Another hater of halifax

[Scooby1]

Hello, new to this forum.....

i have had a student account for the last 5 years 2008-2013...I had a £2500 overdraft while being a student and when I left uni I was unable to get a job relating to my degree for 18months. During this time I was working pitiful hours in shops 12-16 hours a week and I also went to apply for job seekers which I was declined due to not paying enough income tax! I was therefore penniless after bills.

To cut a long story short I was bombarded with monthly bank charges all snowballing from an unauthorised OD initially of £10. So eventually I was £2700 overdrawn. I was sent letters from halifax saving I must bring the account to the agreed limit...so I paid it off...the next month I had another charge waiting to be paid again..this went on for two months following....and then my account disappeared from online banking and was closed down with my £2500 OD still pending.

I was told It was passed on to a debt collection agency....I haven't had any letter or calls as yet. I now have a job relating to my degree where I will be earning £21000 pa so I will be able to pay it off quickly. However I have my final pay coming in from my shop job on Tuesday and I'm worried that they do this 'right to offset' joke as I really need this money for the train to get back and forth to my new job.

What I need to know is how likely are they to offset just now and I received absolutely no letters or calls from halifax leading up to them closing my account. When I called they had claimed to have sent me all these letters claiming they were closing it if I never settled the balance of the full overdraft. This is complete lies!

Is it possible to claim back the bank charges and use this to pay off some of my OD? I have had at least £600 of charges in the last 5 years.


any help will be great.

[leclerc]

Re: Another hater of halifax

If the account is still overdrawn and over the limit currently then the money will merely reduce the amount of money owed on the account so say for example, that the account is £2670 OD and the amount that is paid is say £200.00 then the available funds will be £30.00.

The right of Offset would relate to if you had money in another account with the same bank and that the other account is overdrawn.

With regards to the reclaiming of bank charges the answer is that from what you have written I cannot see any case for financial hardship since as you've said you repaid the charges the following month.

With regards to letters being sent then I think you need to be more forthright with them and ask them which address did they send the letters since you did not receive any letters and there was never any phone calls to you(if you had the same phone number when you opened the account).

[Scooby1]

Re: Another hater of halifax

Thanks for you reply.
the account was not in an unauthorised overdraft when it closed..it was at £2500, however I have not heard from this so called DCA yet even though I have repeatedly called but they said its in the process of being transferred and they can't give me the details. With regards to the bank charges. I was getting about £200 a month and that was all going on paying off an unwarranted bank charges....So I was in financial hardship...the rent and bills was often left to my flat mate. As I couldn't afford it. no explanation was given to me as to where these charges stemmed from?

And I do have another basic account with halifax..that I get my small wages paid into it and because I haven't heard from the dca yet I'm worried that they just take my money and put it into my overdraft as I've heard horror stories about that.

[leclerc]

Re: Another hater of halifax

If your flatmate paid then unfortunately that does not mean financial hardship(technically he's loaned you the money rather than you building up rent arrears). If you left the account dormant then that is probably why it was closed and sent or in the process of being sent to a DCA. In the meantime I would set up an account away from Halifax and Lloyds Banking Group because the issue of offsetting monies owed against that overdraft which might mean them swallowing up your first months salary from the new job.

I think you should continue to pay into the account that you have with Halifax even if that is a small amount but write to Halifax and state that you did not receive letters from them but you will not deal with a debt collecting agent and will only deal with them and continue to pay them and them only. State that the failure to inform you of the closing of the account and transfer to a Debt Collection Agency when you have never been given the opportunity to put in place a payment plan is one that you want investigating as a formal complaint.(it might delay things for a while which might give you some leverage ).

[leclerc]

Re: Another hater of halifax

Quote them part 41 of the Lending Code: "But, in all cases, the customer must be given further notice of the intention to disclose the information at least 28 days before the disclosure is made (for example, when a default notice or formal demand is given). At the same time, customers must be given an explanation about how default information registered against them may affect their ability to obtain credit in the future. This notice will mean that customers have 28 days to try to repay or come to some arrangement with the subscriber before default information is passed to the CRA"

when did you first contact them once you could not see the account on online banking?

[Scooby1]

Re: Another hater of halifax

Ok thanks that is helpful. I will contact halifax regarding a complaint as this has really annoyed me giving me no warning. I contacted them as soon as I saw my account was missing from online banking. I went into the branch and phoned.

Ive found it hard to get another bank account...they have obviously reported something to a credit reference agency. I have apples for a co op basic account for the time being however there is also something called an eccount Visa card which I have opened if the co op one isn't opened in time or if I am declined for that one too.

[leclerc]

Re: Another hater of halifax

Ok thanks that is helpful. I will contact halifax regarding a complaint as this has really annoyed me giving me no warning. I contacted them as soon as I saw my account was missing from online banking. I went into the branch and phoned.

Ive found it hard to get another bank account...they have obviously reported something to a credit reference agency. I have apples for a co op basic account for the time being however there is also something called an eccount Visa card which I have opened if the co op one isn't opened in time or if I am declined for that one too.

if you've spoken them then I would argue with them that section 41 applies to you because (a) you received no communication from them and (b) you are not refusing to repay the overdraft and have contacted them at the first opportunity.

I would add that you need to ask them which address were the letters sent to because if you are not receiving post then there could be a reason. I am surprised that they did not close the other basic account as that would have been an obvious thing.

I would email the managing director of the bank and explain the situation mainly because you have effectively been told that they are not bothered and that you have to wait for a debt collecting agent despite their own failings:

davidnicholson@halifax.co.uk