Halifax Appointment System

joerugby

I was sitting in a Natwest branch recently waiting to see a member of staff when two girls aged around 20 walked in. One of them told the "meet and greet" person that she would like to open an account.

The greeter asked if she had an account already and the girl said yes, with Barclays. The greeter asked if she wanted to switch and the girl said no, she wanted an additional account.

The greeter replied that there was a lengthy procedure to go through in such circumstances and that the girl would really be better off going to Barclays to open her new account.

Maybe the nationalised banks just don't want any new customers

And just to go back to the OP's point, when I want to buy a £30,000 car or even a £500,000 house I can walk in off the street and be seen right away without an appointment. I would expect a bank to provide the same level of service.

innovate

helptoyou wrote: »

Sorry OP its all about Identification and verification to ensure money laundering requirements are met as set out by the regulators. I would expect this to be carried out by trained staff.

Sure they need to verify ID, and verify that the child actually exists, because there are too many crooks about these days.

However, if any bank employs anybody these days who doesn't know how to verify the ID of an adult and of a child, the bank should have their licence revoked.

There is nothing complicated about ID verification, and it most certainly doesn't warrant hogging 40 minutes, or even more than 5 minutes , of a customer's (new or existing) time.

Hiding behind MLR laws, or using it as justification, to steal people's time is just ludicrous.

Murison

lippy1923 wrote: »

Are you saying they refused to book you an apointment? Did they actually tell you to go away or were you not happy learning you needed an apointment and perhaps got a little stroppy and stormed out?

They did offer an appointment. My point is that I was not informed that an appointment was required as the website simply said I had to visit the branch. My other point is that I had all the documentation with me which they refused to copy and was told to come back at another time. I was willing to wait to see someone but they said I had to book an appointment. They could have copied my documents and completed the forms and I could have popped back in at a time when I was free.

Murison

patanne wrote: »

They all seem to want you to make an appointment these days (not the BSs they seem quite happy to deal with anything as and when). I go in armed with the next best account details and when told you need to make an appointment just tell them alright not to bother I'll just pop down to wherever and they will do it there and then. It is amazing how quickly someone becomes free to deal with me. I don't even need to get stroppy!

I did inform the branch assistant and the 2 people I spoke to on the phone about taking my money elsewhere and the poor reputation of banks but all I got back from them all was it was the banks policy.

gadgetmind

joerugby wrote: »

when I want to buy a £30,000 car or even a £500,000 house I can walk in off the street and be seen right away without an appointment. I would expect a bank to provide the same level of service.

Two anecdotes.

1) I was sat in a BMW dealership within hearing distance of a few guys who I'd guess were in their late 20s. One of their number (or all of them, hard to tell) was buying a rather flashy M5 and wanted to know whether he could pay in cash. When told they could only pay a certain amount this way, they asked if they could pay the same again the next day, and the one after, until they'd paid the lot. They were taken off to a private room and I guess they now have less cash and a BMW.

2) I was in an RBoS branch trying to pay in a cheque (big sum, no dropbox thanks) and was behind a very scruffy guy who was more of a cash person. He kept pulling handfuls of crumpled cash from pocket after pocket, piling it on the counter, and wanted it counted to be paid into his account. After it had all been added up, and a form filling in for him to sign, he leaned forwards only to realise that he'd forgotten his front pockets. These had further handfuls/rolls of 10s and 20s, so rinse and repeat.

At no point where they asked about source of cash. I'm sure they all have paper rounds and/or clean a lot of windows.

mikb

jimjames wrote: »

Websites have so much potential to help customers and avoid unnecessary contact but so many fail to do so or compound problems by making things even less clear.

Absolutely. As a new customer to Halifax, I almost gave up trying to open 2 accounts with them. Short(!) version :-

*Online* saver account and an ISA that claims accounts can be opened in minutes. Failed electronic checks for reasons that cannot be explained. "Please visit branch to complete the application" -- nothing about appointments mind!

Get branch locator, find address of nearest branch, 20 min walk away. Grab paperwork and head in.

Branch isn't there. WTH? Locals say -- used to be a Halifax here, they closed it 6+ months ago. Stupid website!

Get on bus to city centre, where there is definitely a branch. Refused entry -- power cut means that they have no computers. Redirected to another branch 5 mins away.

Get to 3rd branch, explain situation and that all I need to do is show you ID and complete the existing online application. Get taken into obligatory side room and ... computer says ... they can't find any trace of me, or my application.

Let's start again: Can't find any trace of the account type on the system, as they are online accounts *only* and can't be dealt with in branch.

I ended up opening a branch based account and ISA with equivalent terms, the same rates, which can also be managed on-line. Quite a lot more hassle than expected, but got there in the end.

