Help with Halifax overdraft and it's fees please **WON bcobs?**

[Mr. Bean]

Hi everyone,

 

The reason I am here is due to problems I am having with my Halifax overdraft.

 

I have had the current account for around 3 years but banked with Halifax for 21 years.

 

Within the last 6 months I ended up in my overdraft quite severely... £3600 planned overdraft to be precise.

I also have a £3500 loan with Halifax with monthly repayments of around £160/month which I meet easily and have no problems with this.

 

My problem is the overdraft, it now accumulates £90 a month in charges for being so high and I have been only able to pay off the charges each month.

Therefore I am getting nowhere with reducing the overdraft itself.

 

I contacted Halifax via telephone 2 weeks ago and asked of the possibility of having some help with reducing the charges temporarily

or freezing charges until it was less than the £90/month it currently is.

 

The lady on the phone told me in no uncertain terms that this would not happen and instead,

told me to find more money to pay it off or just throw more of my wages at it and told me to live off £300 a month for the next few years.

 

To me, this seemed totally unreasonable, until the last 6 months, I had no problems with my bank or any missed payments or anything like that.

 

Just monthly outgoings and no overdraft.

 

I now have this overdraft and it now seems like its impossible to get out of it!

 

I have no qualms with paying the overdraft off at all,

 

I even suggested to them on the phone that I would pay the £90 off my overdraft just not off the fees.

 

She just said there's nothing we can do but kindly did ask to set me up for mobile alerts!?

 

So now I'm in a rut,

I can afford to pay off £100-£120 a month from it to reduce it ASAP as I want out but the fees are crippling me.

 

I understand it's my mess I have gotten myself into etc.

 

so please, don't kick me while I'm down anymore than I am already doing to myself.

 

Surely they have a responsibility to be sympathetic to customers needs etc?

 

I am just getting so down and worried that I'm starting to crumble, I'm getting nowhere in trying to reduce it and I'm worried they may close the overdraft and ask for the money straight away which is impossible for me to do.

 

Any help at all would be much appreciated as I can do with all the help I can get.

 

Thanks in advance,

Bean

[IainHL]

Unfortunately for you the words "Halifax" and "sympathetic" are not ones I would expect to see in the same sentence.

 

How much longer does the £3500 loan have to run? If there's not much longer left then hopefully you could survive paying the overdraft fees until that time, then have the extra £160 per month to reduce your overdraft with.

 

Alternatively I would suggest going into the branch and try to see one of the senior people there about a personal loan to consolidate your overdraft and existing personal loan. As a quick example £7100 over 3 years gives monthly repayments of about £220 per month. The representative APR for this is 7.4%, as opposed to 24.9% for your loan of £3500.

[Conniff]

Personally I would open an account elsewhere and tell Halifax in no uncertain terms that no help means no payments. They don't own you me or the government, they are nothing, just a private business that deals in money (and gets their stock for free) and no different than the payday loan companies.

 

Don't be afraid of them Mr Bean. Moving your account to another bank will not affect your loan.

[Mr. Bean]

hmmm, unsure of where I stand really.

 

The loan still has quite a while to go, about a year and a half off the top of my head so that's a no go really.

 

I also thought about another loan to consolidate but they told me that I would no longer be offered any lending until the loan is payed off.

 

I haven't been into a branch though, that was only over the phone.

 

The same person also told me that he had added a note to my account so no one would offer me any further lending options.

 

However, that would be ideal for me.

I would happily agree to that as it would keep everything under one roof and I could sleep at night.

 

I have had no missed payments or anything like that as I mentioned above but they seem reluctant to let me consolidate to a personal loan.

 

As for switching banks, it is definitely something I want to do very soon.

 

However, again I am unsure of how easy it is to do so but that's another job for another day and one that I should be able to complete myself fairly easily.

 

I'm also wary of what might happen to the overdraft once i switch banks

[dx100uk]

consolidate what PENALTY charges - NO!!

 

they are unlawful and unfair

 

you need to start a BCOBS complaint

 

click the bcobs link and read the blue RBS link you see

 

and get out of them for your income payments inwards ASAP

 

you can apply for a co-op bank account online now

 

dx

[Mr. Bean]

consolidate what PENALTY charges - NO!!

 

they are unlawful and unfair

 

you need to start a BCOBS complaint

 

click the bcobs link and read the blue RBS link you see

 

and get out of them for your income payments inwards ASAP

 

you can apply for a co-op bank account online now

 

dx

 

Can I use the BCOBS though as that RBS link you mentioned with the letter was totally different from my situation,

 

in that example, the person had not accumulated the charges themselves as such.

 

Whereas in my case, they are just unwilling to do anything to the charges to help me.

 

The oevrdraft is all money I owe,

the interest payments would be on top of my overdraft had I not been paying those off

so as not to go into an unauthorised OD.

 

Will they not just say that the charges are fair as it is in my contract?

 

Sorry if I sound like I haven't got a clue, I just want help.

 

Thanks in advance

[dx100uk]

the fixed fee charges are a PENALTY and they are unlawful

 

your bank is not treating you fairly.

 

yes you can use bcobs

 

that's what bcobs is all about.

 

dx

[Mr. Bean]

the fixed fee charges are a PENALTY and they are unlawful

 

your bank is not treating you fairly.

 

yes you can use bcobs

 

that's what bcobs is all about.

 

dx

 

I see, thanks for your help.

