Halifax stealing my money

newfoundglory

I do a lot of banking with Halifax. In July I closed a savings account with quite a high balance which i'd had a number of years, expecting a bonus amount of interest to be added on top of the standard as i believed I had met the conditions necessary to trigger it. This wasn't added on, and therefore I lost about £300 in interest, if not a little more.

I called Halifax twice, asking why it hadnt been added. They wrote back saying that I hadn't met the conditions necessary to have it.

I wrote a formal complaint. The reason being their website stated the conditions for making withdrawals and closure for this account. These conditions were, in my opinion, misleading and wrong - and had they been true the bonus would have been paid. They wrote back, simply including a copy of the account conditions. I read these. These had better wording and made things a bit clearer, but still contained bits which which I believe were a bit strange and unusual (for example, it made reference to closure situations which were impossible)

Anyway, two months on, and Halifax have now removed the previous wording from their website and changed it to what I would have expected it to say in the first place. I reckon they did this as a result of my letter. (I also suspect they have changed the account conditions slightly since I opened the account, but anyway, thats another story...)

To be honest, I believe both Halifax and I have made mistakes here - but I do not believe Halifax deserves to profit by several hundred pounds from misleading its customers and wonder what I should do next..... any ideas?

jonesMUFCforever

What mistake did you do then?

System

There is a 'good faith' requirement in consumer contracts, and generally if there is any ambiguous terms then they require to be interpreted in your favour.

Its the unfair terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations

You can take it to the ombudsman, once its been through Bank of Scotland's complaint process.

Before its gets to that stage, why don't you post more details here, and some one should be able to offer you some help as EJones suggests.

bigstevex

What conditions are they saying you didn't meet? Don't they tell you when you withdraw it that you havent met the conditions and you won't be paid interest?

newfoundglory

There is a "cut-down" version of the account withdrawal conditions on the Halifax website. These are apparently not to be replied upon.

Clearly, if these cannot be relied upon then why are they listed in the first place? I dont understand why they dont just allow people to download a PDF of the account conditions rather than read some half-arsed version. Banks are forever trying to push people to use the internet, rather than phone and branches... yet will claim that a website is not to be relied upon for correct information.

I did try to find out if I had lost any when I made the closure, but the cashier didnt believe i had "lost" anything.

In summary, I suppose I should have obtained a full copy of the account conditions - but then I believe Halifax should have ensured that customers could not be misled by stated "important" withdrawal information listed on its website.

The interest bonus was dependent on the number of withdrawals made per year. The conditions in question surrounded whether or not closure of the account was classed as a withdrawal - the website clearly stated in no uncertain terms that closing the account would be classed as a withdrawal. The actual terms and conditions stated the same thing. But, the strange thing is you cannot possibly have a situation where you close the account and have a bonus paid to you. Therefore I fail to see the relevance of whether or not closure is a withdrawal or not - they should just state that no interest shall be paid on closure.

I'm going to assume that since Halifax changed the part I complained about, they would agree it was misleading - yet will not admit to such due to liability.

noh

Here is a PDF of the T+ Cs of Halifax Savings accounts available on their website https://www.halifax.co.uk/savings/forms/generic_sav_app/forms/pdfs/1_336203-7.pdf
You stil haven't said what account it was and what condition you failed to meet. Was it a monthly saver?

Nigel

newfoundglory

Yes, in July the website said:

Although you don't have to give notice to make a withdrawal, you'll lose your bonus if you make two withdrawals a year. If you make three or more withdrawals a year, your account will be changed to a Halifax Liquid Gold account. Closing the account is classed as a withdrawal

website now says:

Although you don't have to give notice to make a withdrawal, you'll lose your bonus if you make two withdrawals a year. If you make three or more withdrawals a year, your account will be changed to a Halifax Liquid Gold account. If you close your account, you will not receive a bonus for the part of the year during which you have held the account.

:rotfl:

YorkshireBoy

newfoundglory wrote: »

...wonder what I should do next..... any ideas?

If you're not happy with their final response to your official complaint, you go to the Financial Ombudsman...as per their complaints procedure.

noh

Their T+Cs do say, page 31 of my link above, that if you close the account you lose all right to that years bonus they are dated September 07. Do you have a copy of the T+Cs from when you opened the account? You should have been sent a copy then.

Nigel

newfoundglory

I have a copy from July 07.... but it said something similar i think just in a different way.... i opened the account in early 2004.... so no i dont! Had considered asking for one, however i think its unlikely they will be willing or able to do so.....

jonesMUFCforever

How many withdrawals did you make?