Halifax Bank ordered to cease lending ..pull out of Ireland now by UK treasury.

zod

THE Halifax Bank in Ireland is set to close its retail division following an instruction from the UK Treasury to repatriate assets back to the UK.The 'Sunday Tribune' reported that Bank of Scotland Ireland is preparing to shut the Halifax starting in September following an instruction from the UK Treasury to cease lending here and repatriate £20bn of the £35bn in Irish assets.
The move comes against a deteriorating lending environment in Ireland, with the rating agency Standard & Poor's reporting that nearly 4pc of all mortgages are delinquent, or in arrears for more than 30 days.
The number of borrowers in arrears for more than 90 days has almost doubled in the last year, the report added.
Standard & Poor's said Irish residential mortgage-backed securities transactions are experiencing the most testing economic environment since the inception of that market.
http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/halifax-set-to-close-retail-division-here-after-order-by--uk-treasury-1818866.html

eamonnm79

Great!
Yet another empty building on my mainstreet.

Colm Meaney, stick to selling battered nappy's out of the back of your van.

Bif

Can anyone give an opinion on what will happen to people with deposit a/c's in Halifax if they close their retail outlets? Thanks.

Flamed Diving

Bif wrote: »

Can anyone give an opinion on what will happen to people with deposit a/c's in Halifax if they close their retail outlets? Thanks.

There is some kind of deposit guarantee, up to £100,000 GBP.

And bank run in 3... 2... 1....

dan_d

I wonder what effect that will have on people who have a mortgage through Bank of Scotland Ireland? (namely, me!) It doesn't sound as if it should have an effect - I hope.

danjo-xx

I'm in the proccess of opening a current account with them, rang them yesterday and she said dont mind the report, were still open for business or words to that effect.

I also have a fixed rate savings a/c with them but that should be safe under the guarantee scheme.

Don't know if I should bother with current a/c now unless the story is false which I doubt, only wanted a 2nd current for their visa debit card.

ooh decisions decisions...............:)

Hasschu

When any place of business declares it is pulling out the prudent thing to do is to shift your business to another institution. Being proactive has its benefits. Your real problem is to figure out which operation with retail outlets in Ireland will be around for the long haul. Guarantees from gov'ts are not as safe as money in a sound institution. I sympathize with the staff but service will not improve as morale suffers.

Flossie34

What is the point in worrying, the newpaper articles are purely mentioning the fact that the bank 'may' close its Irish operation...therefore your money would be safe - the guarantee has nothing to do with this

I won't be closing my accounts there until I have to...if that happens, they will probably still have options available to carry on banking if they close the branches. There is no way I want to go back to paying fees or having a shagging laser card, I love the visa debit!

danjo-xx

Flossie34 wrote: »

I won't be closing my accounts there until I have to...if that happens, they will probably still have options available to carry on banking if they close the branches. There is no way I want to go back to paying fees or having a shagging laser card, I love the visa debit!

exactly my view on it too, and someone said on another thread that Ulster Bank will be bringing out a visa debit card in 3 months, so even if Halifax closed there irish operation they could in theory transfer their irish a/c's over to Ulster Bank which is part of the BOS group.

Flossie34

Ulster Bank is part of RBS Group - Royal Bank of Scotland...its not the same as BOSI (Bank of Scotland Ireland), BOSI were part of HBOS (Halifax bank of Scotland) who are now owned by Lloyds Banking group.

But yes, they will definitely bring out options, it won't be the case of you must close your accounts as we are leaving Ireland. I have read a few comments by people saying thats great they won't have to pay their credit card/mtges/loans...won't want to be them if they started to do that..ending up on the ICB. Do they seriously think that the bank will just close their lending and say, thanks for business, we are leaving ireland now so you won't have to repay your debt.. :rolleyes:

turgon

On a personal level, I had planned bringing my Halifax Debit Card to Europe while I was traveling for a month so I could use it in restaurants and hostels and avoid getting legal tender (moving from currency to currency every 3 -4 days).

eamonnm79

What are the differences between a visa debit and a laser?

danjo-xx

eamonnm79 wrote: »

What are the differences between a visa debit and a laser?

Laser is usually only accepted in Ireland, where as a Visa debit card is accepted anywhere you see the Visa sign, though some ppl have encountered some problems in a few places.:)