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Dealings with Halifax Retail Bank Collections


yoncex
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I will try and keep this as brief as possible, but it's quite a long story so apologies in advance.

 

In May 2005 I separated from my husband (...cheating ******.. ;)). He had always dealt with financial issues so although I knew I had an outstanding amount on my Halifax Credit Card I had no idea it was as much as £7,800 (he had a second card for my account), and that he hadn't been keeping up with the repayments (there had been nine missed payments I believe). Anyway, as soon as I found out I contacted Halifax made an immediate payment of £250 towards the debt and, following their advice, submitted my details of income and expenditure offering to pay £100 per month off my debt.

 

I didn't receive a response to my letter but I set up a standing order for £100 and have dutifully met my monthly payments ever since. I made a note in my diary to resubmit my income and expenditure details in May 2006 (as I was led to believe the payment plan would only last 12 months). On the advice of PayPlan at the same time I also requested that Halifax freeze interest on my account. My reason for requesting this was that, being a single mother on a limited budget the absolute maximum I can pay off of my account each month is £100. Whilst 0.048% interest is being added per day to my account (currently equating to £117.71 per month) I have absolutely no way of ever decreasing my debt balance.

 

Halifax never replied to this letter.

 

I chased them again on the 17 July and 11 August (the latter was addressed to the Complaints Department, and made it clear I was making a formal complaint) and finally I resorted to submitting a complaint with the Financial Ombudsmen at the end of August. Halifax have still not responded to either myself or the FO.

 

....sorry I did warn you this was a long story....

 

At the beginning of December my parents (at their personal home address – 200 miles from my own home – somewhere I have not, and will not, ever reside myself) received a card asking them to contact a company by the name of MCS Messengers regarding ‘a parcel’ which needed to be delivered. On telephoning the company they were told that it was actually me that they needed to speak to. My parents passed the message on to me and on telephoning the company I was told that they were telephoning on behalf of Halifax because they had lost contact with me!! But I had sent them four letters in the past seven months - I was hardly 'hiding'!! I have never tried to hide and I resent being treated as though I have, and find it appalling that Halifax brought my parents into the situation.

 

...I promise I'm nearly done...

 

On three separate occasions during the past week (12th, 18th and 19th December) I have been contacted by Halifax (twice by letter, once by phone) demanding I pay minimum payments of £290 immediately. I confirmed twice by telephone that I do not owe a penny to Halifax because, as far as I am aware, I have a payment plan in place which I have never failed to meet. On one particularly memorable occasion I was told that the computer didn’t have a note of my payment plan (or something to this affect). When I enquired as to why the computer didn’t have a note of this, the gentlemen replied with “computers can be stupid” and then disconnected the line!!!

 

If all this wasn't bad enough, yesterday I received, for the first time in seven months, a copy of my credit card statement. In this statement I have apparently incurred charges relating to an ‘overlimit fee’ and a late fee’, both equating to a £12 charge being incurred on my account on the 11 December (so £24 in total). I have *never* made a late payment, and how on earth can I ever not be 'over my limit' if the maximum I can pay off my account each month is £100 but Halifax whack on £117.71 interest and £24 charges, so effectively cancelling out my payment?

 

I have actually had to physically go without food on some occasions over the past 18 months because I realise the importance of paying this debt off (therefore choose this over food - stupidly), but my efforts and struggle seem futile.

 

They appear to be effectively ignoring all correspondence for me, and won't acknowledge whether my plan has been approved and whether they will cease adding interest. I feel completely at a loss, and actually don't know which way to turn now as I feel I have done everything I possibly can. Everytime I ring I get told to put things in writing and everytime I write I get ignored!

Many thanks if you got to the end of this post. What do you advise as my next course of action should Halifax continue to ignore my correspondance (which I have no doubt that they will). I feel at a complete loss at the moment, and it's seriously affecting my health (I suffer from depression). Any advice anyone may be able to give will be *very* much appreciated.

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Hi Yoncex

 

Firstly, I would stop going without food to pay Halifax. If you are having to go without food then you cannot afford to pay £100 per month to this debt.

 

Secondly, I would send off a SAR to Halifax asking for all your statements for the last 6 years. I would then add up all the charges and submit a claim to them to recover the bank charges they have applied to this account over the last 6 years. I can guarantee you that there will be lots of charges if your husband missed payments for 9 months.

 

I would also write a letter to the debt collection agency acting on behalf of Halifax and send it recorded delivery (as you will do with the SAR request). Advise them that you are disputing the amount that Halifax allege that you owe and that the account should be passed back to Halifax for their further action.

