discrimination against scottish customers of an english bank

mcqueen02

Martin,

I am hoping you can help me, I have a halifax current account have been with them over 10 years prior to their merger with bank of Scotland. I recently tried to upgrade my account but was advised i failed the security check as I reside in Scotland, I could get round this by 'popping in' to a halifax branch with two forms of I.D- this is not feasible as I live in Fife, many miles away from my nearest Halifax branch. I was wondering if you were aware of the restrictions and discrimination that Halifax places on their Scottish customers. Also have any other people experienced this problem and how did they get round it?

antrobus

The Halifax isn't an English bank. The 'Halifax' is a trading name of the Bank of Scotland which is, I believe, a Scottish bank. Granted the Bank of Scotland is now owned by the Lloyds Banking Group plc, but that too is a Scottish bank. (Registered office: The Mound, Edinburgh EH1 1YZ. Registered in Scotland number 95000.)

Sadly I have no idea why Scottish banks should be treating their Scottish resident customers any differently from their English resident ones. Do you know what kind of security check you failed?

mcqueen02

I was told I failed the security check based on my address being in Scotland. when I have been into the branch- bank of scotland- although my bank statements state halifax and give the branch the address as my local bank of scotlsn although no where on my correspondence does it state bank of scotland. anyway when in the branch none of their staff can make any changes on my account because its a halifax account and only the branches trading as halifax (all in England) can access the halifax accounts. i was given a number to phone and assured I could upgrade my account, when I phoned this was when I was told I failed their security checks. Its so frustrating.
i have accounts with the halifax for my children, i aso have my house insurance through them- would hate to think if I had to make a claim on my insurance my policy would be invalid because I reside in Scotland- unlikely- i hope!!

chanz4

It maybe the id check system they use not covering scotland.

mcqueen02

thankyou, didn't use an experian score. it most probably is something to do with the system they use not covering Scotland. I am able to upgrade my account if I go to a Halifax branch with two forms of I.D. They won't allow me to take my I.D to a bank of scotland branch, I would have to travel to England.
I am just so frustrated as I have held my account for almost 15 years, I have never been over drawn, and i have also purchased insurance products, just seems that loyalty gets you nowhere.

jfh7gwa

OP, my partner managed to open a Halifax account with no forms of ID, using an address in Scotland (we're living in Glasgow just now, so definitely within the area you've been told always fails the ID checks). SO you've clearly been told wrong.

I however didn't pass the ID checks, I had to take in proof of ID into a branch, so I went into a Bank of Scotland. They didn't blink or mention it - they just did it. The clerk in BOS had to sign the photocopy etc. before it was sent. In fact I didn't even ask "can i hand these to you for proof of ID since this isn't a Halifax branch" - my Halifax account has just been opened once they were received at Head Office for processing, took about 3 or 4 working days.

But being in Scotland has certainly not been a problem for us - just pop along with the documents to your local BOS and I'm sure they'll help!

jfh7gwa

mcqueen02 wrote: »

it most probably is something to do with the system they use not covering Scotland.

This is definitely wrong. My partner, who I referred to in the post above, did this in December.

mcqueen02 wrote: »

They won't allow me to take my I.D to a bank of scotland branch

... and I did this about 2 weeks ago.

Someone at Halifax doesn't know what they're talking about! Or else they've been bending the rules on multiple occasions for my household - unlikely! :rotfl:

mcqueen02

currently on the telephone to halifax again, i want to upgrade my current account to the reward account but due to my address being in Scotland I am being told I am not eligable.
was it complete new accounts you guys opened?

jfh7gwa

mcqueen02 wrote: »

was it complete new accounts you guys opened?

Yes, perhaps this is the complication with your issue then.

Our were Halifax accounts registered to this sort code: 11-05-05.

They were both Halifax Reward current accounts.

Anyway, there was no Halifax branch involvement anywhere (where I'm guessing your account originally stems from), short of the ID photocopy thing ... at a BOS... when I had to provide it.

You can get banks to transfer your account to another branch (and thus meaning an update in the sort code) - maybe that's a quicker option to consider? TBH, Halifax should be the ones coming up with solutions here if they want to keep their customer happy/your business, but thought I'd suggest it anyway I certainly don't think "just pop into a branch in England" is helpful!! (:eek:)

jennifernil

mcqueen02 wrote: »

currently on the telephone to halifax again, i want to upgrade my current account to the reward account but due to my address being in Scotland I am being told I am not eligable.
was it complete new accounts you guys opened?

Does your on-line banking not offer you the chance to upgrade? Not sure if a regular current account can be upgraded to a Reward one?

If not, you could apply on-line to open a new Reward account.

And you could do it by telephone too, they are talking rubbish saying you cannot do it because you live in Scotland!

If they need to check ID, you can take it to a BOS branch, the only thing you cannot do in a BOS branch is open a new Halifax account.

One thing you will have problems with are your children's accounts. If you have the Regular Savers for them, you will not be able to open new ones once the present ones mature.......without travelling to England.

pqrdef

Presumably the majority of BOS customers still have the old HBOS-style accounts rather than the new LTSB-style accounts, although the HBOS-style accounts are no longer available to new customers.

So the first question would be, can BOS customers still upgrade their accounts, or can they only keep what they've got?