Halifax kids Regular Saver fiasco

arrowsmith

I read this thread when it started, I opened up a Halifax Regular Saver on the 28th July at a branch and thought i'd escaped any problems.

Like everyone else I supplied a ID and address evidence and thought that everything had gone ok. That was until this morning when I received a letter stating I needed to supply ID and address verification.

Seems they still have problems with their system !

Branch to complain or letter ?

Maisie

I phoned the RSA children saver10% helpline before I opened the acct. They said I could open it in the branch also. I said the children had 'save4it' accounts and the man said that would do for id as it was the same branch.

I went to the branch loaded with all the id theirs and mine as grandmother (just the save4it book for the kids as told on the phone).

The receptionist was was very abrupt and first words were 'what id have you got?' I told her and she said the save4it book was not enough! I said I had been told that was sufficient. She said they had told me wrongly!

I said I wasn't moving until the account was opened in the branch and sat there.

Eventually the manager came out and said I would have to talk to the advisor (in the little room) Of course no appts available then. So the manager put me on the direct phone to open the account. I told the phone operator what had been going on and he said 'they could open it there'.

Accounts were opened on the phone .. without any money paid in anywhere and new save4it accs issued to me. So now the kids have 2 save4itaccs each.

The manager said I would have to take id into the branch for the kids. I said you have it from when they opened the first save4it accounts. They said that wasn't suitable. I said I would be bringing the same birth certificate in again. Manager said they need a passport.
Fortunately the kids do have passports so I went back again the next week with them. They looked at them and said 'you're not on them' I said I'm the grandmother. It's their father's details on them.
Finally they accepted the passport and I paid money into the new save4it accounts.

I then got paperwork through the post saying the accounts had been opened.

So it seems it's working ok in their case. We'll wait and see as I have just started the standing order.

What a carry on. The receptionist kept saying it's all to do with money laundering. I said I know about that (I used to work in a bank). I said the crooks would have a field day if they stole my hand bag with all the id in it. They could set up any accounts with it. She wasn't interested in that or the fact that I had to make 2 journeys and pay £2 in car park charges.

moomintroll_3

mels123 wrote:

Does anyone know how to transfer money into these accounts apart from standing order? I have a standing order set up from my current account (Halifax), but I am trying to drip feed the money from their Save4it account as well. However, When I try to transfer money from my current account, it won't let me do it! Do I have to do it via standing order each time? Anyone know?

I had nightmare opening 2 of these accounts. They took £200 out of one account, put £100 in the new regular saver and lost the other £100! It did eventually turn up after I complained to the branch manager.

Looks like everyone is having problems with these accounts.

The standing order is mandatory for the regular saver account. However, the save4it account is a normal bank (well, building society) account and you should be able to transfer money into that using your bank's bill payment system (I use first direct and have been able to use their bill payment system to pay money into that account). Make sure you include the roll number as the customer reference though...

The Halifax tried to tell me that I couldn't transfer money via standing order from my web saver when I set up the account - I had to be very insistant that I had done just that when I set the account up and their systems had accepted it...

They appear to have 2 issues here

1. Their Retail IT systems are just not robust or well thought through enough to cover an account being opened in one customer channel and ID being provided in another. I appeared to be on their systems twice (one with a very slight mis-spelling of my name) and this caused chaos until I persuaded someone I was who I said and got them to "link" the accounts together.

2. Their Retail "Customer Advisor" staff need a lot more training about the accounts they "sell". I suspect that what actually happens is that the staff are told about the accounts via an intranet and not formally taken through what can and can't be done and how the accounts work.

G

deedums

Aaaarrrgghh! just opened this account online for my son, wish I'd read all this first. Had to apply for the save4it account because he doesn't have an account with them although I do. I'm going to wait nervously now until they get in touch and I'm glad I chose the option to make a deposit later!

Has anyone had a good experience I wonder?

Baby_A

I vowed to not follow up my account then realised Halifax have taken money out of my personal account with Nat west to put it in the Regular Saver! They claim they have no Id and the accounts have stops on them but manage to process my standing order mandate!

Just when I thought I was rid of them!

Here begins the phonecalls!

I must admit the one good thing about Halifax is that they allow you to input your telephone number on their website and call you back straightaway!
I'd be even more annoyed if I got a huge phone bill at the end of the month for all the calls I have made!

fezza_2

deedums Has anyone had a good experience I wonder?
I opened both the save4it and regular saver in june the day the regular saver came out. I have had the same trouble as everyone else in terms of the ID problem ie a letter stating that if id not produced then accounts will be closed,when I had taken birth cert in to my local branch,but phoned the helpline and they said not to worry that confirmation just had not reached them.
After reading the OPs I check the accounts regularly on line, to make sure they have not been closed.Well touch wood, fingers crossed etc every thing seems to be ok.

NJD_3

Have read with interest all the problems people have had with this Halifax account. I opened one for my daughter with no problems and duly paid a £100 deposit. I then set up the standing order for the following month, By fluke I had to take some money out of my daughters SAVE4IT account only to notice that the £100 payment for July had been paid into this account and not the regular saver. I contacted my bank to make sure I hadn't had a mad moment when setting up the standing order, I hadn;t. It took quite some time to get Halifax to acknowledge a mistake had been made and correct it. Still not convinced that the next payment will end up in the correct account and the Halifax are still saying the standing order must be wrong when it clearly is not. Would sugget that anyone who has this account checks each monthly payment otherwise the account will be closed before you know it

Maisie

NJD wrote:

Have read with interest all the problems people have had with this Halifax account. I opened one for my daughter with no problems and duly paid a £100 deposit. I then set up the standing order for the following month, By fluke I had to take some money out of my daughters SAVE4IT account only to notice that the £100 payment for July had been paid into this account and not the regular saver. I contacted my bank to make sure I hadn't had a mad moment when setting up the standing order, I hadn;t. It took quite some time to get Halifax to acknowledge a mistake had been made and correct it. Still not convinced that the next payment will end up in the correct account and the Halifax are still saying the standing order must be wrong when it clearly is not. Would sugget that anyone who has this account checks each monthly payment otherwise the account will be closed before you know it

---

How do we check it? I suppose to ring the cs helpline. The Halifax told me that we would get a statement showing payments into the CRS. I don't know when.

I opened 4 of these accounts for the grandkids instead of giving them
pocket money so I could have 4 times the trouble!

The Halifax wouldn't use the save4it account the kids already had so now they have 2 each.

grumbler

Maisie wrote:

How do we check it? I suppose to ring the cs helpline.

Both Children Reg Saver and Save4it accounts can be seen online. I already had Regular Saver and just added new accounts to my 'portfolio'.

krishna

Oh dear! Just opened RSAs for myself and wife and we each opened RSAs for each of our two kids. Things were a mess before we even opened the accounts, but I thought I was through all of that until I read this thread.

Again we had problems getting an appointment to open the accounts at our branch (no suitable appts for two weeks) so went to another one. Of course they still managed to waste my time by telling me "you need to speak to an advisor, because it's not as good a deal as it sounds"

Ha! Now I understand why they have these accounts. It's just to get you in and try and push you into taking out other investment products.

Well, after two hours of appointment just to open the accounts I left with NINE accounts opened:
RSAs for self and wife, plus another joint standard savings account to link them to. (3 accounts)
RSAs for each of the two kids with self as trustee + save4it account (3 accounts)
RSAs for each of the two kids with wife as trustee + save4it account (3 accounts)

I guess I'm going to have to do a lot of checking to make sure these work as they are supposed to!