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

KoolKid

The people who are going to have problems are the ones who have missed minimum payments on their Credit Cards. Its the ones making small payments they make all the money off. I think if you are transferring funded currant accounts & Credit Card(s) there wont be an issue.

gandalf

stepbar wrote: »

So, now you've become an authority fiqure?

Tell you what.... here's an offer... send me the accounts for this so called company and an outline of the facilities needed and I'll give you my opinion on it.....

This crap about banks not lending is simply untrue and getting a bit tired truth be told.

How about you prove your assertion that they are lending, wheres your evidence.

Provide that please.

KoolKid

CEO on Newstalk this morning, confirmed anyone having problems clearing or transferring CC balance will be offered to convert balance to personal loan at a lower rate.

seamus

For anyone with a BOSI credit card and a balance that you can't clear by the end of June (not the end of May, confirmed this morning), then moving to a lower-rate personal loan is by far a much better deal for you than sticking with a credit card.

NealOCarroll

stepbar wrote: »

Halifax will be offering loans to customers who do not have the ability to pay off their credit card in one go.

Hi, can you, or anyone else please point us to a reliable source for this info?

Sounds like you'd be helping quite a few people sleep tonight! Too many rumours and guesses in this thread for my liking!

Thanks.:)

seamus

NealOCarroll wrote: »

Hi, can you, or anyone else please point us to a reliable source for this info?

Sounds like you'd be helping quite a few people sleep tonight! Too many rumours and guesses in this thread for my liking!

Thanks.:)

The CEO of BOSI confirmed it on Newstalk this morning. He also said that credit card customers have until the end of June to clear the balance before they move you to a personal loan.

I'll try find a link...

He also confirmed that staff won't be getting bonusses to "encourage" people to pay off a lump sum of their debt in exchange for having the whole thing written off.

NealOCarroll

seamus wrote: »

The CEO of BSOI confirmed it on Newstalk this morning. He also said that credit card customers have until the end of June to clear the balance before they move you to a personal loan.

I'll try find a link...

He also confirmed that staff won't be getting bonusses to "encourage" people to pay off a lump sum of their debt in exchange for having the whole thing written off.

Great, thanks. Feeling better already!

pyzon

yup heard it myself with my own ears...good good..already applied to another institution for a loan anyway so either way it'll be one less cc in the wallet..they should all do this help me out ..because I can't help myself.!

gandalf

seamus wrote: »

The CEO of BOSI confirmed it on Newstalk this morning. He also said that credit card customers have until the end of June to clear the balance before they move you to a personal loan.

I'll try find a link...

He also confirmed that staff won't be getting bonusses to "encourage" people to pay off a lump sum of their debt in exchange for having the whole thing written off.

Thanks seamus, it will be interesting to see if this will be blanket approach or if its on a case by case basis.

Looks like stepbar had some inside knowledge after all

seamus

deadtiger wrote: »

Thanks seamus, it will be interesting to see if this will be blanket approach or if its on a case by case basis.

Well he said that all credit card customers would be contacted in the coming weeks/months, but the idea and the implementation are often very different. I imagine they would have to freeze all accounts at the end of June before going through with the paperwork.

BuffyBot

niallo24 wrote: »

I have a Halifax credit card, not sure what this means for me then? Is it ok to continue using it?

It means that (by May 2010) the card will be closed. Until then you can continue to use it as normal.

They'll be writing to all customers in the next weeks with more info, but in the mean time you might want to look around for a card provider to replace your Halifax card if you can.

seamus

Here a link to a podcast, doesn't seem to be any text up anywhere yet:

http://www.newstalk.ie/programmes/all/breakfast/bank-of-scotland-boss/

BuffyBot

From halifax.ie

What happens to my account and when?
As an existing Halifax Mortgage holder your mortgage account is not affected. Your Mortgage will continue under its existing terms as normal until it is paid off or you decide to switch to another financial provider. We will be writing to you within the coming weeks to confirm this position.

pyzon

yesterday I applied to the ICB for my credit score (6Euro so for nothing really) and will do the same after Halfax have done their thing then see if my ratings have changed in anyway.

pyzon

...silly really...but do you think it's possible to transfer other CC debt to your halifax card, max out the limit, accept the potential personal loan offer and pay off the entire debt at a lower interest rate than you would pay on the other CC's also.........?

Kashkai

Damn and here I was thinking that they might fcukoff and call it quits on my mortgage

Or I suppose they could have demanded that I clear it like they have with the credit cards. Wonder what sort of service I'll get from them seeing as they have turned their back on this country? As I'm on a tracker with avrate of 1.8 per cent I wouldn't be keen to move to an Irish bank and their ever increasing rates.

fifib

I have a Halifax Current account so when i heard the news they were shutting up shop I went down to PTSB and opened a current account and regular saver account there. the lady there told me she was glad i was opening the current account there and then as in the next few weeks they will be changing the account and charges will be applied for new customers...so if your thinking of changing i would do it soon!

