Halifax sending bill after 20 years

wary_barry

So in 1999 I opened a Halifax share dealing account to buy some dot com shares that became worthless and couldn't then be sold. I tried to close the account but couldn't because there were shares held. This is how I remember it anyway. I heard nothing from Halifax until 2018 when they started sending me letters asking me to log on and download my share dealing statement. Now they have started billing me £36 without any prior warning about charges or giving an option to close the account. I really don't want to waste time with them or pay for things I am not using. Do I just ignore them or will they close the account if I contact them, or will contacting them allow them to continue billing me? Any advice welcome.

eskbanker

What would allow you to close the account now that prevented you from doing so twenty years ago?

If the account is in a position to be closed now then go ahead and do so - it's unlikely they'd be obliged to reverse the £36 but you never know if you ask nicely and convince them that they didn't take reasonable steps to advise you of it:

https://www.halifax.co.uk/investing/start-investing/share-dealing-services/charges/changes-to-our-pricing.html

MX5huggy

Close the account it’ll stop them charging you another £36 next year. You maybe able to negotiate them waving the fee for this year. https://www.halifax.co.uk/investing/start-investing/share-dealing-services/charges/changes-to-our-pricing.html 

jimjames

wary_barry said:

Do I just ignore them or will they close the account if I contact them, or will contacting them allow them to continue billing me? Any advice welcome.

If you want to keep racking up £36 per year in fees then ignore them. If you want to stop incurring the fees then close the account.

jimpwarsop

eskbanker said:

What would allow you to close the account now that prevented you from doing so twenty years ago?

If the account is in a position to be closed now then go ahead and do so - it's unlikely they'd be obliged to reverse the £36 but you never know if you ask nicely and convince them that they didn't take reasonable steps to advise you of it:

https://www.halifax.co.uk/investing/start-investing/share-dealing-services/charges/changes-to-our-pricing.html

Halifax emailed me, and I assume all their customers, about this. If they dont have an email account on file that customers read, what can they do ?

dunstonh

 I tried to close the account but couldn't because there were shares held. 

That is normal.  You have to either sell the shares or re-register them to another broker/platform.

Now they have started billing me £36 without any prior warning about charges or giving an option to close the account.

They issued notifications to introduce this £36 charge in 2021.  It is probable that you chose not to read it.

It is also on the website 
https://www.halifax.co.uk/investing/start-investing/share-dealing-services/charges/changes-to-our-pricing.html#:~:text=Changes%20at%20a%20glance&text=We%20introduced%20a%20new%20%C2%A3,be%20taken%20in%20May%202022.

It also gives you the options if you want to close the account.

 I really don't want to waste time with them or pay for things I am not using. 

You are using them as they are holding your shares.

Do I just ignore them or will they close the account if I contact them, or will contacting them allow them to continue billing me? Any advice welcome.

Ignore them and you just rack up a debt that they can pass to a debt collection agency which could end up with you getting a CCJ.  Never ignore things like this.   Burying your head in the sand doesn't make it go away.
You can close the account just as you have been able to do so any time since you opened it. 

wary_barry

I didnt receive notification by email and i have no copy of a notification by letter, which I can be fairly sure of as I routinely scan anything related to an account.  Since my post I called them about this, and they agreed to sell the shares and close the account, and waived the fees as they had not been able to email me.  As it happened the shares had increased in value from pennies to double digit pounds, so that was an unexpected bonus. 

Thanks to all who responded.

Beddie

Just contact them and they will close the account. They will also probably waive the fee too, as they have pretty good customer service. 

Oh - just read that's exactly what you just did.