 

Keep everything simple. Do not go into details but simply send of the SAR and the letter. You may find that a lot of this balance is made up of charge which have been unlawfully applied to this account. If you have separate from your husband you can also ask your solicitor if he can be made liable to pay for the stuff he bought. I am assuming that his card will have a different number and hence it will be easy to calculate exactly how much he spent on your card.

 

I would continue to pay a token amount to Halifax of, say £20 per month. Write to them and advise them that while the account is in dispute you will be making payments of £20 towards the balance and ask them to freeze the interest etc., while the account is being disputed. By paying them £20 per month you are still making an effort to pay off the debt but you clearly cannot afford £100 so don't pay it. You should remember that this debt will take a long time to pay off and you cant go without food indefinitely - especially when much of the debt is caused by your ex-husband.

 

Look at all the avenues you can to get your ex to pay for his debts. Also, I am sure that the debt collection agency were acting illegally by sending a card to your parents' house. What they have used is deception. I am sure somebody with more experience in these matters will come along very soon and be able to guide you on that. I have experience of dealing with Halifax HBOS and they are absolute sods to deal with. I dont ever speak to them on the telephone; I only deal with them by letter and send ever one recorded delivery so that I have a record that they actually received it.

 

I hope this helps you in some way. What you must remember is that if they have taken charges from you they have acted unlawfully. You have done everything you can to try and pay this debt off. You now have to become strong and start fighting your corner. You will get lots of support from everybody here so dont worry that you will be on your own.

 

The most important person is you; if you dont eat then you will not stay healthy and your health will suffer. I too suffer from depression so I do know how you are feeling but believe me it is not worth it.

 

Do what I have suggested above - look in the templates library and read around the forum to familiarise yourself with what you need to do to get your cash back and then you will be armed with enough information and courage to fight back.

 

Once you have done that, sit down, relax and forget about it until after Christmas and New Year. If anybody calls you over the holiday period just say you dont discuss private business over the telephone you always deal in writing.

 

I hope this helps in some way.

 

Kind regards

Gemspan

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Firstly, thank you so much for your reply, and your advice.

 

Firstly, I would stop going without food to pay Halifax. If you are having to go without food then you cannot afford to pay £100 per month to this debt.

 

Luckily my situation has impoved a lot since we first separated (e.g. my ex has begun making maintenance payments, and I've received a promotion) so although the £100 is tight, it's doable. When I first became a single mother it was extremely stretching though, and it angers me a lot that they prayed on my vulnerability (e.g. fear of bailiffs turning up on my doorstep) at that time.

 

Secondly, I would send off a S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) to Halifax asking for all your statements for the last 6 years..

 

I've actually just sent my S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) this afternoon (thanks to the template found on here), so hopefully this will also now be in hand, although having read the Halifax forum they appear to be a bit obtuse (surprise, surprise!)

 

I would also write a letter to the debt collection agency acting on behalf of Halifax and send it recorded delivery (as you will do with the SAR request). Advise them that you are disputing the amount that Halifax allege that you owe and that the account should be passed back to Halifax for their further action.

 

All the correspondence I have received regarding my account has come from "Halifax Retail Bank Collections" which I believe must be their 'in-house' debt department (please someone correct me if I'm wrong), and the calls I received regarding the apparent arrears of £290 were from 'Halifax Card Services', which I presumed was just Halifax themselves. As far as I am aware the account hasn't been defaulted (but then again, going by Halifax's lack of communication how the hell would I know if it had?!) I'm just finding it all really confusing to be honest. Do you think I should still write to them advising them that I am disputing how much is owed? I'm presuming the SAR will be logged on my account details anyway, so hopefully this should highlight that my account is in dispute?

 

If you have separate from your husband you can also ask your solicitor if he can be made liable to pay for the stuff he bought. I am assuming that his card will have a different number and hence it will be easy to calculate exactly how much he spent on your card..

 

I've explored this avenue and apparently there is very little I can do because, apparently by giving him a second card on my account I basically authorised him to spend what ever the hell he liked on it. Won't be making that mistake again, I can tell you...!

 

Also, I am sure that the debt collection agency were acting illegally by sending a card to your parents' house. What they have used is deception. I am sure somebody with more experience in these matters will come along very soon and be able to guide you on that.