And -- bonus -- no upselling. No questions about mortgages, insurance etc. Just paperwork for the accounts, ID, done and out.

... followed by a series of nagging notes by email saying "You haven't completed ID on these other online accounts, please come into branch".

It's not the slickest system, is it?

Compared to other banks where you can open the account and credit a 1st deposit literally in minutes ...

Murison

helptoyou wrote: »

Sorry OP its all about Identification and verification to ensure money laundering requirements are met as set out by the regulators. I would expect this to be carried out by trained staff, of course the op might be quite happy to have his or his sons I.D stolen and used for nefarious purposes that would give him something to moan about if proper procedures were not in place .

What happens once you have registered
We will send you a certificate of registration with full details of what you will need
to do next, for example:
• carry out a risk assessment of your business
• put anti money laundering/counter terrorist financing (AML/CTF) policies and
procedures in place
• know who your customers are
• appoint a nominated officer
• report any suspicious activity
• keep organised and complete records
• train your staff to do what they need to do to follow the anti money
laundering legislation
• tell us about any change within 30 days of the change happening.
Penalties
If you don’t follow the MLRs, we can take various steps to deal with this, depending
on how serious the mistake is. This action ranges from issuing penalties to, in the
most serious cases, criminal prosecution. The aim is always to encourage you to
follow the regulations.
If an HMRC officer visits you and finds problems with your business, they will
explain how you must put the problems right, verbally and in writing. You may end
up with a penalty for these failures. For more information, go to
hmrc.gov.uk/mlr/problems-checks/appeals-penalties.htm#3
HMRC’s Anti Money Laundering and Registration guides are HM Treasury approved.
This means HMRC and the courts will look at how far you have followed this
guidance when deciding whether or not you have followed the regulations.

I appreciate everything you have highlighted but I am not in business and have have had a current account with that Halifax branch for seven years therefore they know who I am and as just about every transaction has gone through this account during that time they would know if I was laundering or not. The account was for my son but it required someone over 18 to open it therefore if there was something in addition to the norm they could have gave me or emailed me the information.

My main point is that none of this information was provided on the website. If it had said I had to make an appointment then I would have considered this option and been fully aware of its requirement to open an account. This was not made clear and it just said to go to a branch to open the account. I followed the bank instructions only to be told I couldn't open the account and had to return another day for a 40 minute appointment. If they had been upfront at the beginning I could have made a considered judgement, but not to inform me of the policy at the beginning of the process was poor to say the least.

BMN

innovate wrote: »

There is nothing complicated about ID verification, and it most certainly doesn't warrant hogging 40 minutes, or even more than 5 minutes , of a customer's (new or existing) time.

Most appointments won't last this long. They just say allow up to 40 mins because in some cases it might take that long.

gadgetmind wrote: »

At no point where they asked about source of cash. I'm sure they all have paper rounds and/or clean a lot of windows.

Tipping off. If the situation is exactly how you described it then the bank staff would have reported it.

Murison wrote: »

My main point is that none of this information was provided on the website. If it had said I had to make an appointment then I would have considered this option and been fully aware of its requirement to open an account. This was not made clear and it just said to go to a branch to open the account. I followed the bank instructions only to be told I couldn't open the account and had to return another day for a 40 minute appointment. If they had been upfront at the beginning I could have made a considered judgement, but not to inform me of the policy at the beginning of the process was poor to say the least.

It's because it's not general policy. Different branches will operate in different ways. If they've told you that you need to book an appointment to open a young saver then that's what you have to do.

moneyfoolish

Vortigern wrote: »

I agree and sympathise with the OP. Unfortunately it's not just the Halifax; I've had similar experiences with Santander and with Leeds BS. It seems they want to do a full fact find with a view to upselling, and at the end of the process you sign a form to acknowledge that they recommended the product you'd asked for.

So do I and you're perfectly correct in saying it's not just the Halifax and, in fact, it's not just the banks. It seems as though all Customer Services staff nowadays are also supposed to be sales people. Even if you open an ISA on the web, you then get bombarded to open a current account. As far as I'm concerned, they do what I want them to do - which is merely open the account I want without any sales pressure - or I take my money somewhere else. If that means I don't take it anywhere I won't be too bothered with the rates that are being paid at the moment!

innovate

BMN wrote: »

It's because it's not general policy. Different branches will operate in different ways. If they've told you that you need to book an appointment to open a young saver then that's what you have to do.

Did you read the OP's posts? At least 3 times now they said they would have been able to make an informed decision if they had been told on the Halifax website they need to book an appointment. For the avoidance of doubt: the website did not tell the OP that they needed to book an appointment. And just in case: no, it is not reasonable at all that customers should only to find out about the need for an appointment once they have made the trip to the Branch.