im in almost the same boat.......i opened an account with the Halifax when i was about 13 and have had nothing but poor service since. i was also unable to upgrade my account and because they kept refusing me and i thought it would be the same everywhere else so i went down the road of getting a loan with a doorstep lender (amongst other things) with huge interest rates leading ultimately to a bad credit rating. now im not blaming the Halifax for my own credit problems as it is all my own fault but it was because of the fact that they would not approve my application that i thought it would be the same everywhere....and because everyone says each credit check appears on your credit file i thought i would never be able to get anything else. but the fact you can no longer use the counter is the final straw. i went in to my local branch to pay in £7 to cover a direct debit that was due to come out. i stood in the queue for 10 minutes and was told a had to put the £5 note in the machine and pay the £2 in over the counter. HOW RIDICULOUS.....after reading another thread on here about current accounts i applied for an alliance and leicester account and have just been approved (even with a bad credit rating!!). when i got the email i wanted to share this with every other person who has to put up with a stupid electron card (im actually embarrased when i pull it out of my purse!). i will now get a visa debit card and a chequebook. at 25 i now feel like a proper grown up!!!

Well i am just glad i was not the only person reciving such bad service from the halifax!!!!!

I had this acount since i was probably 12/13 i am now 25 And let me tell you they was quick enough to give me a credit card balance of £4850 after just using my card a few times and paying it off when i was like 18/19

But they never wanted me to get a Normal bank account i also was stuck with a electron account.

And was just led to believe i must of just had a bad credit rating somehow.

then somone adviced me to get a credit score done on myself so i did to descover i had a amazing score experian rated me as 4 star callcredit rated me as 5 STAR!!!!!!!

this time last year i went out and got myself a bloody good deal on a new car 2.5k deposit and 0% finance on the rest of the balance!

Anyway to cut a long story short i went into the branch in Sheldon in Birmingham and asked if i could have my account upgraded to a "normal account" to be told no it was one of them computer says no type situations.

So i said to the women how is it that halifax can give me nearly 5k on a credit card that i currently spent about 200 quid on! And the fact that why is it i can walk into a showroom and buy a car for 11k on finance but i cant have a normal bank account. To be told well maybe you got your car at a higher than average intrest rate.

Well that was it i blew a fuse and walked into Barclays a few doors down from the Halifax to be accepted on the spot for a Additions Plus Account full Visa Debit card and a £250 pounds cheuqe garentee card.

Well if thats what you get from the Halifax after being a customer for 13 Years with Halifax.

I took great pleasure in going into see the same lady (or should i say Biatch!) I seen about 10 days before To say as from today i want all my acounts closed!

Wow i so enjoyed being with the Halifax Not!

I wanted to withdraw the money out from Halifax, so I had to make 2 appointments. I was told 2 weeks back I can withdraw over £5000 using 2 cards and my ID. When I tried to get the money out on my booked day - they told me I need my Passport and I can only use a passport as ID. I tried to explain I was told something else and this situation wouldn't have place if the advisor would give me the same information, what they just have. The only thing I had to listen to was that I am arguing with them and they made from me a difficult customer. I told them it is not a difficult situation to them, but to me as I would need to get my passport back from Home Office and I have only 1 day to do so. They also informed me that I can not use 2 cards to withdraw the money over 5 000 at once. Totally opposite information. I've already lost with them £150 within a few days. I heard a lot of gasping from their side, even though the mistake was from their side. They said they do not pay money out on Saturday, but they did an exception. If such an exception had place, why they couldn't accept my National Identity Card, which I was always using to identify myself.

The other thing is that I am the last person to get the salary transfer on my account at Halifax. Cheques took over a week to appear. They were aplying for card update a couple of times, so I believe there is my poor creadit score from. The 1st time I came to England I started my problems from Halifax.

I wanted to make a complaint as the support was very rude to me - gasping and making faces between each other. Totally different attitude than on advisors side. The reason is obvious.

Cheers mate.

<sticks fingers up to Howard>

I have an Abbey current account. It gives me a cheque book, debit card, can pay money in via ATM or over the counter. It takes 3 days for a cheque to clear at the counter,an extra day via ATM. I have direct debits,standing orders and the ability to do one off payments by BACS. I can even work it over the internet, ATM or at the counter. Staff are always friendly and helpful. You can also action transactions over the phone. I have an overdraft facility, never used, and they pay me interest each month. You can tell I'm a happy customer as I've been with them over 20+ years. They have never ever made a mistake despite some difficult things to get through! I am not an expert. Kevin

No credit check unless thats changed in last couple of months. Its a "basic" bank account.