 

My parents actually suggested the same thing. I am shocked (and appalled) that they would use these tactics when I had clearly made more than a satisfactory effort to stay in touch. Apparently they used my credit file to track my parents - why on earth didn't they just contact me direct? I wonder if anyone can advise if I can do anything about this. Would it be covered by the Data Protection Act for instance?

 

I have experience of dealing with Halifax HBOS and they are absolute sods to deal with.

 

Tell me about it! They rang me at work harassing me for money I didn't owe anyway, and then proceeded to make 'smart' comments then hang up on me. I was so shocked all I could do was sit dumbfounded for a few minutes at their complete unprofessionalism!

 

I hope this helps you in some way.

 

It does, thank you very much for your time. :)

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If a DCA has called your parents impresonating someone else (i.e. a courier delivering a parcel) they are breaking the law. It is illegal for a collections agency to impersonate anyone else in the process of collecting a debt. I'd go straight to Trading Standards and have the oops done.

 

 

Careful !

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  • 4 weeks later...
DCA for HBOS posed as the inland revenue calling my husband at work!

 

amazing......breaches the OFT guicelines on dect collection section 2.4 (d)

 

d. misrepresenting status by naming businesses, premises or web-sites or

using a logo to falsely imply government or other public body status or

backing.

 

also consumer credit act section 25.2.(d)

 

unfair business practices.

Have a happy and prosperous 2013 by avoiiding Payday loans. If you are sent a private message directing you for advice or support with your issues to another website,this is your choice.Before you decide,consider the users here who have already offered help and support.

Advice offered by Martin3030 is not supported by any legal training or qualification.Members are advised to use the services of fully insured legal professionals when needed.

 

 

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Hi yoncex,

can I just add, any letter you send make sure you keep a copy for your own records, send them all recorded delivery as they are traceable, ( someone has to sign for it ) IF they try and take it further you will then have proof of all the correspondence you sent them and when they actually received it ;-)

Friendship costs nothing but its rewards can be priceless. Do not judge, as you will not be judged but if you can, try and assist where possible.:smile:

everyone is entitled to MY opinion!:D

I offer my comments without prejudice or liability.

If you found my advice helpful, please click the scales at the top.

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Thanks for all your advice regarding my problems with Halifax. I thought I'd do a bit of an update and try and get some further advice as things have now moved on.

 

On 20th December I finally received a letter from "HBOS plc" in response to my thousands of letters...I'll summarise below and annotate with the issues I take:

 

(1) "Please be aware that we advised Payplan in June that as the payment offer was just below the minimum payment required each month we would agree a monthly payment plan for two months only with interest suspended....this was the reason charges were re-applied to your account"

 

For starters, I never once told them I was using Payplan for anything other than advice (Payplan themselves told me I couldn't use their services as I only had one small debt), so I believe Halifax broke DPA by contacting them. I have copies of the letters sent to Halifax which state that I am using Payplan for ADVICE only. Secondly, they did not copy me in on this correspondance so how on earth would I have known that my payment plan had been agreed or that it was only valid for two months?

 

(2) "Your address details were updated in March 2006..." ...errmmm....why and how? I didn't move house until MAY 2006, and didn't even know what my new address would be in MARCH! "...but statements were returned in August 2006..." ...the only reason for this is that Halifax updated their records incorrectly in March... "Your address was again updated in October and again in December 2006". Eh? Where on earth have they been sending my PERSONAL account details as it certainly hasn't been to the valid address I sent them in MAY???!!! If my statements had landed in the wrong hands I could have ended up with my identity being stolen! I find that entirely irresponsible!

 

In addition to the above, my issues with penalty charges being added has not been answered. As I mentioned Halifax wrongly added penalty charges to my account claiming that payments were late (when they were not, as far as I was aware). I didn't realise the added implications of this until a few days ago though! I have a Smile current account and received an email from them telling me that "after a review of my account" they were reducing my o/d facility by £300! I was a little shocked as I have been a fantastic customer with Smile, stayed within my o/d, have regular credits to my account and don't have any other debts apart from Halifax so would have thought that my credit rating would not have changed at all since I opened the account 2 years ago. So I look into it a bit more and find out that Halifax have stuffed my credit rating up AGAIN by implying that I have missed payments to them! Which I haven't! They are refusing to amend my credit rating, so what can I do? Do I need to go to the Financial Ombudsmen again? How can a company get away with doing this??

 

So where do I turn now? There are a number of things I have huge issues with, e.g.

 

(1) The missuse of my personal "sensitive" details and (what I would suugest is likely to be) a breach of the DPA.

