Halifax Mortgage Overpayments

MortgageFreeWanabe

pammyj74 wrote: »

I'm with halifax too and just OP from my lloyds tsb ac as and when I want rather than setting up an SO so if one month I cant afford it or can afford more its flexible.
I have decided to reduce the term every so often as its more a mental thing in my mind that its going down. They have told me I can extend it again if I ever need to.

I was also told I can extend my term if I ever needed to, Just as long as it didn't take me over the age of 65.

PurpleJay

Hi

I have a halifax mortgage and want to start overpayments.

When I rang them, they said the easiest way way to have a Halifax current account and then I could transfer money into that and they pay it off the mortgage either with online banking or by phone.

They said the other way was to go into the bank with cash!

I would have preferred to make overpayments from my Nationwide current account via online banking but didn't known you could get the account no and sort code to set up this type of payment (to a mortgage account).

I might give them another ring... If I can do this, I don't need the other account - I only openned it to use for overpayments.

I was also told that once I had made an OP I should phone them to tell them whether to take it of the term or the monthly payments.

curlygirl1971

PurpleJay wrote: »

Hi

I have a halifax mortgage and want to start overpayments.

When I rang them, they said the easiest way way to have a Halifax current account and then I could transfer money into that and they pay it off the mortgage either with online banking or by phone.

I was also told that once I had made an OP I should phone them to tell them whether to take it of the term or the monthly payments.

Hhmmm....I would question whether you really do need to call them - that answer sounds like a member of their call centre team just telling you that because they really don't know the correct response to the question!

I've made OP's over the counter and via phone banking. I also have a regular monthly OP by SO from my Current Account and I've never had to instruct them with regard to term or payment. (The SO was set up by counter staff not online).

It's only when I've made a larger ad-hoc OP that someone has asked me 'Do you want us to adjust your Standard Payment?'. The default is that they keep your Payment the same and reduce your term.

With regard to their online banking - when I look at the SO on the list of payments on my Current Account I'm not allowed to edit the details unlike other payment instructions on the account. If you try to creat a new payment instruction then it doesn't recognise the Account number / sort code relating to your Mortgage account (Invalid Receiving Account)

But every time I did make an OP (in branch or phoning) I was told many times that I could arrange a payment online. In the end I sat in the Branch with one of their Morgage advisers whilst she called 3 different people. The first one was in the Mortgage team - he said yes, it could be done online. I then logged on in front of her and showed her that it just couldn't be done. She rang them back, spoke to the Mortgage team again and then I think their Online Technical Help dept., who confirmed once and for all that currently their online facility does not have this functionality.

It's a pain.....and even more so when their staff still tell me I can do it and I end up having a polite arguement with them

H: Do you know you can arrange this payment online?
C: No I can't
H: Yes you can
C: No I can't - your online facility doesn't have that functionality
H: Yes you can, you just create a new payment.....
C: No REALLY I CAN'T
H: It's easy.....

I've seen lots of other people on the forum say the same about their Halifax online banking. I believe, from other posts, that sending a payment from a non-Halifax Current Account is possible but have not yet given it a go.

Not having a rant at you of course - this issue drives me INSANE :rotfl: I don't expect their staff to know everything there is to know about all of their products and all of their functionality but I would have thought that in this day and age it would be possible to OP your Halifax Mortgage from your Halifax Current Account using the Halifax Online Banking facility. Gosh it turns me into a Grumpy Old Woman

Best of luck with your OP's, in the meantime I will keep taking the medication

Lord_Nutter

For those who OP with a non Halifax CA, do you simply put in the mortgage roll number as the reference, without the '/' and '-' ? (I called customer service for the relevant account details to pay into)

wantabetterlife

yes curlygirl you are right.
You cannot make ad hoc overpayments from a halifax current account to a halifax mortgage. But if your current account is with another bank then you can...completely stupid and frustrating. I bank with bank of ireland and can make an online overpayment to the halifax at any time for as little or as much as i want.

Hope that helps

Edit: yes lord nutter put the roll number in as the reference number and also make sure you put the sort code and account number in. The first time i made an online payment it was for £10, just to make sure it went through ok. It will take about 4-5 working days to show up if you check your mortgage balance online.
Dont be shocked when you check your balance a few days after making an overpayment if it actually increases. The reason for this is they will also add on any interest on the mortgage since your last payment. For example say your mortgage comes out on the 1st of the month and you make an overpayment on the 8th for £100. If your mortgage interest is say £10 per day then the balance will only show up £30 less (seven days interest is added @£70). Obviously the next month you pay less interest as you have already paid for seven days. That is very confusing i know, but hope it makes some sort of sense.

clairey179

I too got incredibly frustrated with halifax and trying to overpay. Eventually, we've got the mortgage payment and overpayment rolled into one, and put £1100 in in a oner each month. We reduce the monthly payments rather than the term, in case we want to benefit from the lower payments in the future. This way, we don't need to adjust the amount depending on the new monthly repayment. Like a previous poster, we did get a shock initially when we saw the balance go up occasionally! However, the annual statement shows things a bit more clearly. Also, halifax said that they don't alter the monthly repayments after each repayment, and don't update the balance either, but again, it is all done on the annual statement. Hope that's useful for someone.

susieb1967

wantabetterlife wrote: »

yes curlygirl you are right.
You cannot make ad hoc overpayments from a halifax current account to a halifax mortgage. But if your current account is with another bank then you can...completely stupid and frustrating. I bank with bank of ireland and can make an online overpayment to the halifax at any time for as little or as much as i want.

OMG i am so annoyed at hearing this! I have asked everytime I have changed my mortgage (and its been a good few times now-always with the halifax as they have matched rates etc) and they have always said no sorry you cant set OP up online you have to come into branch!! Consequently I have missed a lot of OP opportunities as I just never seem to get into town that much.
Off to set it up from my (none-halifax) current acct now!!

LilacPixie

reincarnating an old thread but OMG thins is so frustrating.. I have been saving small OP's and making larger payments with my halifax debit card but it looks like I should be transfering cash to a non halifax current account (i have a nationwide account and Abbey/santander) then just doing s SO payment from there... I wonder if I could set the details up as a bill payment and sweep loose change into it..

Emsky123

Hi Purplejay

I can completely dispell that myth, I have a Nationwide CA and a Halifax mortgate, I got the Mortage account details and set up a one off bill payment using the roll number as the reference though online banking, Every month i just go into the bill payment and say how much i want to send. It really easy and it works, I checked the first few payments with Halifax to make sure they were being received - All went through with no problems.

Its great as you can vary the amount and when you sent it.

Emksy

kiran83

Hi guys, I have a mortage with Birminham Midshires, which is owned by Halifax. I have a Natwest bank account. I have obtained the bank account, sort code number for the mortage account. To pay a over payment into my BM mortage, can I do this online???? Does it cost anything to make a overpayment into the BM account from Natwest???