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

almalahide

Or even a scale down/online bank or just something to keep it alive with current accounts and grow it! A merger could be good once the customer care side came from Halifax/ebs lol. Obv this road was checked i would love to know why it would not work?

Redmen Rule OK

djmarkus wrote: »

I'm going to miss my visa debit card

Ulster Bank are issuing Visa Debit cards now to all current account customers.:)

http://www.ulsterbank.ie/roi/personal/daily-banking/current-accounts/card.ashx

jaffa20

Redmen Rule OK wrote: »

Ulster Bank are issuing Visa Debit cards now to all current account customers.:)

http://www.ulsterbank.ie/roi/personal/daily-banking/current-accounts/card.ashx

Fees and fees included:(

makeorbrake

I don't feel i have any other option - just UB ...seeing as they are now the only ones in the marketplace with a visa debit.
What are the fees that you talk of Jaffa20?

Davy

makeorbrake wrote: »

I don't feel i have any other option - just UB ...seeing as they are now the only ones in the marketplace with a visa debit.
What are the fees that you talk of Jaffa20?

PTSB will be launching the Visa debit soon.

Their is a foreign currency fee of 1% (25cent min and €6 max)

Their is a transaction fee of 1% (25cent min and €6 max) of the value of the transaction.

These apply to POS transactions, so it wont be charged if you use it in a ATM once your in the eurozone.

cormie

Hi,
With the unfortunate news of Halifax pulling out of Ireland and my main reason for being with them being their great Visa Debit card service, I guess I'll have to find an alternative now!

I've heard Ulster Bank offer something similar. Besides not being able to deposit to it up until 5pm weekdays and 12 noon on Saturdays (as Halifax was opened until these times) are there any other disadvantages with it over the Halifax one?

Are the fees and costs pretty much the same for EURO/NON EURO payments and all that? Hows their online banking?

Any feedback appreciated

jor el

Moved to banking.

sceptre

I can confirm that Ulster Bank offer a visa debit card. All new customers are being issued with one in preference to a laser card; existing customers are having their laser cards replaced with visa debit on a phased basis.

I find the UB online banking fine. Easier to use than BOI. No experience with Halifax in particular, no idea of fees as I'm on a student account.

Sparks

Does their online banking give you quicken/gnucash/csv files if you ask nice or is it just as awkward as BoI and Halifax?

Stevek101

Davy wrote: »

PTSB will be launching the Visa debit soon.

Their is a foreign currency fee of 1% (25cent min and €6 max)

Their is a transaction fee of 1% (25cent min and €6 max) of the value of the transaction.

These apply to POS transactions, so it wont be charged if you use it in a ATM once your in the eurozone.

A transaction free?! Have we gone back in time. Didn't they use to pride themselves on free day to day banking...

cormie

I've never had to add a beneficiary on my Halifax account online, with AIB you just put in their details and use a code card and you're done in 2 minutes, with BOI you have to wait a few days to get a confirmation in the post which is terrible.

Providing fees and everything are the same then I guess I'll be signing up soon unless there's any chance of them pulling out of Ireland soon themselves? What's stopping the likes of AIB offering a VISA debit card I wonder?

Hellrazer

ncmc wrote: »

Can anyone guess what the implications will be for those who have credit cards with them? My husband and I both have Halifax credit cards with €2k + owing on them. We really can't afford to pay them off in one go. Really worried about this.

According to Newstalk this morning you will have to have alternative arrangements in place by May.They want all loans and credit cards cleared before then and then all debts will be pursued in the normal way.

Have a balance that I built up before I lost my job and just been paying the minimum each month to stay afloat.Dont think I`ll have it cleared by May to be honest.

alexmcred

According to the information on their site loans will be allowed to be paid off over their agreed span. Where credit cards are concerned we may have to wait until they write to us.

Christine45

I haven't a hope in hell of paying off my credit card within that time frame. Fingers crossed they give more time to do so.

commited

Hey folks,

I'm in the fantastic situation of doing all of my banking with Halifax which means I have to move everything now. I have my current account, a savings account which is pretty much empty and a Visa credit card.

The reason I joined Halifax was their fee free banking, positive reports from mates in the UK, 6 months interest free on the CC and their loan rates were good. My experience overall hasn't been great - slowest in bank experience and everything appeared to be from the dark ages. Nothing like the UK. I digress.

I was with AIB before, and I was happy with them, but I don't want to go back to paying fees. What's my best alternative bank for Current account and CC? I clear my CC every month so I'm not really bothered about the interest rate on it.

Ta!

gleep

OK so I joined the Halifax a few months back, transferred all my banking from TSB. I got a credit card and transferred balance to it because of the 0% rate for 6 months and lowish APR.

Now I'm worried. I heard on Newstalk today that they'll be calling in all loans and Credit Card debt by end of May. I haven't a hope of paying this off by then.
Wondering as well if they can raid my current account (which is with them) to pay off my credit card account?
Does anyone have any idea what will happen in cases like this? There must be thousands in similar position.

PS - Mods - Maybe a sticky for us poor gullible Halifax customers??

amcalester

Give them a call and see what they say.

I dont think anybody has experienced this situation before.

ntlbell

just move the balance to another lender?

AntiRip

I'm in the same siuation. According to this Ulster Bank is our best alternative

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?threadid=2055824018

Oryx

Their website has an announcement.

100gSoma

Davy wrote: »

PTSB will be launching the Visa debit soon.

Their is a foreign currency fee of 1% (25cent min and €6 max)

Their is a transaction fee of 1% (25cent min and €6 max) of the value of the transaction.