 

(2) My credit rating being negatively affected by mistakes made by Halifax (e.g. not informing me that the payment plan would only be valid for 2 months).

 

I would find it very useful to be pointed in the direction of any legislation which would help me defend either of the above points, and help me sort out this huge mess once and for all!

 

Many thanks in advance.

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Hi Yoncex

 

Firstly, I would stop all communication with the monkeys and now go straight to the organ grinder. Go onto Halifax website and find out the name of the CEO; get his address and write your reply to him. Send it recorded delivery and attach all copies of the correspondence you have received from Halifax and sent to Halifax to date.

 

Advise him that you are sending the letter to him because clearly the staff are unable to deal with the matter competently.

 

Your post above states very clearly what you are disputing and it is very coherent. I would also state that if this matter is not rectified within 14 days you will have no alternative but to seek legal advice as you believe that your financial creditworthiness has been affected due to to the incompetence of their staff and you will be seeking financial redress and the information removed from the CRA.

 

Almost exactly what is happening to you, happened to me. I took the matter to my MP, who in turn took it to the CEO of BOS. The matter was sorted out then but needless to say when it left his office the incompetent staff at Retail Bank Collections started to get it all wrong again. However, that is now being addressed because of my claim for charges.

 

If you want to draft a letter and post it for us to have a look at it please feel free to do so. I would make the letter very straight to the point and also remind them of their obligations under the banking code (if they are members) whereby anybody facing financial difficulty should be treated sympathetically. Clearly you were experiencing financial difficulty because of your husband leaving. You have now sorted things out but Halifax cant seem to get their end straight.

 

I hope this helps.

 

Kind regards

Gemspan

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Thank you so much for your reply, gemspan - it's extremely helpful. I shall do as you suggest and write to the CEO (cc'd to the Customer Care Manager of Retail Bank Collections) and *fingers crossed* will receive some sort of coherent reply!! I shall try and draft a copy this afternoon, and post here to see what people think.

 

I am absolutely gobsmacked - to be perfectly honest - at the complete imcompetence of an extremely large organisation! If I get no response from the CEO then I am more than willing to take this further with a solicitor as I truly believe they have mishandled my personal details, and have negatively affected my credit rating which has had a knock on effect (e.g. Smile reducing my o/d facility by £300!) It's a shame really as my "FIL" (partners father) is a retired solicitor so I could have got a freebie, but he's been out of the loop far too long to be able to help now (plus I'd feel a bit embarrassed revealing my financial details to him! ;))

 

Anyway, I better get on and draft this response... Thanks again!

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I thought that DCAs had long since given up on the old parcel delivery post card trick. Apart from everything else and assuming you have the card, you make a complaint to your local Trading Standards about this. DCAs that use such underhand tactics deserve to be exposed and stamped on by the authorities.

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I had a first stab at my response to Halifax. I've decided to send this letter to the Customer Care Manager (who I received the letter from in December) but if I don't get a satisfactory response I'll go higher next time.

 

I think I need a bit more filler about the "parcel delivery card" so if anyone has any links to specific legislation that I can say they are in breach of, that would be fantastic. I'm not sure if I've managed to cover anything else as well? Does it come across ok? Anything else I can add to help my case?

 

Thanks to anyone who has the time to read through my letter below, and I'd really appreciate any advice as I'm not great at writing letters tbh!! :)

 

(Letter edited as I have made a few amendments...) :)

***********************

 

Further to your letter dated 20th December 2006 (of which I enclose a copy for your information) I would like to take issue with a number of points, specifically detailed below:

 

(1) MCS Messengers: I note you failed to address the problems encountered when my family were approached by a company using the name “MCS Messengers”. You will remember that MCS Messengers approached my family on 7th December claiming to be from a courier company suggesting that I had a parcel that needed to be delivered. On further investigation I was told that MCS Messengers were actually acting on behalf of Halifax plc and had been given the task of tracking down a customer who had lost contact with Halifax. You will also remember that I, in fact, had remained in very regular contact wit Halifax plc, and it was Halifax plc’s incompetence that led to my address details becoming incorrect on the banking database. Regarding MCS Messengers I note that,

 

a) no company using the name MCS Messengers is registered at Companies House, so I have no way of knowing who this company are, and therefore who has been processing my personal details,

b) I did not give Halifax permission to pass on my personal data to an external organisation, namely MCS Messengers, who would then go on to process this data without my consent,

c) as I am sure you are aware, it is illegal for a bank or collections agency to impersonate anyone else in the process of collecting a debt. By impersonating a courier service and suggesting that I urgently needed to contact them to have a parcel delivered MCS Messengers, acting on behalf of Halifax plc, broke the law (OFT Guidelines on Debt Collection, section 2.4 (d) and Consumer Credit Act section 25.2.(d) “Unfair Business Practices”).

