halifax bank charges (merged)

Edinburghlass_2

Please read this thread regarding offers from Halifax...

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=456610&page=13

Degs45

After all the messing around claiming my money back just opened a letter to say im being charged £39..well its right down the bank in the morning !!!

tjclilac

seasidepaul wrote: »

Has anyone had a settlement offer from Halifax and what did you do?

I've had an offer of 50% less than my original claim.

Any experiences would be good in helping me decide what to do next

You are at the same stage as me. I am claiming £1100, got offer through of £544 (less than 50%). I phoned them today on the number at the top of the letter and got it increased to £950 which is what I am happy with.

Just ring them, be nice, say you are not happy with the offer and haggle. It works nearly every time I believe.

Good Luck:T

Applecider_2

Hi today Ive had an offer of £289 out of £710 claim, do u think I should phone them and ask for more? can they tae away the original offer?? Please hlp thanks

mandyminx

Hi,
I have finally recived my statements today after waiting over 2 months , so now going into stage 2 of asking for the money back with interest... anybody have any idea of how long the bank takes to reply ??
Mandy

guardian2020

depends if they "Haven't received they letter" which Nationwide said to me they hadn't had my letter asking for my default charges back...how convenient for them...give them Two weeks then ring them...

xlisax_4

I have wrote to the helifax requested that they pay me then money back with copies of my bank statements but they are no saying that i agreed to the charges when i opened my account what can i do.

Twinkly

xlisax wrote: »

I have wrote to the helifax requested that they pay me then money back with copies of my bank statements but they are no saying that i agreed to the charges when i opened my account what can i do.

This is a standard reply. You should move on to the LBA (letter before action) now and keep to the timescales. You can expect them to keep saying no but keep at it and good luck

loonygett

mandyminx wrote: »

Hi,
I have finally recived my statements today after waiting over 2 months , so now going into stage 2 of asking for the money back with interest... anybody have any idea of how long the bank takes to reply ??
Mandy

Hi,make sure you send your letter special delivery and then you should hear from them within 2 weeks.If not ring the 01977 number. Hope this helps.

Psychofly

There seems to be a lot of people coming up with the same questions over and over again here - and yeah ... it's a HUGE thread now so it's kind of understandable.

Thought I'd list the approach I took and hopefully it'll answer some of these questions :

1. Using online banking I calculated my charges covering 2 years. This is from all the statements I had available to me online. Came to £1364.
2. Wrote and posted my letter on the 4th June. Included my list of charges for the 2 years showing just the total without interest. The table was created using the calculator on this website. URL="http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/bank-charges#interest"]CALCULATOR[/URL.
3. I amended the template letter a little with the following :

   I request a refund of penalty & unfair charges totaling applied to my account since 4<SUP>th</SUP> June 2002. From the online statement I currently have access to I note that £1364 of these charges have been levied since 15<SUP>th</SUP> June 2005. I would expect a satisfactory offer after you review my account from today (4<SUP>th</SUP> June 2007) looking back a 5 year period to 4<SUP>th</SUP> June 2002. If necessary I will formally request details of these charges under the Freedom of Information Act however I would hope that you could review these charges applied to my account yourselves and make a satisfactory offer.

