Halifax Loan

pigsmightfly

On 8th January I received two letters regarding my loan account with Halifax – one from the Halifax and one from a debt collection agency.

The letter from Halifax said that on the 2nd January 2007, I had missed a payment and could I make my payment along with a £20 fee. I know it is not Halifax's fault but I only missed the payment due to Christmas and not getting paid for three weeks. However, I ws going to pop into my local branch and pay the amount.

I then opened a letter from a debt collection company stating that my loan account had been passed to them from Halifax to pay in full. I was so distressed and upset to read this. As far as I was aware, my payments were up-to-date apart from the letter dated 8th January I had just received.

I was very angry that this had been passed to a debt collection agency without Halifax even writing to me to explain what had happened or getting in touch with me to discuss my account.

I rang Halifax loans department straight away as I was very upset and worried. I spoke to a young gentleman who explained he could not give me any answers as he could no longer access my account.

So I wrote a letter to Halifax conplaining about the following issues:

• Why did Halifax not contact me to discuss my account?
• Why did Halifax not send me a letter to explain they had passed my account to a DCA?
• Why did I receive a letter from Halifax dated 8th January asking me to pay my missed payment when I received a letter dated the same date from the DCA saying they were now in charge of my account?

I am sure anyone who has previously been is this situation will understand how upsetting and stressful this is to me.

However, I still have not received a reply to my complaint so can I report them to someone else for ignoring my complaint?


Also, another question, before this happened with my loan account I had contacted them to ask them to remove the PPI from my loan as it was costing me a fortune and I had read you could get personal PPI much cheaper. I was told by Halifax that they could not remove this from my account as it was in their terms and conditions. However I have read on someone elses thread that even tough they were told this from their bank, you can actually have it removed.
Any thoughts?

Sorry this is so long just need some advice and needed to get this off my chest!

Astaroth

You do not say how long ago it was that you wrote the letter?

You can only escalate the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service after 8 weeks of not receiving a response but they would be your next port of call. Their suggestion at the moment if you were to phone them would probably be to either hand deliver or better, send by recorded delivery a second letter stating you havent received a response to the first and enclose a duplicate copy of the original letter in with it.

pigsmightfly

Astaroth wrote:

You do not say how long ago it was that you wrote the letter?

You can only escalate the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service after 8 weeks of not receiving a response but they would be your next port of call. Their suggestion at the moment if you were to phone them would probably be to either hand deliver or better, send by recorded delivery a second letter stating you havent received a response to the first and enclose a duplicate copy of the original letter in with it.

Hi,

Thanks for your reply.

I wrote the letter of complaint on 12th January so suppose I've got a few more weeks to wait! Definately going to take the complaint further though as they have made me very mad :mad:

regularsaver1

Who did you write the letter to?

You would receive an initial response within 5 working days of receipt. Then this would be forwarded to relevant department. I'd send another one, recorded delivery

Regarding PPI, on halifax loans the ppi is part of the contract, so you have to apply for a new loan with ppi

pigsmightfly

regularsaver1 wrote:

Who did you write the letter to?

You would receive an initial response within 5 working days of receipt. Then this would be forwarded to relevant department. I'd send another one, recorded delivery

Regarding PPI, on halifax loans the ppi is part of the contract, so you have to apply for a new loan with ppi

Hi!

I sent the letter to
Halifax PLC
Trinity Road
Halifax
HX1 2RG
I've had no acknowledgement at all.

Will send it again I think recorded and see if they bother to reply then! Banks eh? :mad:

pigsmightfly

Just had a look on the Halifax website and it says to send compaints to the following address:
Halifax plc
Customer Relations
PO Box 548
Leeds
LS1 1WU
Think I'll send my next letter there and see if they reply.

regularsaver1

Customer Relations is the complaints dept. There will be a specialist team for ppi and loans

if it was sent to Trinity Road - then a load of post would go there

pigsmightfly

regularsaver1 wrote:

Customer Relations is the complaints dept. There will be a specialist team for ppi and loans

if it was sent to Trinity Road - then a load of post would go there

Thanks for your reply.

I've sent the letter to the customer relations now recorded delivery so will see what happens. :rolleyes:

monneyspinner

pigsmightfly wrote:

Also, another question, before this happened with my loan account I had contacted them to ask them to remove the PPI from my loan as it was costing me a fortune and I had read you could get personal PPI much cheaper. I was told by Halifax that they could not remove this from my account as it was in their terms and conditions. However I have read on someone elses thread that even tough they were told this from their bank, you can actually have it removed.
Any thoughts?

You can have the PPI taken off but it would involve you taking out a new loan to repay the existing one you have and starting it again without cover. I would ask you when shopping around for ppi that you make a true like for like in terms of when you can claim, what you can claim for and how long your payments will be paid.

regularsaver1

When you go into arrears the insurance can cancel - depending how long payments have not been received

pigsmightfly

Well after sending a new letter to the other address regarding my complaint, I have now received a reply just saying they have recieved it and will be intouch within 4 weeks with a reply :rolleyes: