Halifax/Bank of Scotland Megathread - Read Post #1 First!

Lux23

445279.ie wrote: »

Me too, and didn't bloody know that if I waited till April I wouldn't have had to. Thought it was 1st January.

You don't pay stamp duty twice in year ever, Halifax should give you a letter stating that you paid GSD that you show to your new CC provider. It goes from April to April like the old tax year.

KoolKid

I have to say the attitue of Halifax has totally changed. I am in the middle of a switch at the moment. I left funds in my Halifax account to cover DDs untill the switch was complete. Halifax sent notification to all DD originators on Friday & immediately cancelled all DDs. With the result 2 DD returned unpaid this morning even though there are funds there to cover them . And now into a race to get mortgage mandate resent & set up by end of the week.
:mad:

lukejr

Question.

If you are unemployed no other high street bank will give you an overdraft or credit card. So how are these people suppose to move their credit card account. If they can't move their account how can they pay off their credit card? When will Halifax offer a loan and at what rate?

If you are in your overdraft no other high street bank will even setup a current account with you. So that would have to be cleared first. Good luck doing this if you are unemployed.

As far as I can tell Halifax has just screwed an awful lot of Irish people who switched their accounts over to them during the past couple of years.

KoolKid

lukejr wrote: »

As far as I can tell Halifax has just screwed an awful lot of Irish people who switched their accounts over to them during the past couple of years.

Judging by the way they are treating thier customers now I would have to agree.

readyletsgo

Quick question.

I got a card with tesco (i know, not the best but only one who will have me) and i tranfered my balance over from halifax to tesco today, i have a remaining balance of €600 odd on the halifax card now and with added stamp duty too on april 1st.
Question is, if i clear this remaining balance before june will i have to contact halifax via letter to close the CC or will it just be closed itself by halifax in june?

Bloody terrible situation we are all in now, my balance was small compared to others who are in more deep debt.
Thanks guys!

KoolKid

Once there is a zero balance it will be closed automaically, I would say,

readyletsgo

Cool thanks! I'll just keep an eye on it so.

gandalf

Got the clear your account up by June letter as well. No details on the loan mechanism at all in it. Tried to gleam some info out of their customer service with no joy beyond saying there will be something but details will "probably" be available in June.

I have emailed Joe Higgins to ask him if he could get someone to let me know what the mechanism is and just got a reply saying he has forwarded my email onto the CC section for response. I have a feeling I will probably get another copy of the letter I received. If I get more info I will let you know

dr.fuzzenstein

Did the switchover from Halifax to Ulster Bank, got the debit and credit card, no problem.
Now trying to top up my Tesco mobile, CAN'T BE DONE!
Rang Tesco mobile, was advised, yep, can't be done, very sorry, we're looking into it.
How can Tesco not accept a card from a bank that has been in the Irish market longer than they have?
How is it such a surprise that people might bank with Ulster Bank and have a Tesco mobile?
I'm a bit disappointed in that now.
Will now have to go into Tesco (half hour drive) and queue at the customer service desk with 20 loonies who want to complain about a pot of yoghurt they bought there 3 years ago.
I use online topup to avoid precisely that kind of thing.

Davy

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

Did the switchover from Halifax to Ulster Bank, got the debit and credit card, no problem.

How long did it take from start to finished?

dr.fuzzenstein

Davy wrote: »

How long did it take from start to finished?

Not that long, 2-3 weeks maybe and that includes setting up current account, setting up credit card, sorting out online banking, getting all my cards, passwords, pin numbers and having the switcher team do all the work for me (nice for a change).
And they even stayed open longer especially for Halifax customers just to keep up.
And they even closed my old account for me.
So far, so good, only Tesco being the fly in the ointment here.
Used the debit card with Tesco, Aldi, PayPal, some online shopping, great so far.
Just having one problem: It won't let you use internet banking through Iceweasel on Linux.
I'm currently looking into using a User Agent Switcher that will fool the other side into thinking that instead of Linux and Iceweasel you're using Windows and Internet Explorer.
Imagine you're driving down a road and suddenly there's a sign saying "Only Toyotas may use this road, Ford's are forbidden" This is now the equivalent of taking a Toyota badge and sticking it onto your Ford.

Davy

Reason i asked was that im over 3 weeks in and nothing yet. Applied online and sent all the documents but still haven't heard back from them :rolleyes:

dr.fuzzenstein

Dunno, could have been longer. Also they would be pretty overrun by now.
Ulster Bank seems to be the only reasonable alternative to Halifax (boo Halifax!)
I actually went into the branch to switch, for some reason even though I do absolutely EVERYTHING online, even banking, I'd rather talk to a human when it's a complex as switching all your banking.

