Halifax CC Rate Jacking Success

zozza26

Hi All,

Just wanted to let you know the success i had with Halifax over my current credit card APR. It now stands at 29.95% and was costing me nearly £200 a month in interest alone!!

I sent 1 email on their website (less then a week ago) saying i thought since i opened the a/c (years ago) the rate has increased to a ridiculous amount and i would never be able to pay it off (£9k ish balance)
I thought it was unfair and doesnt help people in financial difficulty.

I had a couple of phone calls the next 2 days (which i ignored as i wanted everything in writing). Today i came home to a letter listing the usual reasons for increasing the APR. Then i turned the letter over to see they were offering to reduce to 6.95% (yey) aslong as i close the account. They also refunded bank charges for the last 6 months and if i agree to the above will refund the difference in interest on my latest statement :j

I am going to contact them again in writing to double check details (i.e. do i have to pay off faster or still minimum payment etc). At least i know a large chunk of what im paying will start to reduce the debt and hopefully in a couple of years i will feel more in control. I never thought i would see a light at the end of the tunnel but it just shows its worth asking.

I did mention FOS in the email so im wondering if this helped the decision (so they dont have to keep paying for FOS complaints)

Good luck for all you others still fighting for a fairder deal!!

tomsco

As far as I know, someone complaining to the FOS doesn't always mean a fine, as this could be abused by very petty people.

They are legally allowed to raise the interest rate as set out in the TOC's so chances the FOS would throw out your complaint anyway - so chances are they did it out of the goodness of their heart. That or they were worried you would default/stop paying/have to sell it to a debt collector for a smaller amount.

jo-bo

The goodness of their heart!!!! Yes I've heard this happens pretty often!
More likely than lot it's because they're more likely to get their money back.