Removal of Interest free facility - your help needed

nigelh1

I wonder if anyone has any advice for me?
I took an interest free credit card out with halifax, purely to buy a car, and to not use for any other reason. My 1st payment went through, however my 2nd payment which should have been made by standing order from the Internet did not go through due to an internet error. When i was notifed of my late payment i contacted the halifax, paid the monied owed, paid the next statement in advance and set up a direct debit. It subsequnetly turned out that they have removed my interest free facility due to the late payment.
Allthough i appreciate they may do this as per the t's and c's, i feel that due to this error, i am being unafirly treated, and the punsihment does not fit the crime. My payment was only 5 days overdue!
I have asked them to review this decsion and i am told i cannot speak to anyone, the call centre has to email another department with my complaint, then they write back to me within 5 days. I have spoke to them twice now, and have been told to expect a letter on 2 occasions, and am getting a brick wall. On Monday i subsequnetly faxed and posted a letter of complaint asking them to call me, and i still have not heard anything, neither a letter or phonecall.

Does anyone have any suggestions or contacts for me to try to get this resolved to my satisfaction, or at least speak to someone who has the authority to potentially reverse the loss of the Intererst free facility?

nigelh1

Unfortunately it was HSBC, and when i spoke to them they just said that if it didnt go through there is no trace with it, perhaps there was a problem with the internet that day! So they couldnt do anything.

As for halifax i have spoken to their call centre twice, and it is obvious that the guys on the 'front line' cant make such descions as that, but i just cant believe that when i ask to speak to someone who can help, i am told i cant. They have to reply in writing! Depsite the fact on the first enquiry call i made to them being told i would get a callback within 4 days!

I disagree with regards to the credit crunch on the flip side, they should be more sympathetic to customers because of this, not make a situation worse for the card holder. I suspect that halifax may still post big profits even if they see it in their hearts to reinstate my intererst free facility, dont you.
After all there is no real reason not to reinstate it apart from greediness and pure petty mindedness.

System

nigelh1 wrote: »

After all there is no real reason not to reinstate it apart from greediness and pure petty mindedness.

and the fact for whatever reason [not their fault] you broke the T&C ! how close to the due date did you attempt to pay ?

nigelh1

I attempted to pay 4 days after receiving my statement, so it was within plenty of time. I then called them on the day i realised that it hadnt been paid after receving a letter from the halifax. Whereupon i paid the owed money, paid in advance for the next bill that i hadnt yet received, and also set up a direct debit. So i feel that allthough yes i did break the t's and c's i also made every effort to recitify the error, and show willing by paying my next due ammount before even the statement had been received by me.

Of course i acknolwedge i broke the terms and conditions, but in these situation you look for help from the organistaions we deal with, not brick walls.

If they continue with their stance, i will have to pay it off, but long term i will cancel my house insurance with them, and never use their products again. So perhaps they should look at the long game rather than the potential short term gain for them.

sjc_2

Be very careful paying the next bill in advance of receiving it as they will see it as a payment for this period and not for next period. So you will still have to make a payment from the next bill, once it has been generated and sent to you. As you'll have defaulted again.

YorkshireBoy

Nigel,

You're making all the right 'noises' with Halifax Card Services, ie setting up a DD now so it doesn't happen again, paying more off, etc. However, you're in their hands now...and you'll do yourself no favours at all by ranting at staff and threatening this, that, and the other. You're going to have to grovel, be apologetic, and hope they show leniency...because they don't have to!

Your problem here is that official complaints can take 8 weeks to resolve (and they often do with Halifax!). Meanwhile you're incurring circa 15.9% interest? You have a choice to make...do you repay, or gamble that you can persuade them to see your side of the situation?

Just on the subject of your payment...what went wrong? You say you sent it 4 days after the statement arrived, but did it ever leave your account? Did it bounce back later? Did it get allocated to someone elses account?

At the end of the day though, if it didn't actually leave your account you probably should have noticed the higher balance remaining sooner?...shouldn't you?