Halifax

VickyA_2

My boyfriend has been duped by the Halifax (without me knowing, otherwise he'd have never have been stung). He has - sorry had - a small amount of money in a savings account with them. Due to the amount of money he had it was suggested that he opened a "Saver Reward" account as it had a "very competitive" rate of interest. Whilst we were discussing our savings plan, he suggested that we put the cash in his "Saver Reward" account. I, on the other hand, was trying to convince him that a Mini Cash ISA was better..... According to him, the cashier at the Halifax had said that it was one of the best rates of interest (Saver Reward). After checking for him on the Halifax website, we found that the incredibly lucrative was paying a massive 0.25% net interest!!!! What a Saver Reward indeed.

He's now listening to me (he doesn't spend as much time as I do on this website!), and we've got a Mini Cash ISA with Abbey............... in my name!

ED

Well done, VickyA.

Are you two thinking of writing to Halifax's complaints dept detailing the inappropriate hard-sell of the Saver Reward a/c, & neglect of the Mini Cash ISA aim? Perhaps the staff member at your branch needs some retraining…

If any £'s are left over for investment, Halifax's Web Saver pays 4.30% (but maybe you two have ditched Halifax?!) As you may know 4.30% is also currently offered by Coventry Bdg Soc and by Norwich & Peterborough Bdg Soc.

tonyivb

I wouldn't p*** on Halifax if it was on fire... they are a bunch of money grabbing scumbags who are only interested in screwing as much out of you as possible and do not give a monkeys about keeping your custom!

They also pollute the airwaves with their god-awful advertisments!

spidermanalf

My mum is going through a MASSIVE claim with the Halifax, she took a loan out 5 years ago, and 2 years later had to have an operation on her hip, and is now classed as disabled.

The halifax should write off the loan, as in their insurance literature, but they have been battling against it for the last 2 years, and are saying she knew she had a bad hip before therefore the insurance is void (the hip replacement was due to a car crash!).

On the other hand, it took 2 weeks for Yorkshire Bank to sort out the loan she had with them, with a personal letter, and a cheque for overpayment, for the 2 weeks it took!

student100

A couple of days ago Halifax sent me a booklet "to demonstrate out ongoing commitment to the Banking Code" to "compare interest rate and features of your account(s) with the other savings accounts we offer". It made very interesting reading.

Of their branch based, "instant access" savings accounts (not ISAs etc), apart from the Monthly Saver which requires regular deposits, all of them pay a worse rate of interest than their current account! I didn't realise their rates were so bad. I know my parents have some savings with the Halifax and I'm going to try and persuade them to switch them to a Web Saver or something.

So if you want an instant access savings account with irregular deposits, don't want an ISA, and want to be able to access the money in a branch (not phone or internet only), don't bother with Halifax!

VickyA_2

You'd have thought by my rant at the top that I'd have learnt by now, but evidently not!

I've had my Halifax account (passbook one) since I was about 9, which is sometime ago now! I've stupidly been loyal in all that time. My account is now used as a little "rainy day" account - saving up for a holiday for example. However, Halifax have now decided to close the agency branch in my local town - convenient for popping in during my lunch hour. This will close at the end of August, and now I'll have to travel 10 miles to get to my closest branch - which closes on a Saturday! Not convenient at all. My loyalty may well not be around for much longer. It infuriates me that they can do this. They (Halifax) have been quoted that they expect many people will do their banking on the internet, but all the people that I see in the branch are small children with bags of money or elderly people. Hardly convenient for them?

aliasojo

I HATE THE HALIFAX

I'm sitting here waiting for the correct customer services dept to open so I can vent my spleen!! Maybe this rant will calm me down so that I can be firm but polite on the phone!

Another company paid £5900 into our Halifax credit card by error - it should have gone to our current acc. Not a problem say the Halifax, we can transfer that over for you. HA! That would be too simple! I've spent 10 days on the phone trying to get them to do exactly that and been unbelievably messed around. Every customer service advisor has told me something different each time I've called. I just checked my account online this morning and they've tranferred funds ok - £950! !!!

Obviously the requirement for employment with the Halifax is to be as dense as possible!

System

I agree with you all, however, I also have accounts with Lloyds and believe they are as bad. I did recently queue for ages in a Halifax branch to pay some bags of change into my ISA and when I got to the front the cashier tried to sell me a mortgage! Talk about wasting customers time.

jockettuk

They have also taken over the bank of scotland and closed lots of branches .. my disabled dad complained and was told to go to the nearest branch which is 10 miles away and talk to them he told them to get stuffed and took out his money they asked him were they were transferring it to he told them under his mattress as it was safer there than with the halifax now known as HBOS (halifax bank of scotland). he put it in the post office as they are the closer to him now..

[Deleted User]

the cashier tried to sell me a mortgage!  Talk about wasting customers time.

There was one particularly agressive teller at my Halifax who always used to try and sell me something despite repeated no thank you's. One day I shouted " Will you just give me my money please!". She looked rather sheepish as the whole banking hall hushed, and hasn't said a thing since.

16011996

my daughter had a kids saver account with the halifax, but although it says 2.35% annual interest, they only paid her 0.75 as she was paying too much in at a £5 a week. no encouragement for kids to spend. noone can explain why. put it with abbey national. can;t be any worse.