Bank of Scotland Mortgage - Online Access Registration Fun and Games - Don't do it!!!

Deal_Surfer

In a nutshell, on-line access is unavailable to Bank of Scotland (Halifax) Mortgage customers only!!!

So, the other day, it occurred to me that my Mortgage account with the Bank of Scotland (Halifax), is just about the only account that I don’t have on-line access to. So, I went to their website and low and behold, found the option to register for on-line account access – yippee I thought.

I started the process of entering my particulars, only to find relatively quickly that I needed to call a number that was being shown on-screen (and to quote a relevant ref. no.), as they needed to go through some security checks with me. A little inconvenient, but not the end of the world, as hey, you can’t be too careful with identity theft etc. etc. That’s where it started getting silly….I called the number only to be told by recorded message that my call was in a queue and would be answered in approx. 20 minutes! Oh well I thought, the phone call was at my cost, but hopefully, it wouldn’t be 20 minutes that I'd need to wait and once I’d got through it would all get sorted quickly and that would be the end of the matter...

Oh no, a few questions in and the lady I was speaking with simply said “I’m sorry sir, you’ve answered a question incorrectly, so we can’t proceed”. What...I thought?!?! I was giving her the correct information, as I had all of the paperwork in front of me!!! To resolve the matter, I asked what I needed to do – she said the only way forward was to visit my local Halifax branch and go through the registration there (taking two forms of ID with me)…Arrgghh – oh well, I’ve just paid for a dead end phone call, I suppose I better see it through to the end.

So, today, I asked if I could finish work early so I could get into town – my boss agreed to dock an hour and let me finish earlier (so, that’s an hours worth of wages lost now). I drove to the nearest town that had a Halifax (some 10 miles away from where I was), paid for parking (minimum £1.20 per hour!) and walked to Halifax.

Upon arrival, it was busy, with people even queuing at the Help and Service desk (I guess I knew it wasn’t going to be an in and out job). Oh well, I’m here now I thought. Eventually, a cashier window became vacant at the end of the building and a chap called me down as it was obvious to him that I was next in the ‘Help Desk’ queue (by that point a few other customers had left and luckily, no-one else had come in). I went on to explain the nature of my visit, with all of my paperwork and ID to hand. After sometime of the chap tapping away at his keyboard, he called one of his colleagues over. He asked me to explain to his colleague, all over again, why I was visiting the branch. His colleague tapped away at the keyboard in the same manner – eventually, telling me the Branch Manager would need to go through the identity verification process. He came out from behind the counter and then took me back up to the front of the building and asked me to join the original Help and Service desk queue all over AGAIN, as it was the Branch Manager who was actually manning the desk!!!!

After waiting for three other customers to be dealt with before me, I finally got in front of the man who was going to solve all of my problems….I’m sure by now you’ve already guessed that was being a little too optimistic…For the third time, I explained why I was there and that his two colleagues had told me they couldn’t help me after all, but he could. The tapping away at the help desk PC keyboard started all over again. “Okay, bear with me sir, I just need to make a phone call”. After his conversation with whomever he had called, he said he was really sorry for any inconvenience that had been caused, but there was a known technical difficulty with on-line registrations (according to the person he had just spoken to). A little annoyed but trying to understand all the same, I put it to him that maybe that was why I had failed the security checks during my initial on-line application and subsequent telephone conversation. “More than likely”, was his response, but not to worry anymore, as he would be able to go through the registration processes with me there and then. Great, I was thinking, looking at the time on my phone and getting a little jittery, as by now, my 1 hour parking ticket was only minutes away from running out!!!!

So the tapping started again, followed by a look of frustration on his face. “I’m so sorry about this sir, I need to make another call”…Looking very embarrassed, eventually, he advised me that after all that, I (or anyone else for that matter) don’t have the option of on-line account access after all i.e. if a customer only holds a BOS Mortgage, and no other products from either the BOS or Halifax, you can’t register for on-line banking!?!?!? The quick thinking Bank Manager of course used that as an opportunity to try and make a sale, as he went on to say that if I agreed to open a Current Account there and then, he would get his dedicated Direct Debit transfer team to do all of the work for me - all I had to do was fill in the paperwork, especially as I had ID with me etc. etc. Oh, and by agreeing to do that, I’d then get on-line access to both my new ‘un-wanted’ Current Account and my BOS Mortgage Account, as they’d be linked behind the scenes. To say I was not a happy chappy, was being polite, but out of courtesy, I said no, I’m not interested, that’s not why I’m here, and left quick smart knowing my car park ticket had run out (and with seconds to go, I made it back to my car within feet of a car parking attendant walking along checking the tickets!).

After this, I can safely say, that if anyone ever asks, the Bank of Scotland (and Halifax) will never be given a good referral from me – in fact quite the opposite, and as for their customer service and satisfaction statistic’s, I’m proud to award them with a big fat ZERO! :mad:

Moral of the story – if you have a Bank of Scotland Mortgage only (i.e. no other financial products from either the BOS or Halifax), do not apply for on-line access to your Mortgage Account until they finally get to grips with the modern world, as you’re highly likely to go through a similar experience to the one I just have (and you might not be lucky enough to get back to you car before the car parking attendant!).

Thrugelmir

Never had a need to view my mortgage online in all the years I've had one.
So never bothered to attempt it. All its ever taken is a phone call to ascertain the current balance owing.

Deal_Surfer

I see your point - I've had mine for more than 10-years and of course get an annual paper statement, but living as we do these days, and with so much information available at a click of a mouse, I guess I just thought it would be good to have on-line access to my mortage account as well (if only to check on it every once and a while to make sure everything is in order - I wouldn't need to make any phone calls then). Oh well, just trying to help prevent anyone else go through the hassle that I've just been through...