discrimination against scottish customers of an english bank

System

You would have to 'upgrade' to a Lloyds style account.

As I understand it, you can keep any existing Halifax type account but any change in type or new account has to be to a Lloyds style one. Of course, there is nothing stopping you opening most accounts via the Halifax website and operating them in BOS branches.

A BOS branch recently tried to get me to open a Vantage account on the basis that my (Halifax) Reward account is held at another bank and no longer fully serviceable in BOS.

pqrdef wrote: »

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?

jennifernil

BOS don't do the Reward Current accounts now, they have the Lloyds Vantage type, but anyone can (try to) open a Halifax Reward Current account on-line or by telephone.

OP says it is a Halifax account, so they want to upgrade to the Halifax Reward one.

We have several Halifax Reward current accounts, on our on-line banking we get offered to upgrade to the Ultimate Reward. But on my BOS Reward there is no such offer.

jennifernil

Heng_Leng wrote: »

You would have to 'upgrade' to a Lloyds style account.

As I understand it, you can keep any existing Halifax type account but any change in type or new account has to be to a Lloyds style one. Of course, there is nothing stopping you opening most accounts via the Halifax website and operating them in BOS branches.

A BOS branch recently tried to get me to open a Vantage account on the basis that my (Halifax) Reward account is held at another bank and no longer fully serviceable in BOS.

Our BOS branch made a big play of emphasising that there was NO PROBLEM operating our Halifax accounts in branch, only opening new ones in branch is not possible.

Staff members said they too had Halifax Reward accounts and there was no problem. So I would not expect to be able to upgrade a Halifax account in the BOS branch, but would certainly expect to be able to do it on-line or by telephone.

mcqueen02

thanks for all the replies, halifax are claiming it to now be down to an I.T problem that I can not upgrade my exsisting halifax account to a reward account, because my account comes up as a b.o.s sort code folowing the closure of all halifax branches in scotland, it won;t allow my account to upgrade. this is the story I am being told- they claim to have the I.T team working on it but the manager I spoke to does not think the problem will be rectified. I have been told I can open a new halifax reward account but any dealing requiring face to face I would need to go to a Halifax branch, or I can open the vantage account with b.o.s. I really don't want to go through the hassle of changing bamk accounts and feel as a loyal halifax customer I should have the right to upgrade my account like any of their other customers regardless of when and where mt account was originally open. I would be interested to see if I could ipgrade to an account with a monthly fee- somehow I suspect that would not be so difficult.
the halifax staff are going to call me back in a few days to let me know what is happenning.

opinions4u

mcqueen02 wrote: »

thanks for all the replies, halifax are claiming it to now be down to an I.T problem that I can not upgrade my exsisting halifax account to a reward account, because my account comes up as a b.o.s sort code folowing the closure of all halifax branches in scotland, it won;t allow my account to upgrade. this is the story I am being told- they claim to have the I.T team working on it but the manager I spoke to does not think the problem will be rectified. I have been told I can open a new halifax reward account but any dealing requiring face to face I would need to go to a Halifax branch, or I can open the vantage account with b.o.s. I really don't want to go through the hassle of changing bamk accounts and feel as a loyal halifax customer I should have the right to upgrade my account like any of their other customers regardless of when and where mt account was originally open. I would be interested to see if I could ipgrade to an account with a monthly fee- somehow I suspect that would not be so difficult.
the halifax staff are going to call me back in a few days to let me know what is happenning.

If it helps, the fact that I have both BoS and Halifax savings accounts on my online log in caused an IT problem with opening a second Online Saver.

So they do have a genuine problem and I don't doubt that sooner or later they'll fix it. For what it's worth, I reckon you'll be able to change your account to the BoS fee paying accounts, but I don't think it would work for a Halifax URCA. Just guessing though.

jennifernil

I would just open a Halifax Reward account on-line and use their switching service to move over my DDs etc if they cannot get their act together.

We recently opened BOS ISAs. I did mine on-line and got a sort code starting with an 8, like my other BOS accounts.

OH had to open his by telephone due to an IT problem their end, he got a sort code starting 11, which i always reckoned was a Halifax one. Same as our main Halifax Reward current account. He queried it but was told it was a BOS sort code.

We took our transfer forms to a local branch and queried it again, first they said it was wrong, that was a Halifax code, then the chief banking advisor was involved and he said it was fine, it was a BOS code now......very confusing.

Welcome pack arrived with BOS branding, so seems OK. They really have got themselves in a fankle!

System

jennifernil wrote: »

Our BOS branch made a big play of emphasising that there was NO PROBLEM operating our Halifax accounts in branch, only opening new ones in branch is not possible.

I was told that in another branch. They said that all basic functions were available such as paying in and withdrawals. They had problems setting up my overdraft and directed me online or to telephone banking.

I do wonder what is going to happen when the TSB branches are sold off, as I there will be refugees from Lloyds, Halifax and BOS all wanting to use the other brands branches. I have noticed that Lloyds machines don't give mini statements yet which suggests that they are not integrated.

missile

It does seem very strange, but I can believe it. I have my own issues with HBOS less than helpful IT support.

Vote with your feet, switch your account to a bank with a branch nearest to your home.

mcqueen02

final word from halifax telephone staff, I am unable to upgrade my current halifax account because following the nerger it comes up as a bank of scotland sort code. although the BOS claim it is a halifax sort code. i was invited to open a new halifax reward account, the opyion to upgrade online for my current account was blocked after my failed attempts to upgrade over the phone, however if i had tried to do it online in the first instance the telephone staff believe I should have been able to do this no problem.
on monday I have an appointment to open a BOS account, and I will be closing all my halifax accounts and cancelling the insurance polocies I have with them.
thanks to everybody who took the time to read my post and those who also took time to reply.