Halifax bank money transfered from another part to my account in error

lynne1985

sorry if this has been answered in previous posts, i have a halifax visa bank account which recently had £1000 overdraft facility, this overdraft expired on 21st december while i still owed just under the £1000, my problem is that someone has transfered money into my account £197 in error (the person is a friend who was paying off catalogue debts until last month and had forgot to cancel payments) he is now demanding the money from me but as my account is in arrears i cant transfer it back to him i have called the bank on several occassions as has he but we are both getting conflicting information, i just want to know if there's anything i can do to get the money back to him? I dont have the money to clear off the overdraft nor do i have £197 lying around. I didnt know my overdraft was due to expire as i had no access to the internet and thats how i recieve my statements but halifax say they will not reinstate the overdraft unless i pay back the owing amount, but even at that they will not guarantee that i will get it back
thanks for any help
Lynne

SalsaDanca

Hi Lynne,

You currently have two problems. The first is that Halifax have demanded that you pay off your overdraft immediately. The second is that you can't make any payments from your current account until the overdraft is reinstated or paid off, so you can't use your account to pay your bills or buy food. You need your salary to be paid into an account that will allow you to spend it, either by coming to an arrangement with the Halifax or by opening a new current account at another bank.

You should be aware that if you have any other accounts with the Halifax, they can take money from these accounts to pay your overdraft.

If I were you, I would contact the Halifax again as soon as possible, ideally by going in to the branch and speaking to a manager. Can you get them to reinstate your overdraft for another year, if you agree to reduce it to £0 over the next year? If not, will they give you a loan to pay off the overdraft?

If you can't get any help from Halifax, open a current account with another bank. Then you can pay your salary into the new account and use it to pay your essential bills. You can also pay back the money you owe your friend. You should also make sure you make regular payments to the Halifax to pay back the overdraft, so that they can't claim you have walked away from the debt.

I will cross-post to the Debt Free Wanabee forum, to see if anyone else can offer you some support. Good luck.

Regards,

Rob

rog2

Hi Lynne - why did HALIFAX withdraw your overdraft? If you were operating within the limit, it seems a bit harsh of them to refuse to re-instate the overdraft until you have returned to credit by paying off all of the overdraft - especially as you had not exceeded your limit?
I assume that they are now 'charging' you for an 'unauthorised overdraft' along with all the 'penalty charges' that this will incur.
I think you need to complain to their customer services department - it seems that they are treating you very poorly.
With regard to your friend - he should understand your situation. You were, after all, helping him out by allowing him to 'use' your account to pay off the catalogue debts. I just feel that he 'ought' to be sympathetic enough to wait until you have, at least, sorted out the overdraft situation.

RayWolfe

An overdraft facility is repayable on demand.
This is so with any bank and is why no one should never rely upon one for any length of time.
Harsh? Possibly, but then so is life and such lessons should be used as education.

rog2

RayWolfe wrote: »

An overdraft facility is repayable on demand.
This is so with any bank and is why no one should never rely upon one for any length of time.
Harsh? Possibly, but then so is life and such lessons should be used as education.

It is hardly one of life's lessons to withdraw an overdraft facility without reasonable notice, especially as the OP was operating the account within the terms of the overdraft agreement.
Any reasonable lender should give sufficient notice, particularily if such a decision leaves the account holder in a situation of hardship.
Yet another situation where the 'human' side of Banking has been abandoned in favour of the great god 'computer'.

YorkshireBoy

rog2 wrote: »

It is hardly one of life's lessons to withdraw an overdraft facility without reasonable notice, especially as the OP was operating the account within the terms of the overdraft agreement.
Any reasonable lender should give sufficient notice...

OP has stated that the overdraft "expired", indicating that some form of notice WAS in fact given...perhaps it was granted for a pre-notified period?

rog2

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

OP has stated that the overdraft "expired", indicating that some form of notice WAS in fact given...perhaps it was granted for a pre-notified period?

I accept that, YB, but surely HALIFAX could still show some flexibility?

Mark7799

How do we know they haven't - did they know the OP was unable to get net access?

lynne1985

I had the overdraft for two years, when i first applied for it, it was a student overdraft but when this expired they moved it over to a normal overdraft with the same amount with no questions asked, i have always kept within the agreed overdraft and pay money into the account regularly, when i phoned up and explained that i had no internet access for a few months they didnt seem to care they passed me through to the main office where they asked for the outstanding balance to be paid out in full. I dont feel that they have dealt with this in an appropraite way they have charged me £60 for being overdrawn and the longer i take to pay it off the more i am going to be charged. My friend who paid the money in by error has 3 young children to look after and at this time of year things are very hard for him so i do feel responsible for the fact i cant pay the money back we have both explained this to the bank, he got told he couldnt get the money back and i had to phone up and get it sent back, ive phoned the bank on numerous occassions and everytime ive phoned its been different information ive been given, one woman was going to transfer it back but as i didnt have the other person bank account details she couldnt, im just frustrated at the fact that every person i have spoken to at the call centre has told me a different thing.

rog2

lynne1985 wrote: »

I'm just frustrated at the fact that every person i have spoken to at the call centre has told me a different thing.

Thank you for your clarification, lynne. I fully understand your frustration at the HALIFAX Call Centre's attitude - unfortunately, whilst totally inexcusable, this attitude is not unique to HALIFAX.
You could try ringing them and insisting on being put through to a manager or superviser (This is your Right) - perhaps you will get more joy.
I commend your wish to repay your friend as soon as possible.

wyebird

I would go into a branch and ask to speak to a supervisor if I were you. Halifax's central call management has got very difficult to deal with over the last few years. My daughter had her telephone banking suspended because she didn't know her account balance...she was ringing to see if she had been paid, and if a cheque had gone through, both of which would have somewhat affected the result! There was no flexibility in offering an alternative question, which we would always have done when I worked there.
I have noticed that my overdraft limit (and that of my OH) which has been running for 18 years or so has suddenly acquired a review date. I wonder how many others have failed to notice this message on the top of their statement and will be caught out come May? Thought it might have merited a separate letter....paperless banking, so no stamp cost