Complaint about Halifax new charges regime, template letters here.

[madnes]

After the FOS knocked by complaint. I emailed the FSA and was advised that the FOS had based the complaint of the new charges on the test case and since my complaint had no relation to the test case the FOS should not had rejected my comlaint on that grounds.

 

Anyway,

I have been using HBOS to my own advantage. I did have a overdraft of £1,000 and used approx £800 of it just before I got paid. I reclaimed PPI from HBOS were I got just over £600.00 back. I paid majority of the overdraft back and have kept it now at £500.00, (£300 with no charges and £200.00 just in case) I got a basic credit card from crapone and place all my bills and food bills on it and repay this in full every month.

 

The £5 reward I place into a savings account each month, over the years will all add up!

 

In all it cost HBOS £450 with my complaint to the Ombudsman, £600.00 PPI reclaimed and £60.00 an year in rewards. In all I am better off and not them!!

[angel_1]

After the FOS knocked by complaint. I emailed the FSA and was advised that the FOS had based the complaint of the new charges on the test case and since my complaint had no relation to the test case the FOS should not had rejected my comlaint on that grounds.

 

Anyway,

 

In all it cost HBOS £450 with my complaint to the Ombudsman, £600.00 PPI reclaimed and £60.00 an year in rewards. In all I am better off and not them!!

 

hiya madnes

 

im wondering the same on mine now as im in the process of not agreeing with their latest letter i guess i need to go to fos too, but was it that you were claiming the ppi that you got that back if im understanding you correctly

 

as i m not claiming ppi but just the charges of the 1.00 a day which now although unemployed this being a joint account partner working, i dont know if i can ask for the account to be reverted back to interest charges which we both agreed when signing up to the account but now wish to clear the overdraft as fast as poss, but the 1.00 charge daily will not help in clearing it faster

 

not really sure if im making sense today i apologise to all

 

i appreciate your views cheeers angel x

[madnes]

hiya madnes

 

im wondering the same on mine now as im in the process of not agreeing with their latest letter i guess i need to go to fos too, but was it that you were claiming the ppi that you got that back if im understanding you correctly

 

as i m not claiming ppi but just the charges of the 1.00 a day which now although unemployed this being a joint account partner working, i dont know if i can ask for the account to be reverted back to interest charges which we both agreed when signing up to the account but now wish to clear the overdraft as fast as poss, but the 1.00 charge daily will not help in clearing it faster

 

not really sure if im making sense today i apologise to all

 

i appreciate your views cheeers angel x

 

My complaint which was forwarded to the FOS was in relation to the £1 a day overdraft charges. The FOS decided my complaint was in relation with the test case and decided not to upheld it.

 

I reclaimed PPI from an old loan I had with Halifax a few yrs ago.

[angel_1]

thanks madnes for your reply

 

i too feel i need to go to fos, for the charges of the daily amount of 1.00 a day, im offering them a monthly amount and want this amount to reduce the overdraft, but with the charges being applied its what i feel unfair to me as a customer that im being charged the daily amount and not the interest previously, also now im unemployed i m investigating as a joint account would this help me with a more reasonable proposal to them, ie to accept a payment plan from me to get this debt cleared,

 

surely now Fos should reopen your complaint and deal with it correctly, i would inform your local mp if they do not and let him her be aware of what you are having to deal with - ive got the interest of one of my local councillors so thats why i think i need to follow the [protocol of what halifax does or does not and then im sure once ive got the final stuff off reply they will of course advise me to go to fos, which i will as i know its costs at least 450 to 500 per complaint to deal with my complaint to the halifax, and then i can inform my local councillor - here you are the full facts what are you going to now do for me, and others like me! Good luck - keep positive