These apply to POS transactions, so it wont be charged if you use it in a ATM once your in the eurozone.

It's only POS transactions in Non-euro right? If you use POS or internet in EUROZONE there is no charge.

Cabaal

When in doubt go directly to the hourse's mouth

http://halifax.ie/

Credit Cards Summary



Outlined below is information for existing Halifax Credit Card Account customers or for customers who have recently applied for a Halifax Credit Card Account.


What does this mean if you are a Halifax Credit Card customer?
As a credit card customer you do not need to do anything at the moment, however, you may wish to start making alternate arrangements for a new credit card and for clearing any outstanding balance. Ultimately, it is planned that these accounts will be closed by the end of May 2010.



We will be writing to you within the coming weeks outlining what you need to do and by when. If you use Halifax Online Banking, you will still be able to check your credit card balance online. Details of any changes to this service will also be included when we write to you.



If you have Payment Protection on your Credit Card account this will continue on the current terms until the account is closed.


If you have any questions about your Halifax Credit Card you can call our Customer Service team on 1890 882700 or drop into one of our branches.

Personal Loans

Personal Loan Summary



Outlined below is information for Halifax Personal Loan customers or for people who have recently applied for a Halifax Personal Loan.


What does this mean if you are a Halifax Personal Loan customer?
Your Halifax Personal Loan will continue under the existing terms until it is paid off or you decide to close it early. If you wish to redeem your personal loan early you may be required to pay an early settlement fee. We will be writing to you within the coming weeks to confirm this position and also give you any further information.


If you have Payment Protection on your personal loan this will continue on the current terms until the loan account is repaid in full or closed.

If you have a question about your personal loan please call Customer Service on 1890 818181 or drop in to one of our branches.

I'd suggest your best bet is to get a credit union loan and pay of the credit card debt in full,

Alternatively if you have a small amount of debt on the card say 1K then you could try transfer this to another bank, if you owe say 3K another bank may not want to know you.

Oryx

I do wonder what they plan to do with people who have not, or cannot clear their balances by the end of May? In the current climate that will certainly happen.

gleep

amcalester wrote: »

Give them a call and see what they say.

I dont think anybody has experienced this situation before.

I will when I get a chance. Kind of brickin it tbh, anyway, won't really trust what they have to say. They're all getting laid off in the call centre, are they really going to be that bothered?

just move the balance to another lender?

Hopefully i'll be able to, but what are the chances of someone else taking me? My rating is A1, but that won't guarentee anything. Are the big 2 here really going to take on all the ccard debt of Halifax?

Cabaal

gleep wrote: »

I will when I get a chance. Kind of brickin it tbh, anyway, won't really trust what they have to say. They're all getting laid off in the call centre, are they really going to be that bothered?
?

They are still in a job till around May 2010 to handle queries and if they do stupid things between now and then they still could be fired and loose any redundancy.

Can you really trust any human being?

Hopefully i'll be able to, but what are the chances of someone else taking me? My rating is A1, but that won't guarentee anything. Are the big 2 here really going to take on all the ccard debt of Halifax?

Depends how much you owe, if its small enough another bank will likely take you on without any problems

gleep

I'll be ringing them at lunchtime, I'll post up how it goes.

It'll be interesting to see if they can raid current/savings accounts of people who owe them money on loans/credit cards.

Think I'll be transferring balances to my old TSB account! ASAP!

Hellrazer

Oryx wrote: »

I do wonder what they plan to do with people who have not, or cannot clear their balances by the end of May? In the current climate that will certainly happen.

I know I certainly wont be able to with redundancy last year and then huge paycuts.And I cant really see any of the other banks being "nice" and taking on all the credit card debt from Halifax.

They`ll probably sell all the debts to some dodgy collection agency or pursue it through the courts.

Oryx

Hellrazer wrote: »

I know I certainly wont be able to with redundancy last year and then huge paycuts.And I cant really see any of the other banks being "nice" and taking on all the credit card debt from Halifax.

They`ll probably sell all the debts to some dodgy collection agency or pursue it through the courts.

And theyll be let do it without a whimper from our ineffectual financial regulator.

I havent a hope of clearing my cc debt by May. So I will watch this space.

100gSoma

cormie wrote: »

I've never had to add a beneficiary on my Halifax account online, with AIB you just put in their details and use a code card and you're done in 2 minutes, with BOI you have to wait a few days to get a confirmation in the post which is terrible.

Providing fees and everything are the same then I guess I'll be signing up soon unless there's any chance of them pulling out of Ireland soon themselves? What's stopping the likes of AIB offering a VISA debit card I wonder?

With Halifax you could add a beneficiary no problem instantly with the account no. and sort code. With Ulsterbank you need to use a card reader and a pin card to generate a unique code number to use on the online banking. A little bit awkward. they send out the machine and the card free though.
The fees are slightly different.

Halifax were 1.75% on foreign currency VISA transactions.
UB are 1% exchange fee + 1% transaction fee on foreign currency VISA transactions. (capped at €6 each (€12 euro together?)

I never noticed any charges while using my Halifax to buy stuff in USD and GBP online, but I've been told that the 1.75% was defo charged just not listed so probably the exchange rate was adjusted downward to take this 1.75%.

UB have 0% credit interest on currant accounts. Halifax had 5% up to 1500euro (6euro per month approx). The opening hours are different too.
any other disadvanatges? not working on paddy power apparently?

makeorbrake

100gSoma wrote: »

UB have 0% credit interest on current accounts.

Is anyone in the market offering interest on current account balances?