Halifax withdrawing Electron facilities?

rb10

stclair wrote: »

Is the group still working on there project for hbos, halifax and lloyds to view all there accounts via one website? or did i dream that?

I have never heard of that before.

I imagine that it would be possible for them to do this, as from this Jul/Aug, all Halifax, Bank of Scotland and Lloyds TSB accounts will be held on the same system.

However, I'd be surprised if they actually went ahead and did it, as it seems to me that they are trying to keep the brands separate. On one side, they have their 'traditional bank' brands (Lloyds TSB in England & Wales, Bank of Scotland in Scotland, and no coverage in Northern Ireland). This, I believe, they are wanting to keep separate from Halifax, their 'challenger bank' brand in England, Wales, Scotland & NI.

We have already seen this distinction in their advertising campaigns (Halifax advertise on the basis of good quality products, BOS & LTSB advertise on the basis of looking after the customer). Also the recent re-branding of BOS and the introduction of their own branded savings accounts indicates that they are moving away from the Halifax brand.

So I would guess that if anything changed, it would be to align BOS & LTSB's product range (to something approaching LTSB's current offerings), with possibly BOS & LTSB accounts visible under the same login.

savagej

Has anyone actually asked customer services while on a call.

I sent an email earlier last year to BoS regarding debit card design and was told in the second quarter they were going back to a much more "traditional for Bank of Scotland style card". But I did note it was a rather frivolous question to be asking.

Toe-Jam

EltonJohnFan wrote: »

My RBS "Key Account" Solo card was recently replaced with a full Visa and I have to say this was a surprise to me.
From what I understand, there's a lot of changes taking place in the banking world right now and I can only wonder what's next.

Best wishes

Well considering that RBS switched to visa in 2009 and sent out leaflets to let everyone know I can see how that would be surprising.

Toe-Jam

rb10 wrote: »

I have never heard of that before.

I imagine that it would be possible for them to do this, as from this Jul/Aug, all Halifax, Bank of Scotland and Lloyds TSB accounts will be held on the same system.

However, I'd be surprised if they actually went ahead and did it, as it seems to me that they are trying to keep the brands separate. On one side, they have their 'traditional bank' brands (Lloyds TSB in England & Wales, Bank of Scotland in Scotland, and no coverage in Northern Ireland). This, I believe, they are wanting to keep separate from Halifax, their 'challenger bank' brand in England, Wales, Scotland & NI.

We have already seen this distinction in their advertising campaigns (Halifax advertise on the basis of good quality products, BOS & LTSB advertise on the basis of looking after the customer). Also the recent re-branding of BOS and the introduction of their own branded savings accounts indicates that they are moving away from the Halifax brand.

So I would guess that if anything changed, it would be to align BOS & LTSB's product range (to something approaching LTSB's current offerings), with possibly BOS & LTSB accounts visible under the same login.

If they are amalgamating the technology and bringing the accounts onto one system they might just focus on 1 brand, although which one do you focus on when they are all synonymous with going bust.:rotfl:

Toe-Jam

chris91 wrote: »

They are...

England and Wales - Lloyds Bank
Scotland - Bank of Scotland

Halifax is just sort of, there.

and does northern Ireland not feature in the future plans of Lloyds bank ?

I would imagine Halifax will remain an independent identity it would be a lot of unnecessary work moving the countries biggest mortgage provider and all their customers to new mortgages, so I guess they will stay "just sort of there"

and back to the original post, I just spoke to Halifax and they have no future plans to (a) withdraw easycash account and (b) withdraw electron facilities on basic accounts.

scott_lithgows

Toe-Jam wrote: »

and does northern Ireland not feature in the future plans of Lloyds bank ?

I would imagine Halifax will remain an independent identity it would be a lot of unnecessary work moving the countries biggest mortgage provider and all their customers to new mortgages, so I guess they will stay "just sort of there"

and back to the original post, I just spoke to Halifax and they have no future plans to (a) withdraw easycash account and (b) withdraw electron facilities on basic accounts.

Good that will save me from having to close the account!

rb10

Toe-Jam wrote: »

If they are amalgamating the technology and bringing the accounts onto one system they might just focus on 1 brand, although which one do you focus on when they are all synonymous with going bust.:rotfl:

Doubt it ... Lloyds/BOS are looking to target one type of person, and Halifax a different type.

Toe-Jam wrote: »

and does northern Ireland not feature in the future plans of Lloyds bank ?

If by Lloyds Bank you mean the new name for Lloyds TSB - then no, it doesn't.

If you mean Lloyds Banking Group, then yes, their coverage there is provided by the Halifax brand.

Toe-Jam wrote: »

I would imagine Halifax will remain an independent identity it would be a lot of unnecessary work moving the countries biggest mortgage provider and all their customers to new mortgages, so I guess they will stay "just sort of there"

It wouldn't really create extra work - all the accounts will soon be held on the same computer system anyway. This goes for not just mortgages, but also their many millions of current and savings accounts.

I'd say it's more about keeping the brand name - both the Lloyds and Halifax brands are well known and well respected by many millions of people. You'd surely be mad to ditch one of them.

pinkdalek

LeeDJC wrote: »

We all know that the banks hate these basic accounts as they make little or no money out of them. However, they have to provide them.

Disagree. Customers with bank accounts generally prefer to contact their own bank if they need an additional service. Although basic bank accounts may not offer them much money initially, in the longer term the customer is more likely to come back to them once their credit rating has improved.
Also just because someone has a "basic" account does not mean they don't require car/home/life insurance, savings, mortgage. Think you'll find these products (especially insurance based ones) are very profitable for banks.

stclair

Dear XXX,

Thank you for contacting Visa Europe. Please be informed that Visa does not issue Visa cards. Visa Europe has aunique organisational structure, we are a membership association of over 4,000 European banks. You can get a card from any of the financial institutions associated with Visa. Visa would like to stress that thechoice of the financial institution is entirely left to you.

Please note that Visa is not phasing out Electron but we are seeing that banks are increasingly choosing to issue Visa Debit cards instead as theynow offer the same functionality as Visa Electron but with wider acceptance. Any decision to stop issuing Visa Electron is made by the bank, not by Visa. Banks currently issuing Visa Electron cards include Bank of Scotland, Halifax.

Should you have any further questions please do not hesitate to contact uson the number below.

Kind regards, XXXXXXX

Customer Services Representative I Visa Europe I www.visaeurope.com <http://www.visaeurope.com/> | +44 207 795 5777