Halifax and Experian

mgarl10024

Thanks again for all your support.

An update from this side: Having supplied the complaints handler with copies of the relevant sections of my record, he was able to convinced the Credit File dept in Halifax that there were modifications that needed to be made, and the change was made against all 3 credit reference agencies.

Halifax declined to meet all of my costs for this issue, so I have referred it to the FOS. At least the records are straight so we can continue with our lives which the FOS take a few months or so to make their decision.

Hopefully this is useful to someone.
Thanks again - much appreciated.

money_maker_3

Just to clarify, the 10% overpayments are not as complicated as you think for Halifax. It is 10% of your outstanding balance 12 months prior to your overpayment minus any other overpayments made in the preceeding 12 months, so if you keep track of how much you have paid then it is pretty easy to calculate ..a nd they warn you if you are close to your limit so you wont be charged if you dont want to be.

Thrugelmir

mgarl10024 wrote: »

Halifax declined to meet all of my costs for this issue, so I have referred it to the FOS. At least the records are straight so we can continue with our lives which the FOS take a few months or so to make their decision.

What do you regard as "costs"?

mgarl10024

Thrugelmir wrote: »

What do you regard as "costs"?

For me, it's about fairness. I'm not out to extort money from them, I just want things to be equal.

So, in this instance, this was an issue caused by an error (well, several) on Halifax's part. When they incorrectly felt that we were in arrears, they saw no issue in sending us multiple copies of a sheet outlining all their fees, including £35 for each letter they needed to send us chasing the arrears. In fact, they even tried to charge us this on one occasion.

So, when the error was actually found to be theirs, I see no reason why they should not be prepared to pay their own rates back to customers - so in this case, £35 for each letter I have had to send to them to get this issue rectified.

Their response has instead stated that they have "thought long and hard" and have taken into account the "stress and inconvenience", and that they are prepared to offer us around 40% of this amount.

As another example, imagine that I was a day late paying my credit card, because of a mistake on my part. Halifax would take great delight in charging me a £12 late payment fee. Imagine their reaction if I sent them a letter saying that I had "thought long and hard" about their £12, and that I had taken into account the "stress and inconvenience", and so would like to offer them £4.80 (40% of the £12). I'd be laughed at. But why should we accept this? Why is it ok for one party to make a mistake and shrug it off, but the second the other party makes a mistake they are fined by punative fees.

Sorry - that turned into a bit of a ramble there. I hope I answered your question?