As for where the nearest branch is try phoning them on 0800 20 21 22 All the info on the account is on there site just click on current accounts, then it has a few different ones and one where it says 16 or over readycash next to it click on that gives you the details

Are you sure they don't do a credit check? Just checked their site and it doesn't mention anything about it. Usually, this is a selling point and mentions it all over the place!?

I'm in Essex. I regularly go to Yorkshire so perhaps I can get an account if I visit them up there? Is there one near here lol?

Have you tried the yorkshire/clydesdale bank?

 They do a readycash account, no credit score although i think you cant be prev bankrupt and need to be on the electoral roll. I opened it a while back when i was *** off with halifax but then got the IF account so have not really used it.

Comes with a Maestro card, not solo or electron, a full maestro so can be used anywhere really.

Worth a shot I know of a fair few people who have got them now, Just be clear when you apply that you only want the readycash account that way you wont get c.scored.

Hi s1h,

Yes, I have the cardcash - they should change the slogan "A p iss poor account, from a p iss poor company - Halifax; always giving you extra... grief"

I have no other alternative. Despite my income, they wont touch me with a barge pole. I can't even get a post office account. I must be on some 'Fraud' database somewhere???

I've just bought another pre-paid card that allows money by BACS to be paid in. As soon as it arrives, Halifax can swivel on both middle fingers.

Agree I have been with them for over 10 years and have had enough, I dont mind using the machine, but its nice to have the choice. I take it you guys hold the cardcash account,The amount of time it takes for a cheque to clear is ridicullous in this day and age.

Had a couple of defaults 5 years ago and they kept saying they can upgrade me but always got declined despite me paying in £1500+ per month never overdrawn no charges, bounced dd's etc.

The funny thing is I was looking for a new account and a family mentioned Intelligent Finance who are part of the Halifax!

Applied got accepted got a proper debit card (visa) not some mickey mouse electron/solo card for 15yr olds. Yeah they dont have branches and I have to send cheques in the post if I want to pay them in, so i suppose it is self service but i chose it rather than it being forced on me. Also a cheque is still available quicker sending it to them and waiting for it to clear than it was when I paid it into the halifax account at the branch/machine!

This post has just reminded me need to close the halifax account.

Actually, I have had MUCH better experiences with other banks.  I have a Barclays account and a Co-Op account, both of which are not "Self-Service".  I can pay in cash, cheques etc at the counter and their staff are always courteous and helpfull and have respect for you as a customer.  Also, in the case of the Co-Op I can pay in my cash at any post office and a cheque presented at the counter only takes 3 working days to clear, and not the 7 - 10 that it's taken at the Halifax!!!

I also have two current accounts in Ireland, one of which is with a bank owned by the Royal bank of Scotland whom I believe also owns the Halifax, and the other with the Bank of Ireland with whom I also have a credit card. I use all these accounts on a reguar basis as my business involves living and maintaining households in both countries. 

And actually, I did have a good, clear credit rating up untill march this year when someone (I suspect an ex flatmate) applied for two credit cards in my name at his address, which I haven't lived at in over two and a half years.  The details were just off by a tiny amount but enough to cause problems.  These have now been removed by the respective banks and a CIFAS password protects my credit rating.  However, this was not the case last year when they turned me down twice. 

As for the self-service machines... they're a great idea... if they actually worked more than 10% of the time!!!  EVERY time I go into the branch in Hammersmith to deposit money it's out of order.  I've seen it eat peoples cards, I've seen it eat their money and then eat the card, and I've seen it just generally re-boot over and over again.   Why a bank would use a windows based system and not a formal methods one I don't know...it explains a LOT about why their charges are so high for processes that are supposed to be automated.  It's probably to pay for the constant repair and debugging.

Also, the HSBC have been notorious for bad service for years, which is why I've never bothered with them.  I belive they tried to wring cash out of students recently untill the students union organised a faceparty protest!  They backed down but the damage is already done....They've probably lost a whole generation of future customers!   My motto has always been "a happy customer tells no-one.... and unhappy customer tells EVERYONE ! "

Hi Rich,

I know you are right; I may have a bad credit history, but that was when I was younger on 15k a year and being stupid with credit cards.