 

well i can dream cant I ? well at least i feel im doing something with my time off

cheers for your interest angel x

Edited March 2, 2010 by angel_1

[madnes]

thanks madnes for your reply

 

i too feel i need to go to fos, for the charges of the daily amount of 1.00 a day, im offering them a monthly amount and want this amount to reduce the overdraft, but with the charges being applied its what i feel unfair to me as a customer that im being charged the daily amount and not the interest previously, also now im unemployed i m investigating as a joint account would this help me with a more reasonable proposal to them, ie to accept a payment plan from me to get this debt cleared,

 

surely now Fos should reopen your complaint and deal with it correctly, i would inform your local mp if they do not and let him her be aware of what you are having to deal with - ive got the interest of one of my local councillors so thats why i think i need to follow the [protocol of what halifax does or does not and then im sure once ive got the final stuff off reply they will of course advise me to go to fos, which i will as i know its costs at least 450 to 500 per complaint to deal with my complaint to the halifax, and then i can inform my local councillor - here you are the full facts what are you going to now do for me, and others like me! Good luck - keep positive

 

well i can dream cant I ? well at least i feel im doing something with my time off

cheers for your interest angel x

 

You could open a basic account with the Natwest and have any money paid to that and offer the Halifax a payment plan and if they refuse offer them a token payment per month via a standing order. Just a thought tho..

 

Luckily enough the £1 charge does not affect me now.

[angel_1]

thanks madness

 

i perhaps now realise i went off on one and didnt explain properley, this is not my main bank account it was some time ago, i just left the overdraft and was already starting to pay it off last year bit by bit but with the new charges regime my point to them is that it will take us longer to clear and we dont agree with the charges regime but we signed up for the interest being added and to help us close the account (which they will not) until the overdraft has been paid off

 

so thus my claim has come about, i want to clear it as fast as i can but we still need to pay our priorty bills unfortunately,

 

but yes i understand your proposols so guess continue with my final letter with our proposals and see what happens with their final reply

 

cheers for looking in angel x

[madnes]

thanks madness

 

i perhaps now realise i went off on one and didnt explain properley, this is not my main bank account it was some time ago, i just left the overdraft and was already starting to pay it off last year bit by bit but with the new charges regime my point to them is that it will take us longer to clear and we dont agree with the charges regime but we signed up for the interest being added and to help us close the account (which they will not) until the overdraft has been paid off

 

so thus my claim has come about, i want to clear it as fast as i can but we still need to pay our priorty bills unfortunately,

 

but yes i understand your proposols so guess continue with my final letter with our proposals and see what happens with their final reply

 

cheers for looking in angel x

 

Just a thought quote things from the Banking code(Now the lending code that they all subscribe to)

 

• Subscribers will deal quickly and sympathetically with things that go wrong and act sympathetically and

positively when considering a customer’s financial difficulties.

 

Rather then deal with 1st line customer service staff email the CEO, will never get to him but the complaint will go to somebody with a little more authority.

CEO e-mail addresses - CEO email address - chief executive officer - managing director - UK GB england

 

I use the above site all the time for dealing with a dispute.

[bobby2010]

I have 3 acc's with hbos, one which holds a healthy overdraft, which when i was earning bigbucks i didnt mind but now after the recession i am not earning big bucks i am constantly in my over draft, also in the over draft of the other 2. id say every month on avg i am now going to be charged about 75 quid instead of before i only paid about 35 in total interest if i was ever in od. but if we went back to the old way with the interest, if we have an unpaid item or a returned cheque etc they will also go back to charging us the 35.00 or would they?

 

one account i was up to my overdraft limit so i was paying a pound a day i had a direct debit due which i didnt have sufficient funds to cover so the bank went ahead and paid this which caused my account to go over arranged overdraft limt uncurring me a 5 pound a day charge i was fuming who decides whether to let money thats not even there leave my acc, after i phoned the bank to ask them, they said the bank make the decision based on if there is a chance i could get into trouble for not paying it and it was a broadband dd.

 

so should i be chalenging the bank on this change? i cant make up my mind its for the better or the worse?