100gSoma

fifib wrote: »

the lady there told me she was glad i was opening the current account there and then as in the next few weeks they will be changing the account and charges will be applied for new customers...so if your thinking of changing i would do it soon!

Haha.. why am I not surprised if this turns out to be true. This is exactly the reason I'd rather keep my money with a different bank than the Irish banks. What are they trying to do? Profiteer of the fact that there is now less competition and 50,000 people will be looking for new current accounts from May? YES. I feel bitter about this kind of thing.

Toots

Threads merged - please read the first post of this thread before replying.

Ogham

dolby wrote: »

Guys how bout national irish bank, any reports on them?

I wouldn't bother - they are going to make branches "cash free" over the next few months. See http://www.moneyguideireland.com/no-more-cash-at-nib.html

cormie

Any chance of unmerging the thread I made about the Visa Debit alternative from this? It's more about Visa Debit card alternatives rather than the news of Halifax closing, now the thread is amass with arguments and debate whereas the Visa Debit card was purely informative on Visa Debit options for Irish citizens.

Toots

cormie wrote: »

Any chance of unmerging the thread I made about the Visa Debit alternative from this? It's more about Visa Debit card alternatives rather than the news of Halifax closing, now the thread is amass with arguments and debate whereas the Visa Debit card was purely informative on Visa Debit options for Irish citizens.

Unfortunately not, sorry. The only other bank so far to be doing it is Ulster Bank, there is a thread about it which has oodles of info and accounts of different people's experiences on it.

stepbar

deadtiger wrote: »

How about you prove your assertion that they are lending, wheres your evidence.

Provide that please.

http://www.businessandleadership.com/news/article/18714/owner-manager/ibf-responds-to-criticism-of-bank-sme-lending

http://www.finance.gov.ie/documents/publications/reports/2009/mazarrepjul09.pdf

http://www.bankofireland.ie/html/gws/press_room/latest_releases/2009/General_Content_1000445.html


I cannot provide specific details of any lending applications I've seen as it would go against all data protection rules out there. But if you want to start arguing with someone who actually works in the area, by all means go ahead.

Toots

Be polite.
This is a touchy subject for all concerned, however please refrain from getting into arguments on thread with other posters. If you have a problem with a post, use the 'Report Post' function.

Guys, if you want to continue this discussion please take it to PM, and do not continue an argument on thread.

jaceq

Hi,

As most of us I am looking for Halifax alternative, there is a bank that no one mentioned (or I missed it), so did anyone tried postbank ?
Any opinions on that?

Jet Black

jaceq wrote: »

Hi,

As most of us I am looking for Halifax alternative, there is a bank that no one mentioned (or I missed it), so did anyone tried postbank ?
Any opinions on that?

I was going to go to postbank but what put me off was the queues, also I would prefer a visa debit as it is more accepted. One thing good about it though is free banking without jumping through hoops.

Yearning4Stormy

pyzon wrote: »

...silly really...but do you think it's possible to transfer other CC debt to your halifax card, max out the limit, accept the potential personal loan offer and pay off the entire debt at a lower interest rate than you would pay on the other CC's also.........?

Exactly the same thing occured to me (briefly). I'd applied to HBOS for a consolidation loan (ie, no more actual folding money, just a more managable single payment) just before Christmas. Denied, no reason given... and I hope to Christ the denial didn't affect my credit rating.

Anyways, with the disastrous news last week (for all concerned, HBOS employees and customers), I listened with interest to some finance guy on Newstalk when he was blathering on about HBOS CCs being converted to personal loans. Nothing more (certainly not the HBOS.ie site) when Seamus popped up with this:

http://www.newstalk.ie/programmes/al...scotland-boss/

Thing is, the CEO made a point of saying that the interest rate would be LESS than the existing CC rate.

However, he didn't say exactly how MUCH less. It might be a quarter of one percent less than the CC rate... which is still a shít lot more than the prevailing personal loan rate.

Bit of a quandary (sp.) all round. There's not a hope in hell I'll clear my CC before the end of May/June.

Good luck, my fellow HBOS customers.

Yearning4Stormy

Damn. Meant to say, I hope to move BACK to the AIB. Even though they made a total FUBAR of a mortgage topup. Which is why I moved to the Halifax in the first place (this time last year).

That said, in only a year, I cannot fault the Halifax staff that I've dealt with; thye've been professional to a fault.

livemusic4life

Absolutely fabulous staff, it was so nice to go into the branch and to have the staff know my name before i got to the counter. Very helpful and professional. I'm very sad that they are leaving as they are trully the best bank that i've ever dealt with.

almalahide

livemusic4life wrote: »

Absolutely fabulous staff, it was so nice to go into the branch and to have the staff know my name before i got to the counter. Very helpful and professional. I'm very sad that they are leaving as they are trully the best bank that i've ever dealt with.

+ a million! Its small things like them knowing your name made a nice difference.