Would Anyone Know The Answer Please

[Baxter]

Re: Would Anyone Know The Answer Please

Hi all,
well the robbingfax have just charged me twice again at £39 and im hopping mad, ive called them up complaining and recieved a very get lost you had your money back in jan and your getting no more refunds, only, ive just discovered that my halifax account is the account where my benefits, and only my benefits are paid into, so all the charges they have taken are my little boys DLA, his carers allowance, our WFTC, our childs tax credit and my child benefit. ive been putting together a letter for a couple of days and im tempted to include in my "give me my money back letter" a copy of the Theft Amendment Act 1996:devil:..B

[Amy]

Re: Would Anyone Know The Answer Please

Don't pay any attention to what someone in a Call Centre says about already having your money back, they are wrong, as explained above.

Just reclaim the money in the usual way, but yes I would point out in the letters that this account is used for benefits.

[Baxter]

Re: Would Anyone Know The Answer Please

Hi all, another row with the robbingfax, mortgage due out on the 20th of the month which was a saturday, so checked my balance and was around £50 short for my DD, went into my local branch which was empty after collecting my kids from school, handed over my card and £120 and asked for it to be credited to my account, sorry said the cashier I cant accept your credit over the counter you have to deposit into the envelopes provided (pointing in the direction) and put it in the box, why said I, I need this cash in my account today, sorry but i not allowed to take it, you only have a simple account and you have to use the box, so went and started filing in my account details etc when I noticed it stated on the back of the envelope that any transactions processed after 4pm will be credited on the next working day, it was 20 to 4 so went back to the cashier and asked what time the box would be opened as I needed the cash in my account today, she did not know, so again I attempted to pay in over the counter, she again said she was not allowed to accept the payment, why I asked, because its a simle account and it keeps the queues down, looked around and said "there are no queues" only me and I want this money in my account today otherwise I will incurr a penalty charge, just then a guy came from behind her and said he had just emptied the box and he took my "envelope", thank you said I through gritted teeth, I was seething but walked out calmly.
next afternoon looked at my emails and low and behold 1 letter from the halifax, informing me that due to insufficient funds they returned my mortgage payment and charged me £35.
called their call centre and spoke to some smart arse little twit who thought he was above me informing me that the abbey called the DD at 5 30 am and at that time I had insufficient funds, yes I said but at 20 to 4 I deposited £120 to cover al DD that day as Ive done many times in the past, Ive paid in as late as 5 to 5pm and you've paid, as long as its in at the close of the banking day, well not any more we dont I was told, you should have had enough cleared funds in your account on Friday 18th, I very nearly lost the plot by this time and told the small person that I was not paying any £35 because they changed the rules, you wil lbe charged he said, in line with the T&C of your account, and Im not getting into an arguement with you dont know how i managed to stop myself from telling the litle b*****d to F off, but kept calm and told him, "Ive no intention of entering into any arguement with any trumped up call centre worker with a bad attitude, so Im going to tell you what Im going to do said I, Im going to write a letter of complaint to the financial ombudsman about the way which you treat your customers, and I will get my money back, he tried to say something but I stopped him by saying "I havent finished yet" your bank are stealing my benefit money, and this is not the 1st time, it will cost your bank £400 for the financial ombudsman ito investigate my complaint and your bank miss sold me PPI when I had a halifax CC knowing I was self employed, I was prepared to let this go but because of your attitude and you bank making me feel second class, im also going to complain to the financial ombudsman about this also, so another cost of £400 to your bank and then hung up, received my first reply today from the ombudsman stating that due to the high volume of complaints, my complaint wil be investigated but could not give a date, just waiting for my 2nd letter and just closed my account with them. B

[TANZARELLI]

Re: Would Anyone Know The Answer Please

Game on with claim number 2 then.

[Tools]

Re: Would Anyone Know The Answer Please

Hi Baxter,

Seems this is becoming more and more frequent and not just with Halifax, but with many banks.

I see you have already taken steps in the right direction . I`m assuming they gave you no timed receipt for your deposit as it wasn`t `officially` taken at the time.