Up until the recent events of Halifax pi ssing me off, I had quite a few thousand pounds in an online savers account. After the dippy cow in the branch hacked me off, I withdrew and told them to stick it.

I still have the normal account, but I want something more. No one else will take me... even if I opened the account with 10k they wouldnt!!

Tossers the lot of them!

Sorry chaps but I'm not sure you're going to experience much difference elsewhere.

The trend these days is for all banks to migrate certain customers away from the counter to more efficient channels.  Try going into a HSBC branch these days, you're lucky if you can find the counter never mind use it.  From the sounds of it you both have the Halifax social banking product i.e. a loss making account for the organisation.  They want to keep the counter free for customers they can sell loans, insurance and credit cards to.

If you have been able to use the counter in the past, the bank would have had to change the Terms and Conditions for the account and this would have had to have been communicated to you in writing.  This really shouldn't have been a surprise.

Personally I quite like self service machines - usually you get served quicker and you don't have to listen to someone trying to flog you another product.

Not meaning to be cruel, but from your descriptions you have poor credit records, so you may struggle to get a full bank account with another bank.  I doubt the Halifax will be sorry to see you go...


 

Hi CJ,

I have had EXACTLY the same treatment as you. I mean EXACT! I couldn't have put it better myself.

I went in on my lunch break last week and they called an underwriter to look at upgrading my account. I have had adverse credit, but that account has anywhere between £3,000 - £4,500 go in each month and I've not been overdrawn since 2005.

They don't like dealing with you over the counter, and they don't like speaking over the telephone. If you want to transfer money, it's all automated. If you upgrade the account, only THEN can you speak to an advisor to do it for you. The cheques take up to 10 days when on an upgraded account its 3!

My recommendation is that you avoid Halifax like the plague also!

This is the final straw in an ongoing litiny of crap from this bank! 

 

It took me an HOUR, a visit to TWO branches TWO bus rides and a LONG, expensive 0845 telephone call on my mobile to their head office, to be allowed to pay in money to my account today. 

All while rushing to get to work.

 

I've had a cashcard account with them for several years and with their new "self service" idea they've just gone too far!  They said today that "those are the conditions of the account" 

NOT when I put my name on the dotted line they weren’t!!!.

 

The paying in machines that they want us to use are broken most of the time (IF the branch actually has one at all) and then they expect you to put your hard earned cash into an envelope which includes the instruction, and I quote “The bank will not be liable for any difference between the contents and the amounts stated on the envelope.  The bank's decision on the contents is final" and hope it gets into your account sometime that day or the next. 

 

As I read that, it means that if a member of their staff pockets it then they can say it wasn't there and you have to lump it!

 

Then, after all that phoning about they finally got hold of someone in my branch who came out with a condescending attitude and basically said that IF I didn't want to put my money in the envelope then I could trade down to a lower account and loose my debit card, internet banking etc and be left with just a bank book but they would then dane to handle my grubby money over the counter! 

 

The last time they offered to upgrade my account I spent an hour giving all my details only to discover that the assistant was doing an insurance quote before she even put in for the upgrade. The quote took the hour, the account took 5 minutes to turn me down... again a case of, give us your money, then get lost.   Just be careful, their eagerness to upgrade you also messes up your credit report so that if you then subsequently apply for an account at another bank, their credit search will have damaged your rating. 

 

This on top of them holding onto my salary for an extra week after everyone else at work has theirs in their accounts.  It startd off being a couple of days late then a few more.  Surprisingly, this delay started about the same time they went “self service".   They then blamed my employers bank for the delay.... but then why doesn't anyone else's salary get delayed?  Then when I put that to the they started blaming the BACS system.....

 

So... now I'm going to change everything over to my Co-Op Bank account, pay my salary into that and tell the Halifax to take their debit card and shove it up their stroppy, holier-than-thou  %@#&

 

Basically!  If you want a good bank, with helpful staff, plenty of customer service, that won't treat you like something they've scraped off their shoe and won't wring every penny out of you in extortionate charges, then, my recommendation is that you avoid the HALIFAX like the plague!!!