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HALIFAX are trying to ruin my life
LouiseBentley
Posts: 1 Newbie
in Credit cards
So I have a lot to be angry at HALIFAX for, a complaint letter I have just sent them is below. I have sent this to the Halifax, The financial ombudsmen (because I no longer have any faith that they will do what they say they will) and am proceeding to post anywhere I can find that is suitable on the internet. I want EVERYONE to know exactly who there are dealing with when they sign on that dotted line. They've certainly given me extra...EXTRA hassle, EXTRA stress, EXTRA worry. Please comment below I would welcome any thought on this matter. Many thanks, Lou x
08/03/08
Dear Sir/Madam,
I have been a Halifax customer for around 12 years. I am writing this letter as I require some investigation into dealings that I’ve recently had with your bank across several departments.
I am a single parent working full time and although my circumstances have recently caused me to fall behind with my repayments for my Halifax Visa (and many other services) my first concern is to keep going and most importantly stay in work. I have attempted to stay in direct communication with the Halifax to make you aware of my circumstances at all times.
During January and February I was made aware that my Visa account was nearing the default stage and that shortly my account would be transferred to a collection agency. I spent a great deal of time thinking about the best resolution and after speaking to a particularly honest advisor in collections I discussed my options and agreed that I would let the account move over to the external agency because it meant that the interest and other added charges would then stop. Giving me a more realistic chance of paying off something toward the ever increasing balance. I waited to receive a letter advising that this had happened.
On 18th February my Working Tax Credits (used to pay for my childcare and keep me in work) were paid into my Halifax account ref above, shortly after Halifax Visa removed aprox £450 from my cardcash account to satisfy my arrears. I called the collections department to find out why this had happened and was told that it was in my terms and conditions and that I should have read them more carefully. I asked then does this mean that my account won’t be transferring to the external agency, and was told no that my debt would stay with the Halifax for a further 6 months and charges and Interest would continue to be added.
Unable to pay my childminder and fearing that I would lose my job if I could not secure childcare I went into the branch nearest my place of work the XX XX Branch in Leeds. I spoke with the manager thereXXX XXXXX who spent aprox 1.5 hours on the phone to the collections dept. I produced my bill for childminding costs and it was agreed that money would be transferred back into my cardcash account. I was however forced to set up a payment arrangement in order for this to happen. I agreed to pay £20 per month towards my repayments as this is all I can practicably afford. Within 48 hours the money was back in my cardcash account and I was able to transfer the money across to my childminder, you will see from my statement that this was done on the 23rd February. I was promised that now I had set up the payment plan, no more monies would be extracted from my account without my knowledge. I was very unhappy that my debt would remain with the Halifax but felt that I had been trapped into the action with no recourse.
On the 29th February my salary was paid into my account, on the 4th March Halifax Visa again removed £430.00 from my account. This time leaving my balance at ZERO. I was absolutely distraught that this should have happened again despite spending almost two hours in the branch and being promised that I was covered as I had my repayment plan. On Tuesday 4th February I went back into the XX XX Branch again to speak with manager XXX XXXX. XXXX again called the credit card/Collections department and after another lengthy conversation it was agreed that yes I had set up a plan, the money should not have been removed. But that because my account had moved from Halifax to one of its collections departments the plan had been suspended. Something that I as a customer could never have known. I was told by XXXXX that £370.00 of the money removed would be put back in my account within 48 hours, the remaining £60.00 would be held until I produced documents showing what bills I had to pay, in particular my Rent arrears. I thanked XXXXX and called my Housing office to request a rent statement. I had agreed that as soon as I had the documentation I would call into the branch and XXXX would fax the information over. I then waited patiently for the money to hit my account again.
On Thursday 6th February, when no money was in my account still I called the number on my Visa Card when I got in from work and was told that they could see no notes about the matter and that I would have to call back during working hours. I told the adviser that I work in a callcentre and cannot call during working hours, as I didn’t have the funds to pay my landline or mobile telephone I couldn’t even call back during my lunchbreak, I asked if someone could call me back, even just to leave a message. The advisor said yes she would call me back the following day between 12-12.15.
When I didn’t receive a call I had to go to my manager during my lunch hour and ask to borrow a phone so that I could call them. I spoke to another advisor called XXX who told me that despite what I’d been told by XXXXX the Manager in the XX XX Branch no monies were to be refunded to me until I produced documentation in full for my rent or council tax arrears. At this point I was left completely helpless. This was a Friday afternoon, I was at work until 6pm, unable to take any more time out of work to go home and get the documentation. No one at the Halifax was willing to account for the fact that I had been misadvised. I can promise you that had I been told that I needed to produce the documentation for the full amount I would’ve done so immediately, it’s not my idea of fun spending a FULL WEEK with no funds whatsoever in my account. I tried then to get hold of XXXXX, phoning my local branch to be told that she had moved branches, I called the Leeds XX Branch- where she is now working and was given her email address, I emailed XXX and asked if she could contact me and explain exactly what I was supposed to do and why she had misadvised me. I received NO contact from XXX.
