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

CountingCrows · 2010-02-09 10:08:06

Hi Everyone - Toots* here, Following on from the announcement that Halifax/BOSI are withdrawing their retail and intermediary banking services from Ireland, naturally a lot of threads are popping up with people wondering what is going to happen next. Here is a link to the official announcement on the Halifax Ireland…

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#152 14-02-2010 1:13am
JonnyBlackrock

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livemusic4life wrote: »

I'm very sad that they are leaving as they are trully the best bank that i've ever dealt with.

That's not hard if you've only ever dealt with an Irish bank. I just don't get their story - they're living in a time warp.

What's all that rubbish about it taking 3 days to clear a cheque. It takes me 2 seconds to check the balance in my account in JAPAN, and it takes them 3 days to approve a cheque from a bank around the corner.

If it wasn't so sad it would be funny.

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#153 14-02-2010 5:07pm
daithijjj

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JonnyBlackrock wrote: »

That's not hard if you've only ever dealt with an Irish bank. I just don't get their story - they're living in a time warp.

What's all that rubbish about it taking 3 days to clear a cheque. It takes me 2 seconds to check the balance in my account in JAPAN, and it takes them 3 days to approve a cheque from a bank around the corner.

If it wasn't so sad it would be funny.

The 3 days you speak of is for security and fraud pevention id imagine and is NOT exclusive to halifax.

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#154 14-02-2010 5:52pm
Toots

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daithijjj wrote: »

The 3 days you speak of is for security and fraud pevention id imagine and is NOT exclusive to halifax.

Fraud prevention is one part, but that's a standard clearing time for any bank. That's why electronic payment is so much better than cheques.

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#155 14-02-2010 6:32pm
daithijjj

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Toots* wrote: »

Fraud prevention is one part, but that's a standard clearing time for any bank. That's why electronic payment is so much better than cheques.

Oh absolutely . I was just posting to inform the quoted poster that this isnt an issue with just halifax.

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#156 17-02-2010 2:24am
Rollercoaster

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I have a Halifax current account with a visa debit card.

With the imminent closure of the branches in Ireland, should I switch to another bank, if so who?

Or, should I hold on and just see what happens?

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#157 17-02-2010 2:35am
jor el

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I think there are enough threads on this in the Banking forum already.

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#158 17-02-2010 6:51am
dudara

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Merged into Halifax Megathread

dudara

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#159 17-02-2010 8:45am
Cabaal

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Rollercoaster wrote: »

I have a Halifax current account with a visa debit card.

With the imminent closure of the branches in Ireland, should I switch to another bank, if so who?

Or, should I hold on and just see what happens?

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.

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#160 18-02-2010 1:56pm
Heisenberg.

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This post has been deleted.

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#161 18-02-2010 3:21pm
livemusic4life

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Scien wrote: »

Fairly annoyed I have to lose my CC.

Have been with PTSB for about 15yrs, paid all my loans off on time, have a full time job and have zero debt - yet they still refused me a CC 3 times in 2009.
Got one off Halifax on first application. Sad to see them go as I found them great. Was going to switch current/savings to them too on my next free day.

Gonna try for an ICE card one more time and if I get refused I'm done with PTSB.

You need to be careful applying for credit cards if you've been refused a few times as it affects your credit rating. Ulsterbank are the way to go. Just been in to set up current account and credit card. Meez unemployed, but a weekly payer of my credit card so looks like they're going to give me a CC. I'll keep ye posted.

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#162 22-02-2010 3:48pm
helios

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Spoke to a guy from Halifax today and he said that the bank is officially closing up shop on the 31st of May.

I have a credit card with them and he strongly suggested I either transfer my balance to a card with a different bank, or pay the balance before May 31st. I said to him that I haven't got another credit card to transfer to, and asked what would happen if I still had a balance after May 31st. He hesitated for a minute then said that he didn't know....

Now my question... if I still have a balance after the bank closes, what would happen? Would they just take it as a hit?

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#163 22-02-2010 4:11pm
escapethematrix

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No. They will give you a personal loan. Or they would sell the debt to a collection agency. You won't get off that easy

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#164 22-02-2010 4:28pm
Lux23

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escapethematrix wrote: »

No. They will give you a personal loan. Or they would sell the debt to a collection agency. You won't get off that easy

It will go to a personal loan; I think its great as I have wanted to get a loan to cover my card for ages.

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#165 22-02-2010 4:29pm
helios

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Lux23 wrote: »

It will go to a personal loan; I think its great as I have wanted to get a loan to cover my card for ages.

