of Jail Free card, allows Halifax to close your account with no explanation, provided they give two months notice.

Halifax wrote:

28.2 We may terminate this agreement with you and close your account. To do so we must give you at least two months’ notice. Condition 3 sets out how this notice will be provided to you.

Now, Halifax's worst kept secret is the loose conditions under which you can qualify for their £5 Reward. It's well documented, you do it, I do it, and many MSE'ers do it, and there's nothing wrong with it, as we're not in breach of the terms and conditions. However your account conduct may fall into that grey area of "things banks don't like".

This may seem far fetched (so bare with me), and I'm not excusing Halifax or even proclaiming this to be the correct explanation, but moving the same small amount of money between four accounts, could be regarded (if you were a big business) as false accounting. I know your intent was never to deceive, but it has produced a false throughput on your accounts, which as a direct result may cause you to appear (on paper) as a high value customer*. In terms of personal banking, customers with higher behavioural/ internal scores are more likely to have pre-approved offers for credit cards, loans, etc. Hence why I've loosely associated your account conduct with false accounting, even though your intent was never to obtain credit from this activity. Even though false accounting is a type of fraud, it's dangerous to band about this term, as it implies intentional deception on your part, which is a libellous area I doubt Halifax want to enter, so closing your accounts is the easier option.

All that said, you're not good business, as are many other customers with Reward Current Accounts, and until a change of terms and conditions is put in place, HBOS can't arbitrarily close customers accounts which do not meet their vision of a "good customer". I'm sure you're not the only one who transfers £200 forty times a month in a short space of time between four accounts, but they've "noticed" you, and as such, decided this behaviour is unacceptable.

FYI, all this information I have provided is sourced from a general knowledge of the banking industry, I have no insider-knowledge of HBOS fraud operations or whether in fact the scenario I've suggested is the reason for your accounts being closed. So at most, regard my post as a best guess. There's not much point in demanding a detailed explanation from Halifax, as, to my knowledge, they are not obliged to give one.

I agree with others, that they should provide two months notice, and as masonic suggests, they cannot hide under the guise of "fraud" in order to avoid providing notice. If they are not providing adequate notice, make a formal complaint.

*To give you an example, most banks monitor account conduct automatically. Therefore, Halifax's system may not be able to differentiate the same credit coming in and out five times from the same account. So, if we leave the savings to one side, on the current accounts, Halifax think you have £3000 of "new money" moving through these accounts each month. The reality is you've inflated the account throughput fifteen times the original £200.