Halifax are really starting to annoy me!

Bristol_Dancer

I suppose it's not anything that's going to change my life, but it's REALLY annoying me!

Banks are all about paper-free statements, and I prefer this too, they would just sit on my kitchen table until I finally decide to put them in a filing cabinet where I'll most likely never look at it again... but now they tell me they are DELETING all my online statements!!! I have 2 weeks or to to save all the statements to my computer.


Going IN to the branch is frustrating too. They tell me that they are changing their systems to be in line with Lloyds. They have chip&pin machines next to all the desks.... but guess what, they aren't working "yet". Sooooo in the mean time I have to fill in a paying in slip. Never had to do this before, I just handed over my card (which they swiped to bring up my account), and told them how much money there was to pay in. I made a mistake on the slip last time I was in, so the bank person had to fill in a new one. WASTE OF TIME!


Hubby has been told that one of his funds accounts will no longer be available on his online banking "as a new website is coming next year". (it's still available by phone). But WHY? Why can they not leave it on the online banking until this mystical new website is launched?


My biggest bugbear is that I can put in payment references when I send money to other people... but if people from other banks put a reference when they send money to me - Halifax just ignores it!
I run a small biz (sole trader, legally don't need a biz account), so regularly get transfers in, and they are mostly all the same amount. NIGHTMARE to work out which invoice it's relating to! I look so unprofessional asking "is this from you?".


<rant over>
aaannnd breathe!

pinkdalek

Their Chip & PIN facility comes active in the summer so thus removes the requirement of a slip.

Pay in at their IDM machines, just pop your card in and money/cheques and it does it for you.

Ask them to order you a paying in book if you find that easier than filling in slips.

Lloyds/Halifax is going through massive system changes and unlike other banks it does not just do things overnight hence why things are happening in stages.

And as another person pointed out you should not be using a personal account for business use. Speak to them about their business accounts and I am certain they will be able to offer you what you need.

PNPSUKNET

sole trader with invoices should be through a business account, may not be legally but under the banks terms you do

Bristol_Dancer

pinkdalek wrote: »

Pay in at their IDM machines, just pop your card in and money/cheques and it does it for you.

Yeah. It broke the last time I tried to use it. They had to lock all the bank doors before they would go inside the machine to get my money and card back out.
It only takes 50 notes in one go too.

I don't need a biz account. I am a sole trader. What the bank wants and what the law says are 2 different things. The account is also my personal account.

(Anyway you can't get a biz account with Halifax any more - you have to go to Lloyds.)

Bristol_Dancer

pinkdalek wrote: »

Their Chip & PIN facility comes active in the summer so thus removes the requirement of a slip.

Yes I know. Which is why I'm confused why they've gone BACKWARDS for 6 months in between!

Azrael_1701

Bristol_Dancer wrote: »

Yeah. It broke the last time I tried to use it. They had to lock all the bank doors before they would go inside the machine to get my money and card back out.
It only takes 50 notes in one go too.

I don't need a biz account. I am a sole trader. What the bank wants and what the law says are 2 different things. The account is also my personal account.

(Anyway you can't get a biz account with Halifax any more - you have to go to Lloyds.)

Well, its pretty simple, if they notice that you are using a personal account for business purposes they will close it down. And, no, you dont "need" to go to LLoyds for a business account, HBoS do them under the Bank of Scotland brand.

Azrael_1701

Bristol_Dancer wrote: »

Yes I know. Which is why I'm confused why they've gone BACKWARDS for 6 months in between!

The old system accepted payments in without a slip, the new one uses a chip and pin reader or a paying in slip, the old one is no longer being used in branches, and the chip and pin readers haven't been activated yet because the rest of the bank systems cant support them yet and it would screw things up.

pinkdalek

Bristol_Dancer wrote: »

Yeah. It broke the last time I tried to use it. They had to lock all the bank doors before they would go inside the machine to get my money and card back out.
It only takes 50 notes in one go too.

I don't need a biz account. I am a sole trader. What the bank wants and what the law says are 2 different things. The account is also my personal account.

(Anyway you can't get a biz account with Halifax any more - you have to go to Lloyds.)

Fine but at the end of the day you are using your personal Halifax account for business use, probably why they cannot put references on payments is purely because you have a personal account so strictly cash paid into a personal account is cash from a personal source and not a business.

Yes their IDM machine takes 50 notes, as it states when you select cash deposit option, it also tells you not to force the money in, make sure it isn't creased or folded too. They have to close the doors for customer safety as they are opening a safe which has cash in there. If you have more than 50 notes, then pay it in in more than one go, simple enough.

Halifax had a dated old system which had been in use for over 25 years so strictly speaking even on their old system they had not moved forward had they? They have adopted the same system as Lloyds use, the company that took them over in 2008. Why? It is more cost effective for the bank to run one system than several. It's funny how we never read about Lloyds TSB customers whinging about filling in slips do we?

Why hasn't everything been switched on straight away? To avoid massive system crashes and more customer inconvenience. Sometimes for improvements to occur you sometimes have to remove things to improve it, then run it to see if it "copes" - yes I too will lose my online statements shortly, big deal, they will return, or if I need them in the future I am sure my Halifax bank can provide me with copies.

opinions4u

Bristol_Dancer wrote: »

Yeah. It broke the last time I tried to use it. They had to lock all the bank doors before they would go inside the machine to get my money and card back out.
It only takes 50 notes in one go too.

There is little wrong with it accepting 50 notes at a time. It's clearly marked that this is the case. Did it break because you were paying in poor quality notes?

If you are regularly depositing in excess of this your account will, sooner or later, be flagged as suspicious for one reason or another.

Staff will only turn a blind eye to business activity on an account while it causes them no trouble.

I don't need a biz account. I am a sole trader. What the bank wants and what the law says are 2 different things. The account is also my personal account.

The law does not compel Halifax to allow you to use their account as a business account. They have a clearly stated policy that the account should not be used in this way. If they decide they do not like the way you are using the account they are within their rights to close it as you are in breach of the terms and conditions.

(Anyway you can't get a biz account with Halifax any more - you have to go to Lloyds.)

In the past it was a Bank of Scotland business banking account with limited facilities in Halifax branches.

Bristol_Dancer

What's the difference with me paying in the cash I've taken at the end of the month once a month, and being paid monthly in cash for a regular job?

My mum sometimes sends me money, she likes to put a reference to tell me what it's for. When I banked with Barclays, I used to see the references, with Halifax I don't.

I have access to a biz account with Barclays for a different job, we pay people's travel expenses who have helped us at events, we add references when we send their money to their personal accounts so they can see which event it relates to. Those people with Halifax accounts don't receive the references.

Bristol_Dancer

With regard to the machine. It is actually very useful! And the cheque paying in thing is so clever.
The day it broke, I hadn't realised I had more than 50 notes, and the machine appeared to accept them, and just said "please wait while it's counted", so I waited, and then it told me I "had taken too long" and took all my money and bank card. It took ages to sort it all out, good job I wasn't in a real rush!
More me just voicing a niggle!