[madnes]

Halifax did make me laugh just before they announced the new charges they increased my guaranteed overdraft limit from £1,000 to £2,500. When I queried this a coincidence there response was from time to time we may review our lending criteria to customers. After the new charges came into place they reduced my guarantee to £500.

[stacywoodhouse]

I have 3 acc's with hbos, one which holds a healthy overdraft, which when i was earning bigbucks i didnt mind but now after the recession i am not earning big bucks i am constantly in my over draft, also in the over draft of the other 2. id say every month on avg i am now going to be charged about 75 quid instead of before i only paid about 35 in total interest if i was ever in od. but if we went back to the old way with the interest, if we have an unpaid item or a returned cheque etc they will also go back to charging us the 35.00 or would they?

 

one account i was up to my overdraft limit so i was paying a pound a day i had a direct debit due which i didnt have sufficient funds to cover so the bank went ahead and paid this which caused my account to go over arranged overdraft limt uncurring me a 5 pound a day charge i was fuming who decides whether to let money thats not even there leave my acc, after i phoned the bank to ask them, they said the bank make the decision based on if there is a chance i could get into trouble for not paying it and it was a broadband dd.

 

so should i be chalenging the bank on this change? i cant make up my mind its for the better or the worse?

 

So halifax are in to running are lives now are they? just reduced my OD down to £300 for the ultimate reward account, had to sell my dj-ing gear to do it but id rather cut my bollocks off than give the cheeky ****ers extra money.

[ravenbluemoon]

Here's a alternative thought about how to help scupper their fees/charges/scams:

 

If you go overdrawn say on a Friday evening, they'll charge you for the Friday. However, try and put some money into the account to bring it into the black. You can't as it's now the weekend. Therefore you are trapped into paying another £10 because you're over on Saturday and Sunday! Anything you put in on the Friday evening won't count until Monday but you are still being charged....

 

I'm thinking this is even more unfair as you have been trapped into being overdrawn over the weekend, so having to pay two days unneccisarily. So in my opinion if they insist on this new charging regime, strictly speaking they shouldn't charge you for "non banking days"????

 

Perhaps there is a little something for those with a legal head on?? Any ideas on how we can use this, as in my book, this is entrapment.

[angel_1]

hiya

 

like ravenbluemoon, that is a thought if you are constantly in the overdraft as i am as its not my main bank it was an overdraft id started by reducing with monthly payments since middle of last year and now im trapped even further as my payments go 70% towards the monthly fees and thus im reducing my balance even more slow than a snails pace!

 

im now thinking about the weekend days they are not banking days and thus im paying 1 pound a day as i cannot credit the account with any large amounts to avoid the charges in the first place but surely i wonder if we can challenge the weekend days in some way at least thats 8 or 10 pounds a month towards my debt

 

i would like any legal argument or wording that could help in putting this accross what do you all think?

 

cheers catch up laters angel x

[ravenbluemoon]

I'm not sure Angel, as I've not really got a head for the legal stuff, but like you say, I'm sure it's a valid argument for getting back 2/7 of the charges - which is better than a kick in the teeth.

 

I need to do some thinking about it over the weekend, I'm sure that it falls under some kind of "unfairness" test....

 

Over to the experts!

[madnes]

I have now reduced my overdraft to £300 which is within the "Ultimate Reward" interest fee amount. I have secured a new account with Natwest and a credit card. Very soon I will be waving good by to HBOS. I have not paid a bank charge in years so doubt I will pay any with Natwest. HBOS have allowed greed to take over in my view they only have themselves to blame.

[angel_1]

hiya all

 

does any of the legal guys and gals have any views on the weekend days, it does not allow anyone to decrease their daily overdraft fee as it stops anyone actually crediting their account over these two days, or is that a flimsy attempt on my part

 

anyway appreciate any info anyone wishes to share

 

laters all angel x

[ravenbluemoon]

Hi Angel, I wish I could find a "tumbleweed" icon to put here, but I can't....