You also state that

mortgage due out on the 20th of the month which was a saturday,

am I right in assuming this was 20th January and you have only just received your statement informing you that you have been charged?

By `Simple Account` I assume you mean an `Easycash Account` where it states that you

can

• Use our Express Pay-In boxes and our Immediate Deposit Machines* in branches to pay cash notes and cheques into your account

but cannot

• Use the branch counter service when withdrawing less than £300, making deposits or carrying out routine account queries.

I have searched the entire Halifax site and nowhere does it mention the time that the `Express` deposits are processed, clearly something which the customer needs to know to manage their account and prevent this very situation.

Even if you have already submitted this to the FOS, take a look at this page http://www.halifax.co.uk/contactus/howtocomplain.asp

Sometimes it may get dealt with quicker by them instead of talking to some general numpty in the call centre. Mention that you have referred it to the FOS and quote your reference number from their reply so they know you aren`t bluffing. Also inform him of you FOS complaint re the PPI.

Good luck and keep us informed

[Baxter]

Re: Would Anyone Know The Answer Please

Hi Tools,
Yes my account is a card cash account, ive had this account for about 6-7 years and they keep changing the rules, its only recently that they introduced the "Box" and yes how are you supposed to keep track of your transactions if the staff dont know what time the bax wil be opened, I believe they ahve to have 2 people with keys to open it as a few weeks ago they took my money over the counter because someone with a key was absent.

Ive said my payment was due out on the 20th of Jan, thought it was a sat but it was a sunday.

Ive just recieved my second reply from the ombudsman about my PPI with the Halifax, which was pretty much the same as the other reply, high volume of complaints, but will be investigated,

Been transfering all my banking to another account, the halifax will no doubt tell me they dont want my custom after this, they really are one of the worst banks Ive ever dealt with and charge one of the highest penalty fees, although for some reason the've reduced it from £39 to £35, £4 wow!!..B

[Nattie]

Re: Would Anyone Know The Answer Please

They may have done that cos RBS Group which is who they are directly competing on their doorstep in Scotland charge £38(silly I know)

[Baxter]

Re: Would Anyone Know The Answer Please

Hi all
got a phone call from the Halifax today, which took me a bit by supprise, anyway this guy who's name I didn't catch said he was calling me because Id complained about charges to the FSO and he was calling to rectify my complaint, he stated that he was prepared to refund me £35 which was the last charge thay imposed because I had credited my account that day making sure I had sufficient funds in my account, I told him I had complained about 4 charges, but he was not interested in the other 3, he claimed that there was a cost to the bank to return any DDs etc and I said OK, tell me how much that cost is and I wil pay it, but if he was claiming that it cost £35-£39 for any breaches he was being untruthful, he then went on to say that he was not in a position to discuss their pricing structure, I told him that any credits into my account were benefits which the government state we are entitled to, and was it not against the law for them to steal my benefit money to pay for any breaches. The guy said that there is nothing in the social security act of 1980 (i think) that states they are acting against the law. I told that guy that because they refused to pay my DD that last time I was also charged £35 by the Abbey as it was a mortgage repayment and are they going to refund me that also, No he said they were only prepared to refund £35 and were not refunding the other 3 charges of £39 each, he said he would put it in writing to me in the next couple of days, I said that my complaint was for the refund of 4 charges, so I will write to the bank this weekend confirming the call and informing them that I will submit another complaint to the FSO for the other 3 charges then I hung up,
The way this guy was talking, as far as he was concerned in refunding £35 he had resolved the issue and would be informing the FSO of this.
I think not!!! B

[alecmac18]

Re: Would Anyone Know The Answer Please

This is worrying, but not particularly surprising. Halifax (HBOS) obviously see the writing on the wall and want to try and settle a proportion of claims for as little as possible.

This kind of tactic must have seemed very clever to the HBOS board but ultimately it will end up costing them far more in the long run. In effect HBOS are misselling the handling of your claim which, from your post, sounds like they are using fairly high pressure tactics to get you to accept - probably under duress. Their comments about benefits are plain wrong.

If more banks go down this route they are likely to be seeing claims coming in relating to charges for the next decade as people realise they have been duped and run to the FOS, courts or sites like this. If then banks think that this will save them money then they are even stupider than they have already proved.

