Halifax - Arrrgh!!!!

csarina

Vote with your feet and open a basic account at Nationwide, you get a cheque book and a card, if bankrupts can get an account there you should be able to, you can specify that you only want a card........and you can pay in over the counter, draw money abroad without paying a charge and draw cash from a cash machine...............

Cheques can be drawn on after 3 days, so a cheque depositied on MOnday can be drawn on Thursday...................You can arrange direct debits and keep a check on your account on line, you can also have several pots.....I have a Holiday pot, Car pot, savings pot,they are internet savings accounts and you can transfer cash immediately. For instance, today I paid a bill for carpets for our new apartment, I transferred the cash from my savings account into my current account before I went and paid the bill using my debit card.........simple..............

I have a Lloyds TSB account, but also have a Nationwide account which I mainly use for my housekeeping and deposit cash when we go abroad to draw whilst away, you do not pay any charges and you also get the rate of the day when you draw money from a cash machine when abroad.

MarkyMarkD

csarina

It says on Nationwide's website that you DO NOT get a debit card with a basic banking account - but you say you've got one. What's going on? What sort of debit card do they give you?

JCR1987

Sally,

I too have a Halifax cardcash account and liked using it up until the point they changed the stupid counter policy. I too have a checkered credit history so when Halifax started insisting I pay into a wooden box like a 3rd, 4th or even 5th class citizen (after dogs, cats and gerbils), I went with Natwest. You can apply online for their basic account (Step account) and they processed my application within a couple of weeks. After the account was opened, I paid in a couple of cheques and have done so quite a few times since. Each time, cheques took no more than 3 days to clear, no hassle, one cheque which was for a mere £20 took just over 1 day!! Paid it in Monday afternoon, it was available to withdraw Wednesday morning. You also get the 'luxury' of being able to pay over the counter. Only drawback is that you don't get a Visa Electron card, you get a Solo card which isn't as widely accepted.

As an alternative, the Yorkshire/Clydesdale Bank basic account (which you need to apply in-branch), provides you with a Maestro debit card, which is the modern version of Switch. I also have one of these accounts and it is as good as any debit card you can get from a mainstream account, only drawback, as with all basic accounts, is that you have no facilty to go overdrawn, which on the whole is a good thing anyway.

Hope this helps.

JR

jswaminathanuk

When and where did they stoped you?
If you are already at the counter it is your right to not pay in the machine. Does it mentioned anywhere obvious place in the bank that you cannot pay in counter. If not then they have to accept it.
If the person't don't take it insist taht you will see manager and don't leave the counter. If manager also insist you to pay on machine ask him or her to give in writing on official letterhead. And use this against bank.
FSA have certain guidlines and one of them should be no descripmination on the basis of funds.
Yes they can give previlege to customers bringing more profit to halifax but that doesnt give them any right to stop you from basic service.
Next time when you go in stand in the queue and pay over counter. You have the right to pay over counter unless they give you a formal notice in writing.
I am sure you can use this notice against bank for descrimination.
I am not a lawyer but I hope I am right.

jswaminathanuk

When and where did they stoped you?
If you are already at the counter it is your right to not pay in the machine. Does it mentioned anywhere obvious place in the bank that you cannot pay in counter. If not then they have to accept it.
If the person't don't take it insist taht you will see manager and don't leave the counter. If manager also insist you to pay on machine ask him or her to give in writing on official letterhead. And use this against bank.
FSA have certain guidlines and one of them should be no descripmination on the basis of funds.
Yes they can give previlege to customers bringing more profit to halifax but that doesnt give them any right to stop you from basic service.
Next time when you go in stand in the queue and pay over counter. You have the right to pay over counter unless they give you a formal notice in writing.
I am sure you can use this notice against bank for descrimination.
I am not a lawyer but I hope I am right.

regularsaver1

Its in their new conditions. there are leaflets in branch and also posters

managers do have flexibility, but they can't do for everyone, as thats not the point

scooby359

I work on a counter for Halifax, so I know what our policies are regarding the Cardcash account, but also see the frustrations of customers too.

In regards to the notice jswaminathanuk mentioned, it's included in the bank account conditions which have been sent out a couple times in the past year, but it's one of those leaflets full of small writing, so I guess most people just throw them away without reading it? There are also big posters on display in branches too which explains the restrictions on counter service for Cardcash accounts.

When paying in cheques, the IDM machines (which don't use an envelope) have the same clearing period as if you'd paid in over the counter, so you're not losing out on anything there, while cash is credited immediately. ATM deposits have been withdrawn at our branch in all but one of the outside machines, so that there's still the facility for customers outside branch hours.

Furthermore, at our branch, we don't allow any withdrawals from a cheque over the counter until it's been in 10 days as we've had large cheques bounce several times in fraudulent circumstances on all types of accounts, so it's an increased security measure. As well as that, on basic accounts with no overdraft, it acts as a safeguard to make sure that you don't spend on it for it then to be bounced and you get overdrawn.

I don't think Halifax have advertised it that well, or ensured that customers understand the reasons for the changes though, and being face to face with customers, I can see how that angers people.

wyebird

Why should cheques take so long to clear? Banks do not rely on the post to process cheques. Yes, some of them are fraudulent, but if Joe Public writes a rubber cheque to Jane Public, then Jane's bank will more often than not know about this the next day. There will be exceptions to this, as there are with fraudulent debit/credit card transactions, but fundametally no more risky. Cheques are relatively expensive for banks to process, and are on their way out and I think this whole thing is a way to move this forward.
Chip and pin means that whether we have a prestiege or a basic bank account the bank is in control of debit card spending and that's how they like it.

MarkyMarkD

Next day? I don't think so.

Joe writes cheque to Jane on Monday. Jane banks it on Monday. Her bank send it to clearing. Cheque gets to Joe's bank on Tuesday and is cleared against his account on Wednesday.

If there aren't enough funds, Joe's bank WRITES to Jane's bank (by first class post).

The earliest possible date for Jane's bank to know the cheque has bounced is Thursday. Which is why many institutions require 3 working days, rather than the 2 it takes for the money to get there.

If the letter gets delayed in the post, it could be a lot longer than 3 working days.

None of the banks has changed their clearance periods for standard bank accounts, so I think your conspiracy theory about this being a way of encouraging people to move away from cheques is wrong. It's entirely risk based.

Paul_Herring

scooby359 wrote: »

I work on a counter for [bank], so I know what our policies are regarding [account with bank]

My only comments here regarding this are either (1) you're lying, (2) you think you know but you don't or (3) you've learnt policies from places other than directly from your bank.

Bank staff rarely know the ins and outs of their banks products. Witness the inability of LTSB staff to deal with their widely promoted (outside of the bank, naturally) STC campaign before it started, and during it's execution.

Wide brush? Most certainly.