 

Surely there's someone out there with an idea of whether or not the weekend charges are worth chasing!?!

[Bigdebtor]

I think your argument is totally logical - but when did either truth or logic hold any sway in our courts? However it might be worth rattling the FOS's cage on this - at least it will cost the Bank about £450 to have it looked at!

 

This ploy might work better if you were to clear the overdraft 1st thing on Monday morning (or say Tuesday 6 April - after the Easter Bank Holiday) and demand a refund for those days that the Bank deliberately prevented you (by having the temerity to be shut) from paying this back earlier.

 

BTW - does anyone know if you what happens if you make an electronic payment from another account at say 17:01 on the Friday - does this go in before midnight Friday - thus avoiding the charge - or just at 09:00 on the next business day?

 

BD

[ravenbluemoon]

This ploy might work better if you were to clear the overdraft 1st thing on Monday morning (or say Tuesday 6 April - after the Easter Bank Holiday) and demand a refund for those days that the Bank deliberately prevented you (by having the temerity to be shut) from paying this back earlier.

That might be an idea, I may (just) have enough to do this by then, but there'll be another months worth of charges going on the account at the end of the month, so could get tricky...

[angel_1]

hiya all

 

been away as got a virus on my pc and now have a lovely new pc to work from it s fab

 

anyway im going to include this type of questioning in my last letter to them and if i dont get a decent reply back within 7 days im off to the fos, like you say it will cost them 450 to investigate and as im including letters to mps too, i m out to rattle a few more cages along the way too who is going to look at this seriously for us all since we now have an election looming8)

 

will check in later angel x

[madnes]

Anyone else noted they never seem to pay the £5.00 reward into the accounts on time!

[Bigdebtor]

Send them a letter charging them £39 for each "late payment" as per your own unilaterally set up T&C's! Their reply will be interesting!!!

 

Perhaps they'll think £39 is an unfair charge - or they might pay it as it's just as fair as their charges and send the money via air mail on one of their flying pigs!

 

BD

[Leeq1]

Hi All,

 

Not sure if this is the right area to speak about this or get the right advice!

But my story is this:

 

I have 2 accounts with Halifax.

 

I stopped using them and forgot to pay in something every month to maintain the account.

Due to this and due to being in my over draft i was fined.

Been trying to pay back into both accounts over the last few months to try and bring the balance back but every month i get charges that put me over despite not using the account for anything.

 

now the last month or so i had no money to balance the account back into the overdraft limit.

 

so it went over and i got a letter from halifax debt department asking me why is my account over and to give them a call.

 

account one has an overdraft of £250 and was -£400 (this account has a £12.50 amonth fee to keep bank charges down too a £1.00 fee)

account two has an overdraft of £100 and was -£250

 

I called the debt dept and they have put both accounts on hold for 10 days so no more fees are incurred.

in this time i have to contact national debt line about it.

 

much worried and axious so any help would be appreciated.

[patrickq1]

in the intrest of fairness that banks are supposed to operate you have been mugged...send a complaint to the OFT FSA AND i would write a very polite letter to head office and explain that you feel you have been deliberately cheated by the bank and it is very unfair and you are furthering your complaint to the said offices oft fsa fso ...

you can ask them now to consider reducing the charges and suspend all intrest payments until you can clear the account

patrickq1

[Guest malissa7999]

Hi,

Anyone had any success in gaining exemption from this £1 per day fee ? I was in touch with the collections dept over my account, and i was told i had to go into the branch and fill out an exemption form,which is then looked at on a case by case basis. Then the stupid person told me that it was highly unlikely i would be granted exemption!! when i asked him on what basis he formed his opinion he said it was his knowledge that very few were granted exemption!

interested to hear about anyones success ?

[madnes]

No. And the FOS are poweless as it comes down to the banks policy and T&C's. Luckily enough I claimed back PPI from Halifax. Which cleared my overdraft. I now stick within my £300 limit and will be switching early next year.