Go on you Baxter for telling them where to go!!

[Baxter]

Re: Would Anyone Know The Answer Please

Hi all,
got my letter from the halifax the other day, long winded about how it costs the bank when customers have insufficient funds to cover DDs etc, and all about when I opened the account I agreed to pay these fees as their T&Cs and so on and on, then asked me to sign the letter at the back which on repaying me £35 in full and final settlement of my complaint, they asked how I would like to be repaid, and they would inform the FSO that my complaint had been resolved........not.

Im writing back to state as I said in the telephone conversation, I was complaining about 4 charges, and all these charges were taken out of our tax credits child benefit and my little boy who is Autistic, his DLA, Il include the parts of the social security admin act 1992 and also ive seen something about the disability act with similar wording, ive closed the account now and transfered everything to another bank and to be honest, im pleased im out of the halifax, it would be impossible for me to keep any kind of control over that account, when they dont take credits over the counter, I would never know, whenever I paid in using their box, whether the cash would be credited that day or the next, its just another way to charge penalty fees..B

[Tools]

Re: Would Anyone Know The Answer Please

Well done Baxter,

It is just a tactic to clear up one of the many cases that will have been put to the FOS(sorry to correct you but it is Financial Ombudsman Service FOS) .

Write to HBOS but also send a short summary of events to the FOS explaining that it is your belief that this was an underhanded attempt to dupe you into falsely signing a full and final settlement agreement.

Also well done for closing the account, I would have advised having benefits payed into a post office account rather than another bank so that NO-ONE could remove money by way of charges from you again.

If this is what suits you best then thats ok

Keep at the ******s and don`t be duped by them.

Jules

[Baxter]

Re: Would Anyone Know The Answer Please

Thanks Tools, Id have loked like a right numpty if id quoted the FSO instead of the FOS, ive read so many comments about the social security act and whether the banks are able to take your benefit money or not, so im a bit unsure but will still state that they are not allowed to take it, my son recently got a letter from his bank informing him that they were taking £170 in charges on the 3rd which is the date his benefit money is paid into his account, and its not as much as £170, I made him go in and sort it out and they reduced it by £90 but he still only gets £140 every 2 weeks so £60 to live on for 2 weeks, no doubt il have to feed him again, its a vicious circle and hes 28, but due to an accident when he was 16 and ran over, I dont think he will ever work, nearly had to have his leg amputated as well as other injuries, so its mam again while the banks have his money, is it really unlawfull for the bank to take any benefit money for charges as the guy from the Halifax said I was wrong, better be carefull what I write, ive been edited on the other site..B

[Amethyst]

Re: Would Anyone Know The Answer Please

3rd March ?

The guy from the Halifax would say you are wrong.

Have you looked at the first right of appropriation ? He has to list essential living expenses that the money needs to be used for and it puts them off taking it allowing him to withdraw the money.

There is the argument about inalienable benefits too.

First right of appropriation should be done 7 days in advance, but he can try it. Banks don't understand it so it needs a bit of persuasion. Most banks have no policy on it at all.

I'll find link to info for you. Other than getting his benefits paid elsewhere I think its the only way to stop them being such complete sods about this.

[Amethyst]

Re: Would Anyone Know The Answer Please

Legal Beagles

First Right of Appropriation - Legal Beagles

1st right of appropriation more.......... - Legal Beagles

Have a look at those. We might be too late.

[Tools]

Re: Would Anyone Know The Answer Please

Amethyst is completely correct Baxter, have a good read of that lot and it is there in black and white. As for your son having money taken from the account, get him to set up a Post Office account ASAP.Once it is running inform the benefits office that you wish to receive payments via the Post Office account, I know it may sound drastic and a lot of hassle but it`s the only guaranteed way to stop ANYONE other than your son using the money for his own needs. It IS unlawful for the bank to use his money for charges I will quote you the appropriate section later/tomorrow when I get chance as I`ve only just nipped on for 5 minutes.

Main thing is , set up the Post Office account, tomorrow or as soon as practical.