 

I therefore request, in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998, that Halifax plc provide me with the following information as part of a Subject Access Request. Halifax have 40 days in which to respond to this request:

 

a) who are MCS Messengers? Are they part of the Halifax (HBOS plc) corporation or an entirely external organisation contracted to act on Halifax plc’s behalf?

b) what personal data was passed on to MCS Messengers? (For this I require a copy of all correspondence between Halifax plc and MCS Messengers in relation to the passing on, and processing of, my personal data).

c) why was personal data passed on to, and processed by, MCS Messengers without my consent?

d) what were MCS Messengers contracted to do in reference to my account?

e) why MCS Messengers, acting on behalf of Halifax plc, acted unlawfully by impersonating a courier company, causing distress to both myself and my family? (OFT Guidelines on Debt Collection, section 2.4 (d) and Consumer Credit Act section 25.2.(d) “Unfair Business Practices”).

 

(2) Personal payment plan: In paragraph two of your letter dated 20th December 2006 you state that:

 

“Please be aware that we advised Payplan in June that as the payment offer was just below the minimum payment required each month we would agree a monthly repayment plan for two months onle with interest suspended, as the account would then be up to date and the minimum payments would apply. This was the reason charges were re-applied to your account.”

 

I have at no time either stated nor implied that Payplan were handling my Halifax account on my behalf. Halifax have never received any correspondence from Payplan on my behalf, and my only correspondence with Payplan has been in the form of one telephone call in which advice was given on how I could handle my Haifax claim myself. Halifax did not copy me in on the correspondence issued to Payplan, and Payplan would not have been able to contact me themselves as they did not have my up to date contact details, and indeed, had no reason to need these.

 

To make it clear, I did not receive any correspondence from Halifax plc in June 2006, or otherwise, that would have suggested that my payment plan had been agreed nor that it was only valid for two months. As I was not in receipt of statements from Halifax between the dates of March 2006 and December 2006 I had no way of knowing that any changes had been made with reference to my account.

 

In passing on my personal data to an external organisation (namely Payplan) without my consent, I believe that Halifax plc has breached the principles set out in the Data Protection Act 1998 (Data Protection Act 1998). In particular I would like to draw your attention to chapter 29, part II Rights of Data Subjects and Others, section 13 of the DPA 1998:

 

“(1) An individual who suffers damage by reason of any contravention by a data controller of any of the requirements of this Act is entitled to compensation from the data controller for that damage

 

(2) An individual who suffers distress by reason of any contravention by a data controller of any of the requirements of this Act is entitled to compensation from the data controller for that distress if-

 

(a) the individual also suffers damage by reason of the contravention, or

(b) the contravention relates to the processing of personal data for the special purposes.”

 

The failure of Halifax to handle my personal data in accordance with the DPA 1998 has resulted in:

 

(a) an adverse effect on my personal credit rating. This was caused by Halifax failing to inform me that my repayment plan would only be valid for two months after which it would be reverted to the standard minimum payments. This resulted in Halifax lodging “late” and “missed” payments against my credit file.

(b) unfair charges being incurred on my account, due to the above.

© undue distress to both myself and my family.

 

It is therefore my request that Halifax:

 

(a) rectifies any inaccurate entries on my credit file dating between March 2006 and December 2006, resulting from it’s failure to correctly handle my personal data,

(b) refunds any unfair penalty charges, including interest, incurred between March 2006 and December 2006, resulting from it’s failure to correctly handle my personal data,

© makes an appropriate compensation payment in response to the undue distress caused to both myself and family resulting from the above.

 

(3) Personal address details: In addition the points already stated above, failure to maintain my correct personal address details on the Halifax database has contravened the fourth principle of the Data Protection Act 1998 which specifically states that, “Personal data shall be accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date.”

 

Despite being informed on four separate occasions of my change of address, Halifax plc failed to properly maintain their database by updating the details correctly. In fact I note that you state in paragraph five:

 

“Your address details were updated in March 2006 but statements were returned in August 2006. Your address was again updated in October and again in December 2006. Clearly there have been problems here and I am sorry for any frustration caused as a result.”