When I got home I again borrowed a mobile phone from a neighbour and spent another long period speaking with the collections department who gave me finally the fax details for where I needed to send my documentation. Unfortunately though they work Monday to Friday so there is absolutely no chance of my having any money over this weekend. This morning I am visiting my local branch to hand over this letter and to ask them to fax the department even though nothing will happen for probably another week.
***
There are a number of points here where I feel that I have been completely abused as one of your customers but the most frustrating factor is the lack of communication between departments. I still have absolutely no idea to whom I now owe my debt, I am receiving letters from Blair Oliver & Scott who I presume are the external agency but I am unable to fathom how an external agency has access to my bank account. Each and every time I call in to try and clarify matter I am told that it’s the last departments fault that it’s due to internal processes ect ect. I as a customer cannot be expected to understand your internal or back offices procedures. I do not feel it’s good enough when I am calling the Halifax with serious concerns to be told it’s not us that did that, or it’s because it’s changed systems. Or You’ll have to take that up with someone else. Whichever department I happen to be speaking to I believe I am talking to the HALIFAX?
I work in customer service and at the heart of my role I believe that every customer whether they belong to my personal department or not are still customers of the company as a whole, and all should be treated with the same amount of care and respect.
I am certain that had I had a debt counselling charity working on my behalf there is no way that such large amounts of money would have been extracted from my account without my knowledge, I am also certain that you would not have been able to leave me with a ZERO balance. This brings me to believe that you are preying on vulnerable customers who are simply trying to make the best of a bad situation. I am now speaking with a debt counselling service who has confirmed that with the amount of money that I owe and to such numerous creditors, I must concentrate in the short term in satisfying my priority debts. These are Housing rents, Council tax, utilities such as Gas and electricity and childminding costs.
They will be in touch with you shortly but should you require any information in the meantime perhaps it will satisfy you to know that besides the £3,664.48 I owe the Halifax, I also owe aprox £700 in housing arrears, £600 in combined utilities’, £3,500 to Egg Visa, £600 to Smile for overdraft facilities, £500 to a family member for a loan, a further £9,500 on a joint loan with my ex husband. (Who by the way left me and my daughter homeless recently causing the debt on my VISA) Then of course there are various living costs, I do need to eat throughout the month, travel to work, pay other bills for TV Licence, Water, Phone bills ect. I have a four year old daughter that I need to also feed, Clothe and pay £500+ childcare costs per month for. I receive £1,086 per month in salary. If you can write back to me and justify how I can afford to have £400+ paid directly to you each month and also keep up all other repayments, and live without starving to death then you can gladly have the money. I do not dispute that I owe you money, I am more than aware of this but you must understand that it is not acceptable to simply remove large sums and expect me to be able to cope with this.
I am extremely angry with the shocking service I have received at every angle from the Halifax and I will push to have this complaint raised to the highest level.
Louise Bentley.
***************************
Watch this space for details of them coming round my gaff and lounging on my sofa, they might as well, they rule my life.
08/03/08
Dear Sir/Madam,
I have been a Halifax customer for around 12 years. I am writing this letter as I require some investigation into dealings that I’ve recently had with your bank across several departments.
I am a single parent working full time and although my circumstances have recently caused me to fall behind with my repayments for my Halifax Visa (and many other services) my first concern is to keep going and most importantly stay in work. I have attempted to stay in direct communication with the Halifax to make you aware of my circumstances at all times.
During January and February I was made aware that my Visa account was nearing the default stage and that shortly my account would be transferred to a collection agency. I spent a great deal of time thinking about the best resolution and after speaking to a particularly honest advisor in collections I discussed my options and agreed that I would let the account move over to the external agency because it meant that the interest and other added charges would then stop. Giving me a more realistic chance of paying off something toward the ever increasing balance. I waited to receive a letter advising that this had happened.
On 18th February my Working Tax Credits (used to pay for my childcare and keep me in work) were paid into my Halifax account ref above, shortly after Halifax Visa removed aprox £450 from my cardcash account to satisfy my arrears. I called the collections department to find out why this had happened and was told that it was in my terms and conditions and that I should have read them more carefully. I asked then does this mean that my account won’t be transferring to the external agency, and was told no that my debt would stay with the Halifax for a further 6 months and charges and Interest would continue to be added.