   . Please note that I live in Scotland and under Scottish small claims law your claim can only date back 5 years not 6 like in English law. I decided that I would try this approach rather than wait 40+ days under Freedom of Information.
4. The letter was posted at 4pm.
5. On the 8th June I received a letter dated 5th June. This is the standard rejection letter that EVERYONE gets at some point. Don't panic at this point because all they are trying to do is scare you off. The most important thing to remember is that you can take this as far as you like and stop whenever you like. No matter how much you threaten court and Financial Ombudsman you never have to do it if you're not comfortable. Just make sure you let them think you are. It was very clear that there was no way they could of assessed my claim fully in less than 24 hours. I phoned the number at the top of the letter and gave them my reference number from it. I politely asked for the claim to be reassessed and said I felt there was no way they could of assessed my claim in that time and that I thought they'd just rejected it without looking at it. I also said that it was clear that they'd hardly read the letter since they didn't even provide me with the charge list and statement which I'd requested in my letter. Technically I didn't specifically ask for these but worth a shot. Was told they'd be with me in 7 days (15th June) and my claim would be sent for re-assessment.
6. Waited till 19th June and phoned on 01977 627313. Gave my reference number. Explained (again politely) that I'd been told my statements and a list of charges would be sent within 7 days however 12 days had now passed and nothing had arrived and I was just wondering what was happening with them. The guy apologised for the delay and promised to get them in the post that night.
7. The next day (20th June) 2 envelopes arrived. 1 with a list of charges covering 6 years (remember I'd only initially asked for 5) and 6 years of statements.
8. I sat down that night and totalled ALL my charges covering the 5 years I was comfortable I could claim under Scottish Law. These totalled £3224.50. I phoned back on the 21st June (again on the 01977) and gave the guy my reference number. I explained I'd requested an offer based on all my charges since I didn't have access to the statements. I'd since received a list of charges and my statements so I wanted to update my claim with the amount I've calculated. He was happy to add a note to the account that I was now claiming £3224.50. I decided to chance my arm and I explained that the guy I spoke to on the 19th had promised to send me statements for my current account AND my joint account but I'd only got my current account ones - "must be because you lot are sooo busy". Promised I'd have my joint account ones the next day.
9. Joint account statements arrive (22nd June)
10. Phoned on the 25th June to ask for an update on my call. Couldn't get an answer on the 01977 so I phoned the 08451241330 number on the initial rejection letter only to be told by a snotty little ***** that they had 8 weeks and that's the deadline they'd work to.
11. Phoned on the 27th June to ask some pointless question. Basically wanted to make sure they kept my case in mind. Got through on the 01977 number and gave the guy my reference number. Before he even asked what I was calling for the guy promised to deal with my claim personally that day and send me an offer that night or the next morning.
12. Phoned the 01977 number on the 29th June (postal strike ) to ask if an offer had been made. They explained one was in the post but due to the postal strike I might not get it till the Monday or Tuesday. I asked if we could just sort it out on the phone and I was told that an offer of £1300 had been made. Was I happy ? Obviously not. I was told they could only offer an absolute maximum of £2627.50 since that was all my charges over 6 years (bearing in mind I was only claiming for 5 and according to the list they sent me these totalled £3k+ !!). I queried the difference in the totals and was told they weren't sure why this was the case. Would it be OK if he got the guy who dealt with my claim to phone me back. I said that was fine and I was happy to settle on £2627.50 as long as I could still claim for the rest if it was discovered their total was wrong. "Yeah that's not a problem, it's possible you've been sent a duplicate page in the list of charges".
13. I went back over my charge list and sure enough there was a duplicate page they'd sent out. The total over 6 years was actually £2527.50 so they were offering me £100 more. I called back on the 01977 and spoke to the guy dealing with my claim and told him I was happy to accept £2627.50 as full and final settlement to my claim.
14. 3rd July receive confirmation letter dated 29th June stating that £2627.50 would be paid into my account as full and final settlement within 14 days.

I know that's a long drawn out story but hopefully it'll help some people out. I think the most important things to learn from it are :

• Always be polite on the phone. A little chat and a laugh while you're talking to them helps keep them on your side.
• Never shy away from twisting the truth. I claimed to have specifically asked for my statements in my original letter which I clearly didn't. They were sent out to me no problem. If you try the same thing and are told that you'll have to make a formal Freedom of Information request then thank them for the help and call back the next day and try again. I also claimed that I'd been promised my joint account statements which I clearly hadn't. Got them the next day. Just chance it a little but don't make up big massive elaborate lies.
• The best approach is to send your letter making the initial claim. Phone up and ask what's happening if you haven't received an answer with a week. Once you get the rejection letter phone and politely ask for a re-assess. Phone once a week asking what stage they are at. Be a little sympathetic to how busy they are. Eventually you'll get someone who will send you an offer out. Phone up and say you aren't happy with it and negotiate the full amount. It's really quite a simple thing to do just make sure if they give you a deadline and they miss it phone up and politely explain what deadline you were given and ask what's happening with it. Keep on top of them but be nice.

Good luck everyone and please don't panic and worry about it all. Halifax are easy to get cash from. Took me 4 weeks !