Lower interest rates?

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#166 22-02-2010 5:35pm
Lux23

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helios wrote: »

Lower interest rates?

Yes it will depend on how much you owe but it will probably be about 12.4% for a loan under €5,000.

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#167 22-02-2010 6:13pm
jimoc

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It would be very interesting to see what Halifax do with people that have a credit card, can't transfer the balance to a new one as they are unable to get a credit card due to credit status and who they consider too risky to give a personal loan to.

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#168 22-02-2010 8:42pm
BuffyBot

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I'd imagine they'll have to give a loan to pretty much anyone that has an outstanding amount with them post-closure. Won't be much greater risk than leaving them with a current credit card anyway, I'd wager.

It'll be interesting to see how they structure the loans and over what term. If people are paying off just a minimum balance on the card, a monthly loan repayment will most likely be a larger amount.

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#169 22-02-2010 8:45pm
KoolKid

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Has anyone received the letter from Halifax yet?

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#170 22-02-2010 9:19pm
daithijjj

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Got statement today, no 'letter' yet.

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#171 23-02-2010 4:54pm
justflow1983

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JonnyBlackrock wrote: »

That's not hard if you've only ever dealt with an Irish bank. I just don't get their story - they're living in a time warp.

What's all that rubbish about it taking 3 days to clear a cheque. It takes me 2 seconds to check the balance in my account in JAPAN, and it takes them 3 days to approve a cheque from a bank around the corner.

If it wasn't so sad it would be funny.

I totally agree. With my account in the states, any cheque up to $1000 is in the account immediately when you drop it off. I'm not sure why its 3-5 days here either. And I especially don't understand why an electronic transfer here still takes 3-5 days between Irish banks, it should be instant, or at most 24 hours so someone can approve it manually.

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#172 23-02-2010 9:15pm
pyzon

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The Chief Halifax dude was on the radio a while back when this all started. He stated categorically that anyone who could not transfer to another card would be given a personal loan at a lower interest rate than the CC had. I find it unlikely this will change.

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#173 05-03-2010 4:32pm
gandalf

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Anyone actually heard from Halifax yet? I would have thought we'd be contacted by now.

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#174 05-03-2010 4:38pm
fifib

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deadtiger wrote: »

Anyone actually heard from Halifax yet? I would have thought we'd be contacted by now.

So would I but i guess there too busy with their new Security enhancements and holding onto our money for as long as they when we try and transfer it out to other banks!

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#175 05-03-2010 4:46pm
RoadKillTs

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I closed my savings account with them. Took nearly two weeks for the transfer to complete.

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#176 05-03-2010 5:12pm
Yearning4Stormy

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deadtiger wrote: »

Anyone actually heard from Halifax yet? I would have thought we'd be contacted by now.

Got a letter earlier in the week which I thought would be it. Turned out to be a missive detailing the interest rate on my (three months to go) current account overdraft. 55c that cost HBOS to post, I guess.

As I said earlier in the thread, I'm in the middle of transferring back to the AIB. They coouldn't've been nicer about it, tbh. Also, decided not to risk the alleged HBOS "convert visa balance to personal loan" yoke... successfully consolidated into a personal loan with the AIB. Result

Still sorry HBOS are pulling out though

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#177 05-03-2010 8:06pm
Davy

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I presume they are delaying with the whole union/possible strike business.

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#178 05-03-2010 9:00pm
Iamhere

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Went into my local branch today, have a flexi saver with around 2,500 in it, withdrew 1000 there and then and will do the same next month, dont like this having to wait 2 wks stuff, i know it wouldn't work for people with bigger amounts but works for me!

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#179 06-03-2010 9:19am
adox

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Iamhere wrote: »

Went into my local branch today, have a flexi saver with around 2,500 in it, withdrew 1000 there and then and will do the same next month, dont like this having to wait 2 wks stuff, i know it wouldn't work for people with bigger amounts but works for me!

I transferred funds out of my flexisaver account when the news about them closing broke and it only took a couple of days.

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#180 06-03-2010 9:32am
molloyjazz

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im actually in arrears with Halifax as my Visa Debt card used to act like a credit card.. what happens if i dont clear this before my account is closed?

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#181 06-03-2010 9:56am
esharknz

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deadtiger wrote: »

Anyone actually heard from Halifax yet? I would have thought we'd be contacted by now.

I've yet to hear from them, although I've already transfered my CC to AIB.

Balance transfer took about a week and a half after I'd posted off the form to AIB.

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