Halifax Default notice. HELP Needed,

Tila_2

Guy's need help with the below matter. I will try and keep it simple.

I had a Halifax Overdraft for £3200 for many years. Last October my card was cloned and the branch agreed to temporarily increase my OD by £300 for a month while they investigate the credit the cloned amount.

But, after that month they have decrease my OD to £0 saying thats how their system worked and would not put it back to £3200 even though they renewed it for another year only a month prior to that.

Further more I instructed a notice of appropriation for a couple of bills out of some funds I was receiving which they ignored. I have a complained about both these to which they have not had satisfactory response and have complained to the OFT who are dealing (but they are busy so no action yet).
They have also charged me lots of charges as a result and now they want £3631 and TODAY served me with a default notice.....

Can any one please advise me what to do, I want to 1st wait for OFT decision on the matter but also for them to Freeze charges, intreats etc while the OFT gets back to me.

Your help will be much appreciated.

T

kel123_2

I've had a similar experience, HBOS seem to be able to do what they want, If they do freeze interest and charges they will put them back on and back date to when they started the freeze.

Not one of the best companys in my opinion

m.colak

Tila wrote: »

Guy's need help with the below matter. I will try and keep it simple.

I had a Halifax Overdraft for £3200 for many years. Last October my card was cloned and the branch agreed to temporarily increase my OD by £300 for a month while they investigate the credit the cloned amount.

But, after that month they have decrease my OD to £0 saying thats how their system worked and would not put it back to £3200 even though they renewed it for another year only a month prior to that.

Further more I instructed a notice of appropriation for a couple of bills out of some funds I was receiving which they ignored. I have a complained about both these to which they have not had satisfactory response and have complained to the OFT who are dealing (but they are busy so no action yet).
They have also charged me lots of charges as a result and now they want £3631 and TODAY served me with a default notice.....

Can any one please advise me what to do, I want to 1st wait for OFT decision on the matter but also for them to Freeze charges, intreats etc while the OFT gets back to me.

Your help will be much appreciated.

T

From what i've heard this is unfair business practice. Had they froze the account whilst they were investigating as that should normally be the procedure. If not then thats a breach for a start. Second did you still use the account since the clone occurred?. Them asking for documentation which doesn't pertain to the case was possibly they trying to confirm your identy by matching payments/deposits to your account however they should have made this clear, and a refusal on your point might have indicated no compliance or implied guilt (not saying you were either). At which point they should have sent you another letter saying about the withdrawal of a product or service giving you plenty of time to sort out other arrangements (they tend not to do this and this comes under unfair terms and conditions where they reserve the right to remove products/services at their discretion without prior notification). I would attempt to go into the branch and reason with them. Failing that and getting no joy i would ask for a copy of the results of the investigation pertaining to the cloning (if you haven't received it they couldn't of acted without it.) With all this evidence or lack of such this is how you build your case against them. As for the interest and charges these will be revoked by the FOS when they review your case.

You can get the default overturned if you act quick enough and that is the point. If however you feel that you need to go to the FOS to resolve this case then the FOS have the ability to force Halifax to remove the default notice of the account.

Tila_2

Thanks,

They had not frozen the account while investigating. But they did repay the cloned money about a mont later.

How ever the problem arised straight after as they reduced my OD to £0.

Should I write to them with regards to this default letter? If so what should I say?

Thanks Again

m.colak

Tila wrote: »

Thanks,

They had not frozen the account while investigating. But they did repay the cloned money about a mont later.

How ever the problem arised straight after as they reduced my OD to £0.

Should I write to them with regards to this default letter? If so what should I say?

Thanks Again

Ok first of all did they tell you they were reducing the OD before they did so if not then they didn't give you a period of notice and if this is the case and they refer to their conditions then you need to quote about unfair terms and conditions. The long and short of it is time dependant. If you have done nothing to attempt to rectify the situation and this occurred several months ago then at the point of them reducing your OD was when you needed to complain. If its a matter of weeks then you need to contact the FOS immediately as its going to affect you credit rating otherwise until this is sorted. I would point out to them that you have neither been in breach of the OD limit and therefore can't see why they have removed the service from you. If they say its because they have reviewed your account and deem that you have broken the contract and therefore forfeitted the service then again contact the FOS. They could have told you that they were going to reduce you OD over a period to make it easier for you to pay however it seems that they aren't going to do this.

So:

1. Contact the bank and ask for the reason of the loss of the product try and negotiate reinstatement or only a slight reduction of overdraft over a period. If they refuse then:
2. Contact the FOS and raise a complaint under the unfair terms and conditions and then phone the bank let them know that you've raised the complaint but don't get into a protracted debate over the phone. Tell them if they don't reinstate then you won't remove the complaint. Send them a copy of the complaint.
3. Reply to the default notice saying what the current situation and any phone calls correspondance that you have had and let them know that the case is now with the FOS.
4. Well we'll cross that bridge later.

Tila_2

Thanks V much I shall do that (well kind of done that already)

Cheers