Halifax - Lack of termination Agreement and Charges

[jon8214]

Hi fellow caggers, looking a bit of advice for my partner

 

She opened a Halifax Rewards account in 2002 with her Ex husband

 

They separated in 2011 and there was an OD on the account

 

He sub sequentially left all the debt to her, he managed to remove himself from the account by paying a small amount, I will say he was a Halifax employee.

 

The last payment into the account was feb 13 by my partner and the account was defaulted on her credit report in Dec 13

 

It was sold onto Hoist and is being managed by Wescot, we have not acknowledged the debt and sent them a prove it in January which they still havent complied with and the account is on hold

 

My partner never received a termination notice and we have sub sequentially SAR'd Halifax and received a mountain of paperwork today.

 

I can upload any thing that you need to see

 

Looking through it there is no reference to a termination notice and have noticed from an initial balance of ~£300 the debt stands at ~£800 which is all charges

 

Can she challenge Halifax to remove the default? Also can she reclaim the charges under BCOBS?

[BankFodder]

I really don't understand how her ex could managed to remove himself from a joint account – particularly when there was a debt on it.

 

I think you need to look through your SAR very carefully and see if there is anything about that.

 

Let us know what you find but I think that that should be the first basis of a complaint. You say that he paid a small amount into the account – but anything he paid into the joint account should have benefited both of them. You say that he was a Halifax employee – it all sounds a bit suspicious and you should get to the bottom of it.

 

I envisage that once you have checked through the SAR and seen what there is – or what there isn't, that you should be making a complaint. In fact if there is no reference to the removal of his name from the joint account then I think you ought to inform them that the SAR is incomplete and make a complaint about that as well.

 

Please can you tell us about the charges. At what rate have they been levied?

[jon8214]

Hi BF the only way I can see that he got himself removed was he made a payment into the account in Jun 12 and his name was on the statement but on the Jul 12 statement it is only my partners name

 

Whenever he made the payment in that left a balance of £229 and as I said above the debt that Halifax sold to hoist was ~£800 so ~£570 worth of charges nearly twice what the balance was

 

I have searched through all the transcripts and there is nothing there to say he was removed from the account, but will look again although there is nearly 5Kg of paperwork

 

the charges are unauthorised OD charges @£35 and a couple of £145-£160

[BankFodder]

Make sure that you have implemented our customer services guide – and then I would begin by telephoning Halifax and tell them that you are making a formal complaint that the ex was removed from a joint account without any consultation and allowed to leave a debt. Tell them that you are concerned that the SAR makes no reference to this and so therefore you believe that it is incomplete. Tell them that you want to start and FOS complaint about the removal of the ex and also about the incomplete disclosure.

 

Get a reference number and then follow it up in writing. That will start off the process – even if it comes to nothing.

[dx100uk]

we don't lose OD cases

so pers i'd ignore then unless you get a letter of claim from the powerless fleecing DCA.

[jon8214]

thanks BF will get onto that

 

DX - I know that but its a debt that shouldn't only be punishing my partner and if Halifax and he has done something underhanded my partner would like them held to account

[dx100uk]

still doesn't help you.

it was a joint account and if it ever went to court [fat chance they'd win you know that!!]

 

it can be used then.

 

important bit is he reset the SB date.

[dx100uk]

in less than 7mts it will be SB'd.

[jon8214]

I was thinking about the SB stuff as well DX, I may leave it until the SB date has passed and fight it from then

[dx100uk]

you don't fight anything

you simply send our SB letter

end of problem.

[BankFodder]

important bit is he reset the SB date.

 

Very good point