First Direct Closing £100 - Transfer or Close Account?

Ferrety_2

In fairness they have paid out the £100 - but he might end out rather more out of pocket if all his direct debits have been lost and he has no money but a Halifax overdraft for about a week!

Quite worried as I'm away from home for a few days so can't just give him cash to live on and my own internet banking won't let me send money without one of those little calculator doohickys - arrgghh!

meer53

Ferrety wrote: »

Sorry to reawaken an old thread, but my boyfriend is having massive problems with this. He sent a message asking for the service guarantee because he finds the 'security key' used with your mobile phone really awkward.

He didn't get a reply and arranged a switch to Halifax which was scheduled to go through Monday, but today he's found FD have just closed his account, with no notice, even though he told them he was switching on Monday!!

Now it's all up in the air and he doesn't know if all his direct debuit details have been lost or if Halifax can complete the switch. He also can't get any money out as First Direct have posted his balance to him as a cheque.

Needless to say he's fuming - terrible service from First Direct.

If he arranged to switch to Halifax using CASS on Monday this week, his FD account would have been closed on Monday. There is no option under CASS to leave the old account open. His DD's will be at Halifax now. Switching balances are usually transferred electronically, not sent by cheque. You need to find out exactly what your OH asked FD (or Halifax) to do. Doesn't sound as though a switch is involved to me.

Switching doesn't leave people high and dry, the old account closes once everything has been switched to the new account.

Ed-1

meer53 wrote: »

If he arranged to switch to Halifax using CASS on Monday this week, his FD account would have been closed on Monday. There is no option under CASS to leave the old account open. His DD's will be at Halifax now. Switching balances are usually transferred electronically, not sent by cheque. You need to find out exactly what your OH asked FD (or Halifax) to do. Doesn't sound as though a switch is involved to me.

Switching doesn't leave people high and dry, the old account closes once everything has been switched to the new account.

In my experience if you request the service guarantee by secure message they will close the account and send you the £100 leaving gift by cheque soon after (no switch required to receive this).

It seems that the switch has crossed wires with the claiming of the service guarantee which is a bit out of the ordinary. It's not clear whether the request to close the account under the service guarantee has taken priority over the switch as that was requested first but if the switch had already started and been accepted it has to continue under the current account switch guarantee so you can claim under that for anything not being switched over.

Ferrety_2

Sorry, I'm not being clear.

He used CASS, requested via halifax, for a switch that is scheduled to complete next Mon 13th. He then contacted fd to ask if he was eligible for the £100 service guarantee as he finds the two different versions of online banking depending on whether you use security key a right pain. He told them he'd arranged a switch to Halifax.

Instead of helping him to switch as they claim, they closed his account with no warning.

To be fair they've said they got it wrong and are trying to sort it, but in the meantime he's got no access to money which we're trying to sort without touching the costly halifax overdraft.

Ferrety_2

It looks like dd details have been passed to Halifax so hopefully switch has survived... Now just the small matter of working out how I can send him some cash to live off until Sat!

eskbanker

Ferrety wrote: »

To be fair they've said they got it wrong and are trying to sort it, but in the meantime he's got no access to money which we're trying to sort without touching the costly halifax overdraft.

If FD have admitted fault (in writing?) then they should pick up the costs incurred directly as a result of their error, so if the overdraft is there then use it (in the absence of any other source of funds in the short term), but ensure that the charges are claimed back from FD when settling the complaint. Or get them to cancel the cheque and send funds to Halifax now by direct bank transfer.

Ferrety_2

They said before they would try to cancel cheque and send funds but are now being totally unhelpful.

They haven't said anything in writing as this all only happened today. The first my boyfriend knew of it was not being able to take out money today to buy his lunch as account has been abruptly closed down with no chance to make alternative arrangements.

Seems as though CASS switch has only half gone trough - they've sent direct debit info but then closed the account without transferring balance so now I don't know if it'll count as a CASS switch or not.

He has no access to the message he sent last week asking about the service guarantee as they've closed his account but he definitely said he was switching rather than just closing the account.

meer53

So the switch will have been started by Halifax on 1st April. Whether FD have done anything wrong depends on when BF contacted them about the Service Guarantee. It seems that BF has complicated matters by trying to use 2 different methods of closing an account.

Archi_Bald

Ferrety wrote: »

It looks like dd details have been passed to Halifax so hopefully switch has survived... Now just the small matter of working out how I can send him some cash to live off until Sat!

Did he not wait with his switch request until he had a working Halifax account? Account opening and account switching are two entirely separate processes.

If he is indeed desperate for a current account into which you can transfer him some money by FP, he can go into the Branch of any high street bank and open an account. He should then also be able to withdraw money over the counter.

anotheruser

Just as a note;

I telephoned FD and they said I should switch or close the account, then telephone them again and claim the £100.
Account was switched, they sent out a cheque. Ends.