Halifax 'Control'

tony_ack

I got a letter from Halifax today, offering me their new 'Control' service.

At first I thought it was an April Fools joke, but then noticed today's date was 2nd April.

They want to offer the service at £10 per month to stop me using an unplanned overdraft (which itself is a 'service' that Halifax and most banks 'offer').

I would guess that everyone has a planned overdraft limit (zero if you have no overdraft) and an unplanned overdraft limit (probably £100-£200 beyond your overdraft limit).

Surely the 'Control' service they offer is basically someone going into their computer system and setting the unplanned overdraft limit to the planned overdraft limit ONCE so why the recurring monthly charge?

Effectively they're offering me a service for £10 per month to stop me receiving the service they offer of an unplanned overdraft.

JacksterD

It might be surprising to some, but there are people out there who are so bad at handling their personal finances/in such deep financial difficulty that paying £10 a month to prevent an unauthorised overdraft (and the associated charges) will actually save them money in the long run.

The bank charge £10 a month because they're no longer able to make money by charging the customer for an unauthorised overdraft.

stclair

Details of the service can be viewed here:

http://www.halifax.co.uk/bankaccounts/current-accounts/current-account/control/

opinions4u

Free text alerts and a bit of self-control work for me.

pmduk

For those people that use services such as Think Banking and Cardone this may be a good option as it is cheaper than their existing service. For most people it is unnecessary. It is up to the OP to decide whether it is right for them.

pqrdef

Suppose you can't afford to pay the gas this month, but you've really got to pay the council tax or they'll get nasty. So you draw the cash out, let the gas DD bounce, then pay the cash back in to cover the council tax.

But this is risky, because the bank might unexpectedly let the gas DD go through. Now, when you pay the cash back in, it just disappears into the hole.

Control stops the bank playing games with your unplanned overdraft in pursuit of fees and charges.

Actually I believe all banks have to accept an instruction that you don't want an unplanned overdraft, but Lloyds/HBOS is the only one cheeky enough to charge £120 a year for doing so.

tony_ack

Just to clarify - I have no issues with Halifax offering to get rid of the unplanned overdraft, and I personally would rather the banks would only allow payments up to your planned overdraft limit anyway, I just thought it was cheeky to ask for a recurring £10 per month to make a one-off change to a setting on their system.

Especially when some banks view the unplanned overdraft itself as one of their value-add services.

Note that Halifax still charge £5 per day for an unplanned overdraft.