Unable to pay my childminder and fearing that I would lose my job if I could not secure childcare I went into the branch nearest my place of work the XX XX Branch in Leeds. I spoke with the manager thereXXX XXXXX who spent aprox 1.5 hours on the phone to the collections dept. I produced my bill for childminding costs and it was agreed that money would be transferred back into my cardcash account. I was however forced to set up a payment arrangement in order for this to happen. I agreed to pay £20 per month towards my repayments as this is all I can practicably afford. Within 48 hours the money was back in my cardcash account and I was able to transfer the money across to my childminder, you will see from my statement that this was done on the 23rd February. I was promised that now I had set up the payment plan, no more monies would be extracted from my account without my knowledge. I was very unhappy that my debt would remain with the Halifax but felt that I had been trapped into the action with no recourse.
On the 29th February my salary was paid into my account, on the 4th March Halifax Visa again removed £430.00 from my account. This time leaving my balance at ZERO. I was absolutely distraught that this should have happened again despite spending almost two hours in the branch and being promised that I was covered as I had my repayment plan. On Tuesday 4th February I went back into the XX XX Branch again to speak with manager XXX XXXX. XXXX again called the credit card/Collections department and after another lengthy conversation it was agreed that yes I had set up a plan, the money should not have been removed. But that because my account had moved from Halifax to one of its collections departments the plan had been suspended. Something that I as a customer could never have known. I was told by XXXXX that £370.00 of the money removed would be put back in my account within 48 hours, the remaining £60.00 would be held until I produced documents showing what bills I had to pay, in particular my Rent arrears. I thanked XXXXX and called my Housing office to request a rent statement. I had agreed that as soon as I had the documentation I would call into the branch and XXXX would fax the information over. I then waited patiently for the money to hit my account again.
On Thursday 6th February, when no money was in my account still I called the number on my Visa Card when I got in from work and was told that they could see no notes about the matter and that I would have to call back during working hours. I told the adviser that I work in a callcentre and cannot call during working hours, as I didn’t have the funds to pay my landline or mobile telephone I couldn’t even call back during my lunchbreak, I asked if someone could call me back, even just to leave a message. The advisor said yes she would call me back the following day between 12-12.15.
When I didn’t receive a call I had to go to my manager during my lunch hour and ask to borrow a phone so that I could call them. I spoke to another advisor called XXX who told me that despite what I’d been told by XXXXX the Manager in the XX XX Branch no monies were to be refunded to me until I produced documentation in full for my rent or council tax arrears. At this point I was left completely helpless. This was a Friday afternoon, I was at work until 6pm, unable to take any more time out of work to go home and get the documentation. No one at the Halifax was willing to account for the fact that I had been misadvised. I can promise you that had I been told that I needed to produce the documentation for the full amount I would’ve done so immediately, it’s not my idea of fun spending a FULL WEEK with no funds whatsoever in my account. I tried then to get hold of XXXXX, phoning my local branch to be told that she had moved branches, I called the Leeds XX Branch- where she is now working and was given her email address, I emailed XXX and asked if she could contact me and explain exactly what I was supposed to do and why she had misadvised me. I received NO contact from XXX.
When I got home I again borrowed a mobile phone from a neighbour and spent another long period speaking with the collections department who gave me finally the fax details for where I needed to send my documentation. Unfortunately though they work Monday to Friday so there is absolutely no chance of my having any money over this weekend. This morning I am visiting my local branch to hand over this letter and to ask them to fax the department even though nothing will happen for probably another week.
***
There are a number of points here where I feel that I have been completely abused as one of your customers but the most frustrating factor is the lack of communication between departments. I still have absolutely no idea to whom I now owe my debt, I am receiving letters from Blair Oliver & Scott who I presume are the external agency but I am unable to fathom how an external agency has access to my bank account. Each and every time I call in to try and clarify matter I am told that it’s the last departments fault that it’s due to internal processes ect ect. I as a customer cannot be expected to understand your internal or back offices procedures. I do not feel it’s good enough when I am calling the Halifax with serious concerns to be told it’s not us that did that, or it’s because it’s changed systems. Or You’ll have to take that up with someone else. Whichever department I happen to be speaking to I believe I am talking to the HALIFAX?
I work in customer service and at the heart of my role I believe that every customer whether they belong to my personal department or not are still customers of the company as a whole, and all should be treated with the same amount of care and respect.