 

I appreciate the apology regarding the problems incurred, but I would like it made clear that I did not request my address details to be updated in March 2006. I moved house in May 2005 (from blah to blah), and then again in May 2006 (from blah to blah). I did not know in March 2006 what my new address would be, so I could not, and would not, have made any attempt to update my details on your system at this point. I informed Halifax plc that I had moved from “blah” to “blah” on four occasions, namely 31 May, 17 July, 11 and 26 August. I note that none of these dates correspond in any way to the dates provided in your correspondence.

 

By failing to keep my personal details up to date, Halifax has further made it impossible for me to manage my account as I have not received any statements for a period of ten months. More importantly, Halifax has potentially put my personal identity under threat by sending original credit card statements to my previous addresses (some of which I have not resided in for over four years). I am sure a large corporation as your own is perfectly aware that it is extremely dangerous for financial statements to be issued to incorrect addresses as it poses the risk of identity theft. I have no way of knowing at this time whether I have become a victim of identity theft as a result of Halifax’s incompetence, but I find it utterly irresponsible that I was put in the position that this could have very easily taken place.

 

Please accept this letter as my advice that, under the Data Protection Act 1998, I would now like to submit a Subject Access Request specifically requesting details of addresses that have been linked to my account over the past six years, with the appropriate dates that these details were amended on your system. You have 40 days in which to comply with this request.

 

(4) Banking Code: I note that Halifax plc subscribes to the Banking Code, and I would like it noted that I believe, in reference to my account, that Halifax plc has contravened this banking code on three of its six key commitments, principally:

 

  • “We will help you use your account or service by sending you regular statements (where appropriate) and we will keep you informed about changes to the interest rates, charges or terms and conditions.”
    • I was not provided with any form of correspondence from Halifax plc, including statements, in the period March 2006 to December 2006. I was not made aware of any changes to my account which made it impossible for me to properly manage my account.

    [*]“We will deal quickly and sympathetically with things that go wrong and consider all cases of financial difficulty sympathetically and positively.”

     

     

    • Halifax have been made fully aware that as from February 2005 I have been a single mother, experiencing extreme financial difficulties following my separation from my husband. Despite this, I do not believe that my case has been handled “sympathetically” nor “positively”, and my correspondence over the past year has been dealt with anything other than “quickly”. In fact, I strongly suggest that the actions of Halifax have actually attributed to creating increased financial hardship for both myself and my family.

  • “We will treat all your personal information as private and confidential, and operate secure and reliable banking and payment systems.”
    • On two separate occasions, without my permission, Halifax passed on my personal details, including details relating to my financial position to organisations not related to myself. Namely MCS Messengers and Payplan. I would suggest that Halifax have acted in such a way that my personal data, including sensitive data relating to my financial and personal situation, has not been handled in a way which has maintained it’s privacy and confidentiality.

Please note that I shall be contacting the Banking Code Standards Board in order to raise these issues separately.

 

(5) Other unresolved issues: I note I have failed to receive the courtesy of a response to my letters dated 18th and 19th December and feel that there are a number of issues that remain unresolved, in addition to those outlined above:

 

(i) I note in paragraph six of your letter dated 20th December that you suggest that you will be carrying out an internal investigation to ascertain why I have not received a response to letters addressed to your Dunfermline address. I would appreciate the courtesy of an explanation to myself also once this investigation has taken place. I do not wish for this whole situation to be repeated in the future and I would respectfully ask that you confirm any changes in process or administration practice to ensure that this does not reoccur.

 

 

(ii) In addition to my points raised in section (3) above, I requested that an investigation be carried out to ascertain how personal data can become inaccurate (for example, I am led to believe that Halifax plc reverted the address held on their system back to one held four years previous, without my knowledge or consent). As above, I would like both an explanation, and then reassurance that administration practices and processes have been reengineered in such a way that this will not occur again in the future.

 

I hope you appreciate that the severity of my complaint necessitates a response within 7 days, after which time I will have no further option than to seek legal advice from the appropriate bodies.

 

**************************

 

Help!! :o

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Hello Martin :)

 

amazing......breaches the OFT guicelines on dect collection section 2.4 (d)

 

d. misrepresenting status by naming businesses, premises or web-sites or

using a logo to falsely imply government or other public body status or

backing.

 

 

also consumer credit act section 25.2.(d)

 

unfair business practices.

 

Would this count as I don't actually know if MCS Messengers (who were acting on behalf of Halifax) are a DCA? They don't appear on the Companies House database so I don't have a clue who they are really?

 

Your advice would be greatly appreciated! :)

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