Halifax,are they in trouble or is this a standard trick

bssmaa

Hi my mum lives in a small Devon town. She had 100,000 pounds in a fixed rate saver which finished on the 16th of May. She went to the branch in Newton Abbott to ask that this money be transferred to her standard bank account as she wished to invest it elsewhere. The person who dealt with her said that they could not do this . She asked them for a cheque and they said that their computer was down so they couldn't issue her with a cheque. She went back a week later and they said that their computer was down again and so they still could not issue her with a cheque. She rang them up and they said the cheque had been posted. this was last Friday. Yesterday she received a letter notifying her that the account had been closed and stating that she was being paid £2.16 interest on £100k between the 16th of may and Friday the 27th of may. But surprise surprise there was no cheque enclosed.

My mum is in her 70s has no pension and worked hard for her money. When she was in the branch in Newton Abbott she noticed some other elderly people who also seemed to be having trouble getting their money.
Is this a standard scam that Halifax is using to delay giving her her money back, or is Halifax in trouble. She is going back to the branch today.
has anyone else come across this in the past. Who can she complain to?

Thanks you

Michael
is

dunstonh

Banks are known for delaying tactics to try and get you in to see their sales rep. Bounced cheques, lies told and other things are not uncommon. This is a new one on me but you cannot believe for one minute that a bank would have problems like that over that period.

She needs to complain to Halifax. However, go central and not to the branch.

bssmaa

Thanks for this.

It seems a bit of an odd trick to have OAP's traipsing backwards and forwards trying to withdraw their own money.

It has back fired as she was originally going to reinvest half of her money with Halifax but after this experience never again.

For anyone in a similar position I would strongly advise you have some sort of preplanned exit strategy when trying to withdraw your money or you may end up doing a lot of leg work like my mum. Unless this is some sort of local aberration!!!

Thanks again.

dunstonh wrote: »

Banks are known for delaying tactics to try and get you in to see their sales rep. Bounced cheques, lies told and other things are not uncommon. This is a new one on me but you cannot believe for one minute that a bank would have problems like that over that period.

She needs to complain to Halifax. However, go central and not to the branch.

dunstonh

It has back fired as she was originally going to reinvest half of her money with Halifax but after this experience never again.

Lucky escape then. Halifax investments are dire. An IFA can walk all over them.