I am certain that had I had a debt counselling charity working on my behalf there is no way that such large amounts of money would have been extracted from my account without my knowledge, I am also certain that you would not have been able to leave me with a ZERO balance. This brings me to believe that you are preying on vulnerable customers who are simply trying to make the best of a bad situation. I am now speaking with a debt counselling service who has confirmed that with the amount of money that I owe and to such numerous creditors, I must concentrate in the short term in satisfying my priority debts. These are Housing rents, Council tax, utilities such as Gas and electricity and childminding costs.
They will be in touch with you shortly but should you require any information in the meantime perhaps it will satisfy you to know that besides the £3,664.48 I owe the Halifax, I also owe aprox £700 in housing arrears, £600 in combined utilities’, £3,500 to Egg Visa, £600 to Smile for overdraft facilities, £500 to a family member for a loan, a further £9,500 on a joint loan with my ex husband. (Who by the way left me and my daughter homeless recently causing the debt on my VISA) Then of course there are various living costs, I do need to eat throughout the month, travel to work, pay other bills for TV Licence, Water, Phone bills ect. I have a four year old daughter that I need to also feed, Clothe and pay £500+ childcare costs per month for. I receive £1,086 per month in salary. If you can write back to me and justify how I can afford to have £400+ paid directly to you each month and also keep up all other repayments, and live without starving to death then you can gladly have the money. I do not dispute that I owe you money, I am more than aware of this but you must understand that it is not acceptable to simply remove large sums and expect me to be able to cope with this.
I am extremely angry with the shocking service I have received at every angle from the Halifax and I will push to have this complaint raised to the highest level.
Louise Bentley.
***************************
Watch this space for details of them coming round my gaff and lounging on my sofa, they might as well, they rule my life.
0
Comments
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Louise, you have my sympathies. The Halifax are atrocious to deal with and their customer services non-existant. The biggest problem I have encountered with HBoS is that the various departments do not communicate with each other. I had a £4000 offer to settle my charges claim from them, accepted it and they said they would pay me by the end of the week. The day before I received the cash in my account, the cheekiest little !!!! known to man, phoned me from their Collections Dept to tell me that he did not believe me when I said that the £4K payment would be made the following day and was chasing me for a £6 overdraft!
Send your correspondence to the Office of the Chief Exec at their Trinity Road address and it will be sent to the correct department. Anytime I have contacted the CExec's Office, the response has usually been swift and favourable. Customer Services, however, must be the most inaccurately named dept in any organisation.
I am will be taking HBoS to court in the next month over mis-sold PPI and I will reslish every single minute of it.Almost debt-free, but certainly even with the Banks!0 -
you have of course opened a new bank account with a bank to which you owe no debt.
And have arranged for all your income to go into it.0 -
The letter is too long - and doesn't have enough paragraphs - making it a headache inducing block of text.
If I received that letter it would go straight in the bin.
I would advise simplifying it on your main concerns.0 -
agree...they have very bad services. but it looks like u r really unfortunate. what action u plan to take against them? im sure there are many ppl here at mse will be glad to give u suggestions.0
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I guess if you had your bank account and credit card with halifax they can take any outstanding debt from you to try and regain there money.
I think the whole credit card thing is nasty, people who cant or shouldn't be allowed to borrow are allows to
. Now this lady has alot of stress to deal with.
Also i tried reading the text but it was too 'clumped' hurts my eyes.0 -
Lou welcome to MSE, have you spotted the Debt free wannabe part of the forum?
If you post your statement of affairs over there I know you will get a lot of support.
As Clapton says make sure you open a new account for your income or Halifax will take your money everytime.0 -
Hi Louise
First of all, open a bank account with another bank and get everything paid into that account. Halifax will continue to take money out of your account, because they are allowed to do that.
I haven't dealt with them, but I have dealt with RBoS, who are the same company, and their customer service is awful. One person tells you one thing, and the next tells you something totally different.:mad:
I would write to them, get a response, then they would deny ever receiving my letter!!!!
Blair Oliver and scott are part of their organisation. One phone call to them ,an arrangement was set up, and things have been plodding along nicely. They are getting their money, and I have sufficient to pay my basic living expenses.
I hope you get on okay!!0 -
I haven't dealt with them, but I have dealt with RBoS, who are the same company, and their customer service is awful.
Hi,
Just want to say that Halifax & RBoS (Royal Bank of Scotland) are completely separate companies. Halifax are part of the HBoS group which primarily consists of Halifax & BoS (Bank of Scotland).
Easy mistake to make.:)0 -
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I certainly agree that a new bank account with a different provider is essential, BUT it might not be too easy to be accepted for one.
Having said that, all the best of luck.0
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