Halifax Reward Account - Scottish address holders will be rejected

Shona6540

NO SCOTTISH RESIDENTS CAN APPLY FOR A HALIFAX REWARD ACCOUNT!
I just wanted to stop anybody wasting their time with an application, I applied after throughly reading the terms and conditions because I already had a sole Bank of Scotland account and was opening a joint account with my (English) fiance. No where in the terms or on website was it made clear their products are available throughout Britain except to Scottish residents. You must reside in Britain or Nothern Ireland as long as it is not in Scotland.

Another thread suggests you can open an account by travelling to England to open one, I was advised by Halifax this is NOT true without an English,Welsh or Northern Irish residing address, your application will be dumped automatically.

I have been a HBOS customer for years and quite upset, no one at any stage said I would not be eligible in fact I was told to use a Bank of Scotland branch to apply if I wished by a Halifax advisor, after a telephone application, I was asked in a letter (sent to my Scottish address) to provide photo ID signed, verified and returned to fully open my Halifax account, only after a fraudulent email appearing to be from the Halifax showed up within 2 days did I phone and ask if they had progressed my application, they told me they had lost the application. It took 3 phone calls later till they decided that it was because I lived in Scotland that it was scrapped and they don’t have any record of the ID documents being sent in, more than worrying!!!

I currently hold a Halifax ISA which doesn't find my residency repellent maybe they make exceptions where large sums of money are involved.

Please Money Saving Expert can you make people aware on your main site of the residency issue.

FYI - Bank of Scotland don't exclude any British or Northern Irish residency I asked them today.

notts_phil

Utter rubbish.

Please get your facts right before posting.

IanManc

Shona6540 wrote: »

NO SCOTTISH RESIDENTS CAN APPLY FOR A HALIFAX REWARD ACCOUNT!
I just wanted to stop anybody wasting their time with an application, I applied after throughly reading the terms and conditions because I already had a sole Bank of Scotland account and was opening a joint account with my (English) fiance. No where in the terms or on website was it made clear their products are available throughout Britain except to Scottish residents. You must reside in Britain or Nothern Ireland as long as it is not in Scotland.

Another thread suggests you can open an account by travelling to England to open one, I was advised by Halifax this is NOT true without an English,Welsh or Northern Irish residing address, your application will be dumped automatically.

I have been a HBOS customer for years and quite upset, no one at any stage said I would not be eligible in fact I was told to use a Bank of Scotland branch to apply if I wished by a Halifax advisor, after a telephone application, I was asked in a letter (sent to my Scottish address) to provide photo ID signed, verified and returned to fully open my Halifax account, only after a fraudulent email appearing to be from the Halifax showed up within 2 days did I phone and ask if they had progressed my application, they told me they had lost the application. It took 3 phone calls later till they decided that it was because I lived in Scotland that it was scrapped and they don’t have any record of the ID documents being sent in, more than worrying!!!

I currently hold a Halifax ISA which doesn't find my residency repellent maybe they make exceptions where large sums of money are involved.

Please Money Saving Expert can you make people aware on your main site of the residency issue.

FYI - Bank of Scotland don't exclude any British or Northern Irish residency I asked them today.

As notts-phil has already stated, what utter rubbish.

You obviously didn't read the terms and conditions too thoroughly, or you'd have seen that they begin with this:

Opening a Reward Saver – If you are a qualifying
Halifax current account customer you can open
this account with at least £1 in one of our Halifax
branches, over the phone or online. You can have
an account if you’re 18 or over.
To be a qualifying Halifax current account
customer – You must:

• Pay £1,000 or more into your Halifax current
account each calendar month OR

• Hold a Halifax Ultimate Reward Current
Account.

You've told us that you have a Bank of Scotland account, so you don't qualify.

It's nothing to do with where you live.

Shona6540

IanManc

Please get your facts straight I read the terms and conditions thoroughly! it didn't matter I had a Bank of Scotland account because as I stated it was a sole account, this was for a joint acount which I had phoned Halifax to make sure and they agreed YES we were eligible. If you want to ask them for a copy please ask them for there terms advertised for the Reward account £100 incentive that was to be applied for before the 19th of February they state you can still apply and be eligible if you have a sole Bank of Scotland account if applying for a joint account.

Shona6540

notts_phill,

I wish it was rubbish, but after spending over 2 hours on the phone to Halifax that is what they have advised.

jennifernil

OP is talking about a Halifax Reward Current account, not a savings account.

Shona, I would be doing a fresh application if you still want the account. Too late for the £100 now presumably.

If you do manage to open it, then lodge a complaint about the previous fiasco.

Can a joint account be opened on-line or by phone?

IanManc

jennifernil wrote: »

OP is talking about a Halifax Reward Current account, not a savings account.

She didn't say that in her posting. I didn't realise that we were meant to deploy clairvoyance in order to make sense of her postings.

Shona6540

Thanks Jennifer,

But the Halifax adviser said today I would not be eligible because of the scottish address and the applications team automatically cancel a scottish address holder. I can only apply with the Bank of Scotland who does not offer the same account or £100. Is his information wrong?

I had to complete the original application by phone because the Halifax web application was not accepted because it was a joint account and I could not use a Halifax branch due to being in England that was when I was advised in the first instance by a Halifax advisor that an appointment could be made at a Bank of Scotland branch to apply for the advertised Halifax reward current account.

I had already made a complaint on my 2nd last call, the result was a member of the applications team was to phone me and explain what happened to my application and my ID documents, I'm still waiting on the call.

I have seen some of your other posts and did you say you could still apply in a branch with your residency in Scotland? The advisor at Halifax today was quite adamant that applicants that stayed in Scotland cannot have one of these accounts, any information to the contrary would be welcome.

IanManc

Shona6540 wrote: »

IanManc

Please get your facts straight I read the terms and conditions thoroughly! it didn't matter I had a Bank of Scotland account because as I stated it was a sole account, this was for a joint acount which I had phoned Halifax to make sure and they agreed YES we were eligible. If you want to ask them for a copy please ask them for there terms advertised for the Reward account £100 incentive that was to be applied for before the 19th of February they state you can still apply and be eligible if you have a sole Bank of Scotland account if applying for a joint account.

The terms and conditions are available on the Halifax website.

It says:

Halifax Reward Current Account

Special conditions:

(a) Available to people aged 18 or over who must be resident
in the UK.
(b) Up to two account holders on an “either to sign” basis only.
You can hold one Reward Current Account in your sole
name and one in joint names.
(c) You will receive reward payments if you meet the
conditions set out in our Reward Payments, Interest and
Account Fees leaflet.
(d) You can withdraw up to £300 a day using Halifax, Bank of
Scotland or LINK cash machines. Cash withdrawals of up to
£2,500 a day can be made over the branch counter. If you
want to withdraw more than £2,500 a day you will need to
give your branch advance notice.


The terms show that residents of Scotland are still entitled to the open the Reward Current Account, and that you can make withdrawals from BoS machines, which nowadays are all in Scotland, so they clearly envisage account holders being all over the UK.

If you still want the account after what's happened - and to be honest I wouldn't - then why not make a complaint?

Shona6540

IanManc

I do appreciate good sarcasim so I do hope you take mine in good spirit, we are in the 'Budget & Bank accounts section of the forum the first 3 words of my thread is 'Halifax Reward Account' when I type this into Google the first result I see is for Halifax website and takes you to the page about the Halifax Reward Current account, no clairvoyance needed, apologies for not making it more simple.

Shona6540

Thankyou IanManc

That really is helpful but like I said the advisor seemed adamant today that it was all about the address.

Cheers