EnoughIsEnough

Thanks to Scruff101 I will avoid paying paying duty on a new credit card.

What about those with cheque books - someone said we would already have paid stamp duty on each cheque. I thought it was only paid when you used a cheque.

Can anyone let me know which is the correct answer and if we have already paid duty on unused cheques can we reclaim from Halifax as it is not our choice to close our accounts.

I do not feel inclined to let them off with anything as this is a real hassle but nothing compared to what is happening to their loyal staff

Sasquatch76

The Halifax.ie website is now updated as regards the "loan option", for those still worrying about being unable to pay CC balances;

What happens if I can’t pay my outstanding balance by 18th June
Halifax understands that some customers will not be able to pay off their credit card balance by June 18. The Bank is now finalising the terms of a loan facility that will be offered to customers to help them pay off their credit card debt over a period of time. Full details of these plans will be announced in early April. If you have already exhausted all options to try and switch or pay off their balance, you can revisit this website later in April when we will be able to give you more details about the loan facility.

The "exhausted all options" bit is interesting to me. Do they literally mean "all"? And are they going to ask for proof?

Personally speaking, I know I won't get another CC - my credit rating is poo right now. And I've been told that applying to multiple lenders can be detrimental to your credit rating/credit report? Besides, I don't actually WANT a credit card anymore. Visa debit card fulfills all my needs.

KoolKid

A quick update on my situation. Bank account transferred ok. Had to follow up on many of the DDs myself. BOI declined CC transfer for no apparant reason other than them cherry picking . Perfect ICB record, both working full time, home owner etc.
Anyhow rang MBNA & got instant approval with minimum fuss.
Anyone going to this route I'd recommend the following.
Apply online. At the end of that for they will ask you to forward bank details & ID etc to speed up the application. Don't bother. The next day ring them saying you are looking for the reference number to send you details. You will be transferred to an underwriter to will process it instantly & ask you to forward on ID.

Toots

EnoughIsEnough wrote: »

Thanks to Scruff101 I will avoid paying paying duty on a new credit card.

What about those with cheque books - someone said we would already have paid stamp duty on each cheque. I thought it was only paid when you used a cheque.

Can anyone let me know which is the correct answer and if we have already paid duty on unused cheques can we reclaim from Halifax as it is not our choice to close our accounts.

I do not feel inclined to let them off with anything as this is a real hassle but nothing compared to what is happening to their loyal staff

The stamp duty is charged upfront as soon as the book is issued. You will need to return the book containing any unused cheques. Halifax will then refund the stamp duty on any unused cheques you have left.

stepbar

koolkid wrote: »

A quick update on my situation. Bank account transferred ok. Had to follow up on many of the DDs myself. BOI declined CC transfer for no apparant reason other than them cherry picking . Perfect ICB record, both working full time, home owner etc.
Anyhow rang MBNA & got instant approval with minimum fuss.
Anyone going to this route I'd recommend the following.
Apply online. At the end of that for they will ask you to forward bank details & ID etc to speed up the application. Don't bother. The next day ring them saying you are looking for the reference number to send you details. You will be transferred to an underwriter to will process it instantly & ask you to forward on ID.

I wouldn't expect anything more form MBNA. It's no slight on your circumstances but MBNA would approve just about anything.

KoolKid

stepbar wrote: »

I wouldn't expect anything more form MBNA. It's no slight on your circumstances but MBNA would approve just about anything.

I know. The girl in Halifax got one and she is out of a job soon

EnoughIsEnough

Cabaal wrote: »

You will have to switch eventually its upto you if you want to do it right now or next week, personally I'd get it over and done with.

As for who to switch nobody here can really tell you that, you need to look at the banks and see which best suits your needs, switching in the end is easy as the banks operate a switching system that transfers direct debits etc and all.

A word of caution about letting the banks do the switching. When I transferred from PTSB to Halifax PTSB gave Halifax details of old defunct direct debits.

Was in with Ulster bank today to open up current account with them as I received notice from Halifax that I should arrange a transfer. Ulster bank is saying with the large number of accounts being closed some people are experiencing delays of more than the normal 10 days so it may be better to take charge of the transfer yourself.

EnoughIsEnough

Toots* wrote: »

The stamp duty is charged upfront as soon as the book is issued. You will need to return the book containing any unused cheques. Halifax will then refund the stamp duty on any unused cheques you have left.

Muchas gracias Toots for that info

stepasideboy

I was speaking to a Mortgage Broker recently and he advised that Bank of Scotland were considering offering people with Trackers or PRICE PROMISE (Effectively Tracker Mortgage) Cash LUMP Sums to come off these products. The vast majority of their Coustomers have these products and BOS are losing money on all of them. In the event they do make an offer it would need to be very considerable offer. I had an actuary look at my mortggae and he recokns the PRICE PROMISE product ( Never more than 1.5% above the ECB) is worth about €150,000 over the Life of the Mortgage. Because of the Greek situation there is likely to be no movement in Interest rates until 2012. Tracker and Variable Mortgages always out perform Fixed rates in the long term.

