16th November 2009: Halifax Bank of Scotland Goes Too Far
by Richard W. Fairbairn, Software Engineer, RWF Talking Software
I thought that visitors to this website would like to hear about my recent troubles with HBOS. If you would like to share an interesting story please contact me.

Note that I have intentionally used the term Halifax Bank of Scotland excessively in drafting this so that major search engines will index and make this page more easy to find.

HALIFAX BANK OF SCOTLAND (HBOS) - A WARNING TO EVERYONE
I'm disputing outrageous charges on my account made by the Bank of Scotland. These happened because I was overdrawn for less than a day. Actually, less than an hour! However, I am told that in one of the many terms and conditions booklets that I've put in the blue recycle bin over the years that funds must be available in the account the night before any due transaction. This is quit curious, as my wife (once manager of a Lloyds branch in Kent) informs me that this was not the way she knew the system to work. She understood that all transactions on an account were collated during the overnight process. I know who I am inclined to believe. After all, the Bank of Scotland has shown erratic and unprofessional behaviour to me many times in the eighteen years I have banked with them.

I spoke with a customer care representative and her cheeky manager, who suggested that I move to an account that I found easier to manage. I told her that I did not need any account with a free piggy bank, just a little bit of flexibility considering the many mistakes they have made over the years. Screwing up my balance, applying charges out of thin air with no rhyme or reason, incompetent phoneline operators hanging up halfway through currency transfers that they were obviously not trained to perform. The list could go on and on, but the point I am making is that the Bank of Scotland really cannot justify charging me seventy pounds for being overdrawn for less than a day. This amount is actually almost double the amount I actually was overdrawn, though I still dispute that I ever was overdrawn.

The Bank of Scotland is unwilling to negotiate. As the local branch telephone numbers are no longer available I was forced to drive to the local village of Gullane to speak to a manager. Of course none was available, so I was connected by phone to the nearest available manager. The branch this time was in North Berwick, a few more miles from my home. I could tell from the onset of the conversation that my account has been well and truly flagged. There was not a hint of cooperation or understanding. In fact, it was all I could do not to tell the manageress to stick her bank in her rectum. But I did not think that would resolve anything besides giving the Bank of Scotland a quick and easy out. But it went nowhere, except I'd wasted more time out of my day. So far I think the count stands at four hours.

I've had a low opinion of banks for many many years now. I see them as little more than common crooks, trying to screw the everyday customer out of every charge they can get away with. The charges they apply to small indiscretions are criminal - and thankfully this statement will soon be literally true. In February 2009 the Court of Appeal confirmed a decision made by the High Court that bank charges are subject to fairness rule. What this means is that Right now the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is making a decision as to whether the charges made by the banks for unauthorized overdrafts is fair. If these charges are deemed to be unfair by the OFT then the banks will be facing substantial compensation claims from customers.

This is great news. Its unfortunate for me that I have kept my account pretty well maintained over the years. I think the real winners in the long run will be people who have faced hardship and have repeately gone over their authorized overdraft. The bank will have charged them many times over the years and these charges can be reclaimed. It's begun a matter of principle now for me to take Halifax Bank Of Scotland to court over the two charges they will take from me. I am fueled on by the intense anger I feel towards Halifax Bank of Scotland. I have explicitly explained to numerous managers and phoneline operators that these charges are unlawful, are currently being disputed in court and will soon result in a huge backlash for the bank. But HBOS does not seem to care. They're grubbing every single penny they can get from every single customer they can cheat and steal from. And, sad to say, the real victims here are always going to be the obvious ones - the old and the disabled and the people who cannot fight and have nobody to fight for them.

So, if I ever did have any respect for Halifax Bank of Scotland its gone now. And I'll be sure to make this more than apparent in every future dealing I have with these liars, cheats and incompetents. Maybe thats the way I should have done business with them in the past. It sure would have saved me any hardship. Now every correspondence I have with every staff member will be recorded. Every time the incompetent operator drops the call I will make a claim for compensation. Every time a payment goes astray I will make a claim for compensation. Every time I have to spend extra time kicking their arse or wiping it I will claim for compensation. Without error. They've shaken my hive and I think ten years ago I would have unloaded a truckload of manure all over their head office in Edinburgh.

I have to be honest now. A part of me is thankful to HBOS for this experience. I think its woken me from a slumber of complacency that's sat over me for more than a decade. It's taken me back to the mid nineties, when I was a hungry technical author struggling to make ends meet. I couldn't afford to let anything past me then. But as the years passed I gained more skills, my salary increased and I guess I just got lazier. More and more things like this got past me. My office cabin was laid on a wooden frame instead of a proper concrete base. The electric wiring there was screwed up by two cowboys who drilled through the cabin foundations, causing it to start sinking into the ground less than a year after it was erected. A pest controller charged over a hundred pounds to track mud all over our carpets and throw three poison bait traps under the sink - without trying to find and seal the source of entry of our then field mouse problem. So I've become complacent - and dangerously so.

Thanks to HBOS thats now at an end. I'm born again with an intense rage against anyone or anything who attempts to screw me or my family over. And my first target is HBOS itself. I just hope that the courts force these crooks to come clean sooner rather than later.

Finally, you might ask why I have stayed with such a lousy bank? The answer is that where I live there really isn't much choice. And the cynical side of me doesn't believe that the other banks will be any different. So its a case of "better the devil you know".

Are you being cheated by HBOS or another bank in this way? Please let me know.