 

Would you recommend the best course of action is to switch banks and then write Halifax a letter stating that they have been unwilling to co-operate and that it is a breach of the BCOBS?

 

Thanks again dx, sorry to be asking so many questions!

 

I could do with someone holding my hand through all this haha

[dx100uk]

do both why wait.

 

its not a case of them co-operating with you or not.

 

its a case of them acting unfairly toward you.

 

regardless to if/if not you've tried anything.

 

dx

[Mr. Bean]

thanks very much for your help, Ill write a letter tonight after work and send it off tomorrow.

 

On switching banks, i use only a basic cardcash for everything currently with halifax. I don't use the current account as it has the OD.

All Direct debits etc. and my wages go in and out of the cardcash. on the co-op website i can only see an option for a current account with them and to transfer from current account to current account

 

Also, can everything be done online or do i have to go into one?

[Mr. Bean]

I've just looked and can see a co-op cash minder account. that's all i want, something basic. I'll give them a call in the morning.

 

I'm not sure if they can switch everything over from my cardcash halifax account though so that might be a hassle

[dx100uk]

you can apply online and get an answer

dx

[IainHL]

consolidate what PENALTY charges - NO!!

dx, surely Mr. Bean doesn't have penalty charges? I thought the £90 per month he is talking about are the Halifax fees, authorised overdraft over £3000 at £3 per day. Therefore a BCOBS complaint would be pointless.

 

hmmm, unsure of where I stand really.

 

The loan still has quite a while to go, about a year and a half off the top of my head so that's a no go really.

 

I also thought about another loan to consolidate but they told me that I would no longer be offered any lending until the loan is payed off.

 

I haven't been into a branch though, that was only over the phone.

 

The same person also told me that he had added a note to my account so no one would offer me any further lending options.

 

However, that would be ideal for me.

I would happily agree to that as it would keep everything under one roof and I could sleep at night.

 

I have had no missed payments or anything like that as I mentioned above but they seem reluctant to let me consolidate to a personal loan.

 

As for switching banks, it is definitely something I want to do very soon.

 

However, again I am unsure of how easy it is to do so but that's another job for another day and one that I should be able to complete myself fairly easily.

 

I'm also wary of what might happen to the overdraft once i switch banks

Unfortunately the front line monkeys have no more authority than to go "click, click, computer says NO!" That is why I suggested you should try going into a branch and ask to speak to a higher level manager (you do need to get past the first level monkeys there as well). You don't say what the original term on the loan was, so it's difficult to say roughly how much would be outstanding, however note that you would want to borrow over £6000, as that is the threshold at which the far more favourable APR kicks in.

 

As for the comment about adding a note to your account so no-one else would offer you any further lending options, well I think that is outrageous. Especially if that was a front line telephone customer service agent. Slightly different if you had been transferred through to a member of the underwriting team, but it seems that the days when that could happen have passed with the Halifax.

[dx100uk]

the op spoke in early posts of charges & fees

 

if these are infact the natural interest that the OD attracts then you are correct.

 

dx

[Mr. Bean]

marvellous! good job someone noticed in time, just started writing the letter aswell. I'll leave it for now.

 

ps. DX, I did say are you sure it's applicable as the overdraft is made up completely of OD as the fees would be included but i've been paying those off. so the overdraft is all money i owe.

 

Guess theres nothing i can do then, thanks for trying anyway everyone, I appreciate the effort

[dx100uk]

if you mean interest, that is not a fee.

 

dx

[Mr. Bean]

if you mean interest, that is not a fee.

 

dx

 

Halifax refer to it themselves as an overdraft fee, not interest.

 

thanks anyway

[Mr. Bean]

UPDATE!!

 

Okay, so after last night, I decided to email the CEO of Halifax all of whats happened so far, and my problems and how i would like to solve them.

I used things about BCOB and the like several times within the email, mainly in regards to unfair treatment.

 

I expected nothing back but

 

today at work I received a call from the CEO's office who left a voicemail to call them back.

I duly obliged and this is what has happened as a result:

 

.They have refunded all overdraft fees that I have paid to date on the overdraft

 

.They are freezing OD payments for me on a three monthly rolling contractual basis

whereby I must call every 3 months to show them I am working to reduce the OD and if I am, they will continue to freeze charges for a further 3 months

 

. I must show I am working towards paying the OD off by means of a series of payments each month which reduce the OD. These must be above £10/month

 

The lady I spoke to was by far the most helpful woman I have ever came across in my life,

she was really enthusiastic about helping me and yet extremely considerate to my needs as a customer and a human being, something which I rarely find when calling companies.

 

This is going to be a massive help for me, I could not express my gratitude to her any more than I did.

This now enables me to pay off the overdraft without having the worry of them chasing me and having all my money spent on the OD eaten up by fees!

I am absolutely delighted, literally cheered when I put down the phone. Feels like I have a new lease of life.

 

I now have the personal number of the lady who helped me and my reference for future calls so that she can assist me.

 

I have never been so happy at some news and without DX mentioning the BCOB to me, who knows, I may never have sent that email!

 

Thanks to all that helped me so far

[dx100uk]

hey there we go

 

hats off Halifax then.

 

dx

[pops1981]

thank you for sharing this - can you send me the email template you used as i am in the same positon as you and long for the feeling of freedom you mention in your last post. how did you get the email address and let me know what you said please?

[Mr. Bean]

I didn't use a template as such, I just spoke from my heart if being truthful. I will pm you the email address now

 

it won't let me pm you so the email is [email protected]