Yearning4Stormy

Well, update report due, I guess.

My change-over to the AIB is 95% complete. All DDs - apart from the (HBOS) mortgage* - are now confirmed. I chose to do the DD/SOs myself, so perhaps it's taken longer than usual, maybe a month (fyi, Davy).

* I sent a letter to Halifax (Dundalk address) maybe three weeks ago; I called 'em last week to confirm and they'd no record of a DD change. The (very helpful) guy at the call centre said I should perhaps send the letter again, directly to the mortgage folks in the UK (see address below) which I did last Wednesday. (He said all ROI mortgage-related correspondance is simply forwarded to Scotland.) I plan to call tomorrow again to ensure the DD is in place (there aren't enough funds in the Halifax current account to cover the mortgage come 10th April).

Bank of Scotland Residential Mortgages
PO Box 1717
Livingstone
Scotland
EH54 7WS

In other possibly helpful news, the pre-printed Visa reply envelope is no longer at PO Box 40, Dundalk. It's now somewhere in Dublin, but feck, I didn't keep a record of it to post here. Sorry, peeps. I wonder if this is why the mortgage DD wasn't processed?

Finally, didn't I get a cheque from HBOS during the week? For interest I won't accrue on a personal loan (consolidated by the AIB). Not much, but better than a slapping. Hooray!

I hope this info helps somebody.

PS. Thanks to the folks who clarified the stamp duty/cheque duty previosuly. Cheers, y'all.

PPS. The previous (somewhat speculative) post is a tad worrying. They can take my tracker mortgage from my cold, dead... yeah, you get the picture. Dammit, I cannot afford to go back on variable.

billbond4

Yeah I will be sticking with my Tracker for the next 24 years, and anyone who tries to make me get rid of it had better be in for a fight. :mad:
Or if they want to wipe off my mortgage and give me the deeds of house that would be ok

redcone

After the bank closure announcement, I have been to a branch in Dublin a few times and the customer service by the front-line personnel is no longer the same.

Wearing track suit to express their dissatisfaction with their employer is fine by me. I understand they are under stress but that is no reason to treat customers with 'I don't care what you think about us any more' attitude.

livemusic4life

I've been on to the customer service and into my local branch and it is a joke. No one can tell me anything.

AntiRip

Switched my account over to Ulsterbank from halifax. Everything switched over now, paid off the credit card with Halifax and applied with Ulster with all my other stuff. The woman I was dealing with said I'd have no problem with anything. I have a tiny mortgage and no debt.

Just got a letter saying I've been refused the credit card. I'm actually feel insulted as I have an excellent credit rating. The letter says currently, your application includes information that does not fulfill certain criteria. I really need a credit card as I buy a lot online.

Will apply somewhere else like Permanent tsb and if I get it I will take all my business with them. Very p1ssing off :mad:

lukejr

AntiRip wrote: »

I really need a credit card as I buy a lot online.

That's crazy, same happened to friend of mine. Try Tesco credit card, or MBNA, alternative with Ulster is their Visa Debit card that will be accepted online by most providers and also the 3V cards.

But very insulting being refused a credit card, I don't know why they can't just offer you one with a €250, or €500 credit limit. Even students get credit cards with no means to support themselves.

AntiRip

lukejr wrote: »

That's crazy, same happened to friend of mine. Try Tesco credit card, or MBNA, alternative with Ulster is their Visa Debit card that will be accepted online by most providers and also the 3V cards.

But very insulting being refused a credit card, I don't know why they can't just offer you one with a €250, or €500 credit limit. Even students get credit cards with no means to support themselves.

I've had a credit card for 14 years. I mostly pay off the whole amount monthly but on the halifax card I had a limit of e6,500 and had about e1000 on it paying of between e30-e60 each month. I have never ever defaulted in any loan my whole working career. I have lots of savings and very few outgoings. It has me baffled. Being refused by the bank I'm with now I have little chance of getting one elsewhere. It's gas, I'm 34 years of age and I have to start using my parent credit card and pay them. Unreal!

KoolKid

AntiRip wrote: »

Just got a letter saying I've been refused the credit card. I'm actually feel insulted as I have an excellent credit rating. The letter says currently, your application includes information that does not fulfill certain criteria. I really need a credit card as I buy a lot online.

This is really just a case of the big banks cherry picking. Follow my advice above. Always apply by phone as you be be put straight onto an underwriter.