Thinking of switching to Halifax

pinkdalek

ses6jwg wrote: »

I would say Halifax are one of the more competitive high street banks, both in terms of the products they offer as well as the services.

Unless you use an overdraft that is.

If you have their Ultimate Reward current account the first £300 is charge free. You pay a monthly fee for the account currently £12.50 but you get world wide travel insurance, mobile phone insurance & AA breakdown cover. They also do not charge you for failed items, it can get costly though if you go over an arranged overdraft as it is £5 per day, however you can sign up for mobile text alerts to let them warn you if you go over your limit. They have branches up and down the country, their call centres are UK based and you can also phone the local branch.

They've looked after me very well for the last 18 years, what I like with them is when they launch new products eg, Reward Current account then it is offered to existing customers too, they do not seem to be a one trick pony, limited offer, brand new customers only type of bank.

poggs

I attempted to switch to Halifax 2 months ago. The account was opened just fine and I got all the letters etc.

Halifax then tried to switch my direct debits and 2 banks refused to switch stating that my new bank account had an invalid sort code. Then my employer refused to pay my salary into the new account stating it was a specialist account.

I have been in discussions with Halifax ever since and the they state that their new 11.49.43 sort code will be issued to all new switchers and is a perfectly valid account. However, as its so new, hardly any other bank recognises it. oh and faster payments dont work to it. Halifax are blaming every other bank for not updating their records timeously (including lloyds and bank of scotland!) Halfax are probably telling the truth here, but that doesnt help me.

Simply put I cant use this new account and am currently simply transferring £1000 a month via BACS and paying a couple of DD's that did go through until the sort code gets recognised across the Banking network.

To summarise I would strenuously recommend avoiding Halifax until their new sort code has had the chance to settle in.

jwilf

poggs - that's worrying about the sort code. Did you open your account online or in a branch? I wonder if that would make a difference to the sort code. I've googled and I can't find anything about this problem affecting anyone else, so I'm not sure whether to hold off or not now...

poggs

jwilf wrote: »

poggs - that's worrying about the sort code. Did you open your account online or in a branch? I wonder if that would make a difference to the sort code. I've googled and I can't find anything about this problem affecting anyone else, so I'm not sure whether to hold off or not now...

Sorry about the delay. missed your question.

I opened it online following a link on quidco for £50 cashback (which still hasn't been paid after 3 months)

rb10

poggs wrote: »

I attempted to switch to Halifax 2 months ago. The account was opened just fine and I got all the letters etc.

Halifax then tried to switch my direct debits and 2 banks refused to switch stating that my new bank account had an invalid sort code. Then my employer refused to pay my salary into the new account stating it was a specialist account.

I have been in discussions with Halifax ever since and the they state that their new 11.49.43 sort code will be issued to all new switchers and is a perfectly valid account. However, as its so new, hardly any other bank recognises it. oh and faster payments dont work to it. Halifax are blaming every other bank for not updating their records timeously (including lloyds and bank of scotland!) Halfax are probably telling the truth here, but that doesnt help me.

Simply put I cant use this new account and am currently simply transferring £1000 a month via BACS and paying a couple of DD's that did go through until the sort code gets recognised across the Banking network.

To summarise I would strenuously recommend avoiding Halifax until their new sort code has had the chance to settle in.

You need to speak very firmly to the organisation that's trying to send you the payment.

The fact that you have a new sort code shouldn't prevent you from being able to use your account.

I had the same issue with Virgin Media - they told me that I had an invalid sort code, so I insisted that they raise this higher. Someone in their payments team managed to push it through for me, and the DD now goes out every month without a problem.

poggs

rb10 wrote: »

You need to speak very firmly to the organisation that's trying to send you the payment.

The fact that you have a new sort code shouldn't prevent you from being able to use your account.

I had the same issue with Virgin Media - they told me that I had an invalid sort code, so I insisted that they raise this higher. Someone in their payments team managed to push it through for me, and the DD now goes out every month without a problem.

Yes I agree. the 2 companies who refuse to accept the direct debits are Barclaycard and Npower. My employer is the uk government. Not sure how I can 'firmly' tell UKPLC to update their system. Aparently they have flagged the halifax account as 'suspicious' and are refusing to pay to it citing money laundering regs!

Halifax are next to useless here, simply blaming eveyone else.

ho hum. Its not the end of the world, I'm simply using my old account as my main and cycling £1000 a month via bacs through the halifax for my fiver.

Just want others to be aware that halifax are giving out erm um, unverified? sort codes.

rb10

poggs wrote: »

Aparently they have flagged the halifax account as 'suspicious' and are refusing to pay to it citing money laundering regs!

That is a different reason to it being a new sort code - which is the real reason why they won't use it?

VT82

I switched to Halifax a year ago. I have recommended it to loads of people, and 3 of them have done so and been happy to have done so.

Their internet banking is the only one I have ever been able to get into without having to look my details up, and no card reader! Their faster payments is hit and miss, but their savings products are so competitive, I have now moved all of my savings there as well anyway. And Clarity Card is good too for the £5 per month and for being the best way to get foreign cash.

I would definitely recommend it. See if they will give you £50 for switching too. I got that when I switched through a price comparison website.

poggs

rb10 wrote: »

That is a different reason to it being a new sort code - which is the real reason why they won't use it?

That's the latest reason. Initially they told me that their systems didn't pay into specialist accounts. I raised a query and their reply was that the account is marked on the UK payments council register as a 'specialist' account and that has caused UKPLC to register it as suspicious. By policy they automatically refuse payments to all 'suspicious' accounts under money laundering regs.

Simply put, I think that as this sort code is so new, the uk payments council still haven't fully recognised it and until they do, then UKPLC wont touch it.

Or so it seems.

According to the uk payments council website, Halifax need to apply to them to get accreditation.

However, Halifax customer service manager states that my sort code has full compliance and its everybody else that's slow. Hey, he's very probably correct. Probably in six months or so all will be well. Its just not just now. So regardless of who is to blame, the account is of limited use as a current account at the moment.

If you want a halifax account. Go into a branch and open one.

Also just noticed that my branch address is the the mound in edinburgh. THats the headquarters of the Bank of scotland.

Now as I'm in scotland and there are no hailfax branches left in scotland (all converted to BOS), it may simply be that my problem only affects scottish people who apply for halifax accounts online, but Im simply guessing there.

jen245

I think that is the problem, as when you apply online your account is allocated to your nearest branch. Why didnt you just apply for the BOS Reward account? You'd have saved yourself a lot of hassle