Halifax credit card opened then closed after further checks advice needed regarding balance

Ergates

molerat wrote: »

I would go straight in with a formal complaint about what you were told by the operator. It is too late for them to back out of the deal now. They can prevent you from using the card further but what is done is done and they will have to stick to the agreement, you have not broken the terms.

I'm pretty sure they *can* back of out of the deal now.

However, it was their mistake to accept your initial application and their mistake to accept the balance transfers. I would ask them to acknowledge that having to clear the balance in 14 days would cause you hardship - which would be an unfair consequence of their mistakes. Ask if they can either give you more time to arrange alternative credit somewhere else (which might be hard given there seems to be some issue with your credit history), OR if you can pay off the balance over time rather than all of it within 14 day (i.e. stop the card, but don't insist that you clear it straight away).

I don't know about the legal position, but one of the FCA requirements on banks is treating customers fairly : "All firms must be able to show consistently that fair treatment of customers is at the heart of their business model."

foxy-stoat

It may be easier if you go to the card companies that received the balance transfer and do a balance transfer back to halifax. If they have similar deals then you wont be in any worse position.

molerat

A9. Ending this agreement
This agreement has no fixed or minimum duration and can be ended by you or us. You can end it at any time by telling us by phone or in writing (see “Our contact details” below) and paying off your balance in full.
If we end the agreement, we will normally give you at least two months’ notice but may end it immediately in exceptional circumstances, for example, if we reasonably suspect criminal or fraudulent activity connected with the account, you seriously or repeatedly break this agreement or we would break the law by continuing the agreement.

So at least 2 months notice unless "exceptional circumstances", paying back in 14 days is unreasonable and if it got as far as the FOS I expect they would get a good kicking !

chattychappy

molerat wrote: »

I would go straight in with a formal complaint about what you were told by the operator. It is too late for them to back out of the deal now. They can prevent you from using the card further but what is done is done and they will have to stick to the agreement, you have not broken the terms.

Agree absolutely. They were free to decline or delay opening an account. They were free to decline or delay processing the balance transfer.

The exception to this would be in the event that OP had opened the account fraudulently - eg by lying on the application form and this has only just come to light.

johnmoney05 wrote: »

I am sure there will be a term in the agreement saying that you will have to pay back whatever in the account within 14 days upon request.

Even if there was such a term, I doubt it would be enforceable.

Ergates wrote: »

I don't know about the legal position, but one of the FCA requirements on banks is treating customers fairly : "All firms must be able to show consistently that fair treatment of customers is at the heart of their business model."

That is the gist of regulation.

Certainly I would go the formal complaint route and try and get this sorted asap. The quicker it's dealt with the less "fallout" in terms of negative reports etc (which means more work to get it reversed).

wenglish2015

Thanks everyone I appreciate all your help and advice I ended up sending in a formal complaint to the CEO’s office late last night.

I was called today by the original lady who told me everything yesterday but I decided not to talk to her and to just deal with the ceo’s Office

They emailed back today and apologised for what had happened etc and would now be looking at my complaint in further detail so fingers crossed it will get resolved this week.

I will update the thread when I get some answers thanks everyone

wenglish2015

UPDATE

just to let everyone know I was contacted by the ceo’s Office this morning and they have looked into everything, the lady has fully agreed with me and upheld my complaint agreeing that the balance transfer should never have gone through and it was the HALIFAX at fault.

She offered me 3 months interest free to clear the £900 which I declined and asked was I still allowed to simply transfer the funds back to the other account and she said it would be fine and issued me the card number to use. I’ve just completed the transfer and it was accepted so fingers crossed it will go through without issue

She also gave me £75 compensation so better than nothing and all resolved for now she explained I passed the first stage of checks but after 2nd checks like all applications go through I was then declined but she couldn’t tell me why.

So thanks everyone for your input I’m very grateful to have it all resolved