dmp - problems with halifax

bitbot

Hi

Any advice greatly appreciated. I have been in a dmp for 18months and all going well, with the majority of creditors reducing the interest to between 0% and 6%, apart from halifax. The debt was 9K on a credit card, and the payment to them when spread between my creditors is £148.26, however, they are charging 25% apr interest (higher than before the dmp!) which is £131.75 a month, and still send out a default notice every month. Payplan have basically said there is nothing they can do. I have wrote to them frequently asking for reasons as to why they are charging so much interest but they have never responded. Has anybody else had this response from the Halifax? Can anybody recommend doing anything else? Thanks

BevieB

Hi, You are not alone. We started a DMP with CCCS this month and wrote to all creditors in Sept. All of them apart from the Halifax have frozen interest or reduced to 3%. I wrote to the Halifax as per below
Originally Posted by freedomfromdebt
Hi,
Just to let you know I had same problems with Halifax. 2years into DMP and they have continually refused to freeze interest and then in August hiked interest back to 23% so that we were hardly paying off any debt each month and would have taken forever to pay off. I had tried ringing Halifax but they wouldn't budge on 23% so after advice on here I wrote a letter of complaint quoting the Lending Code sections 224 and 225. I had a swift response, They rang me and agreed to freeze all interest and charges for 12mths. When I said I still wasn't happy - they agreed to refund almost 3k of interest charged todate. Result. So definitately worth complaining in writing and then haggle with them - don't just accept their first offer!! Good Luck and hang in there
ARP
Within 2 days I had a slip sent stating that they want to speak to me urgently. I rang them and was advised that my DMP had not been agreed to start with as I had spent on the card within 30days as this was now up they could re consider They asked that the CCCS re send SOA etc and agreed to put account on hold for 30days.
If they continue to add higher interest and charges etc I will be sending a letter to the Financial Omb to complain stating the above. I sent all letter by recorded delivery. Still awaiting decision but it seems that if you want the Halifax to take notice you need to stick to your guns and be a pain in the ar--. Hope this of some help.

System

Have had similar problems. Halifax are a total and utter pain in the backside, along with Barclaycard, MBNA and Capital One. Some of the most difficult organisations to deal with for a DMP.

I've decdied to go BR now so a big two-fingers up to the lot of them.

bitbot

Thank -you for the advice BevieB. I presume i can get details of the lending codes through google. Will try and see what happens. I have actually had an O.K. response from Mbna (frozen interest) and barclaycard (reduced to 6%). Thanks again

barbiedoll

Have you written and made a formal complaint yet? Do write to them again, making sure that your letter is headed "Formal Complaint" and send it to this address...

Halifax Customer Relations
PO Box 761,
Leeds
LS1 9JF

I've had loads of interest added to my Halifax CC account, I wrote to them 3 times and it was only after I contacted the FOS that they finally wrote to me, although they denied all knowledge of my previous letters, all of which were sent by recorded delivery and all of which were signed for. :mad:

They say that if you are in financial difficulties, they can reduce the interest for you. They did for me, until my DMP annual review. Because my payment to them increased (by less than £2), they upped the interest rate AND backdated it, then told me it was because I had "broken the arrangement"

Needless to say, after getting their "final response" letter, I've sent it back to the FOS, as I want the interest taken off. They've penalised me for being honest and increasing my payments after I got a small payrise, I thought I was doing the right thing by being honest and trying to repay my debts as quickly as I can. Clearly not! :mad::mad:

Get the FOS involved, they shouldn't be increasing your interest rate when you're in financial difficulty anyway. I think they think that we're too stupid or too intimidated to fight back. Don't let them get away with it!

antonic

I have a debt with Bank of Scotland (part of Halifax) along with Cahoot, CapitalOne and an Abbey National O/d and when I started my DMP in Dec 2005 BOS originally froze the interest on my £9k debt for 2 years.

Then they started charging me again for the next 2 years and once my debt was transferred to Blair Oliver Scott (their debt collection arm) it was frozen again and has been for the last 3 years.

I have a DMP with Payplan, only 14 months to go out of 84 and never missed a payment.

The fact they have unfrozen the interest doesnt surprise me.

monkeylowprofile

antonic wrote: »

I have a debt with Bank of Scotland (part of Halifax) along with Cahoot, CapitalOne and an Abbey National O/d and when I started my DMP in Dec 2005 BOS originally froze the interest on my £9k debt for 2 years.

Then they started charging me again for the next 2 years and once my debt was transferred to Blair Oliver Scott (their debt collection arm) it was frozen again and has been for the last 3 years.

I have a DMP with Payplan, only 14 months to go out of 84 and never missed a payment.

The fact they have unfrozen the interest doesnt surprise me.

BOS seem to be incomptent beyond belief ....having sent them 2 letters advising them of my finical situation and also a harrasmemnt notice asking them to stop phoning me 3 times a day for the last 20 days which i suspect is 50 + calls they continue to do so ........

bitbot

Thanks all. I have wrote a letter today, stating I wish to make a formal complaint and quoting the lending code item 225. In particular stating the inappropriateness of charging interest where by the repayment period becomes "excessive", and stating with the rate of interest the halifax are imposing it would take over 42 years to clear the debt. I have asked for them to explain their rationale in deciding to charge this level of interest before I decide whether to make a formal complaint to the FOS. Lets see what happens!

DevonGirl

Makes a bit of a mockery of their current advertising campaign, with all the staff singing "I'll be there for you" doesn't it!

Good luck with your letter - let's hope you get a positive response.
DG