Halifax want permission to speak to CAB on my behalf?!

fuzzipeg

Not sure where to post this, as we're not even sure this concerns a debt. Mods, can you please move this is you find somewhere better for it to go?

OH got a letter yesterday from Halifax containing the line "We are keen to deal with your concerns as quickly as possible, and would be grateful if you could send a written copy of authority, so we can deal with the Citizens (sic) Advice Bureau on your behalf."

Basically, we shut his account there last August and they've suddenly been 'phoning his mum (who lives at his old address) so we wrote to them to ask them to stop immediately. Then we got the above.

Does anyone actually fall for this trick? Surely the CAB is for CITIZENS rather than large profit-guzzling multi-national banks? Or is there something I'm missing?

I've responded:

Dear Sir/Madam,
I received your letter today requesting that I write giving you authorisation to deal with the Citizens' Advice Bureau on my behalf. I categorically decline to give this authorisation as you have not explained why this is necessary, or desirable.
I look forward to your Customer Care Manager contacting me to discuss the points raised in my previous letter, as promised in your letter dated XXX (ref: XXX).

However, I am still unclear as to why I may need to contact the CAB, or why the Halifax persist in calling my mother (which, incidentally, by now, is in breach of the Data Protection Act 1998), or why you refer to my legitimate request to cease this contact as a complaint. I enclose for your immediate reference (though you will, no doubt, have copies on file) my previous correspondence on the matter.

I would also request immediate clarification as to what your letter dated XXX (ref: XXX) is referring. In summary, I closed my account with you in August 2007. My mother has recently received numerous telephone calls to an address which has not been registered as mine for more than a year. I asked by letter (dated XXX) for you to stop this. I have received a letter asking me to authorise you to contact the Citizens' Advice Bureau on my behalf. I have declined this request. I enclose copies of previous correspondence for your immediate consideration.
I look forward to a swift resolution to this inconvenience.

SarahNeedle1872

Bump - any ideas anyone?

pania

are you currently dealing with CAB yourself? was there an outstanding balance on the account when you closed it?
May be a misunderstanding? Possibly visit your branch manager and get their reasons why this is going on?

fuzzipeg

No, we're not dealing with the CAB at all.

I think OH had about a tenner in there when he closed it, but we asked for a cheque or a bank transfer to the new account. To be honest, we moved house six weeks later, and I can't see that we ever got the payment/cheque and didn't think to chase them to update the records, as in our minds, the account was closed.