Septimus
Dec 23, 2003, 22:54
About 6 years ago I was able to pay off a small mortgage on our previous house. The guy at the Halifax advised me to leave £100 of the mortgage unpaid so that I could have the deeds stored in the deed store. So far so good. A few years later we moved house. After the deal had gone through I had the usual letter from the solicitor showing the costs etc. There was a payment to the Halifax of £1200 owing against the mortgage. A phone call revealed that the Halifax had been paying for my house contents and rebuilding insurance without my knowledge for the past few years. As far as I was aware we had never had any notification of this but the Halifax kept on adding the outstanding debt to my old mortgage account. A trip to my local Halifax branch seemed to be in order. I went armed with all the paperwork that I needed to prove that I had been paying household insurance to the Nat West throughout the period.
I walked into the branch and went up to the help desk. The branch was really busy and I waited to be helped. The girl at the help counter smiled politely at me and asked me what she could do for me. I smiled at her and announced at the top of my voice that I had come to claim back £1100 that the Halifax had stolen from me and that I would be willing to accept cash or cheque. There was a brief silence. Everyone in the branch turned and looked at me. I showed her the dossier of evidence and asked her for my money. She looked worried. She asked me to keep my voice down as I was drawing attention to the matter. My tactics were working! She asked me to sit down, got me a cup of coffee and then vanished for about ten minutes. She reappeared with the branch manager in tow. I politely but firmly told the manager that if he did not pay me the money owed I would stand outside his branch with a placard that had “Halifax stole £1100” or words to that effect and I fucking meant it.
After ushering me into a private room we went through the evidence. I was able to prove that I had only paid 2 months insurance with the Halifax before canceling it and taking insurance with the NatWest. The useless bastards had carried on collecting the premiums and were adding them to my old mortgage account without my knowledge. The manager made a call to the “dual insurance unit” who acknowledged the “mistake” and I was refunded the £1100 the next day.
Why have Halifax got a dual insurance unit? Is this a common practice?
If I had not moved house when I did how much fucking money would I be owing now without my knowledge? I was lucky that my wife keeps paperwork for ages and I was able to prove that I had been paying insurance elsewhere. My advice to you is don’t listen to the fuckers, pay off your mortgage account in full if you ever have the chance and read the small print. We still have a mortgage with the Halifax but I keep a sharp eye on the fuckers these days.
In hindsight I was a bit hard on the girl at the help desk. She nearly burst into tears after my initial outburst and she did tell me that I was really frightening her. So I would like to take this opportunity to apologise to you my dear. It was nothing personal.
I walked into the branch and went up to the help desk. The branch was really busy and I waited to be helped. The girl at the help counter smiled politely at me and asked me what she could do for me. I smiled at her and announced at the top of my voice that I had come to claim back £1100 that the Halifax had stolen from me and that I would be willing to accept cash or cheque. There was a brief silence. Everyone in the branch turned and looked at me. I showed her the dossier of evidence and asked her for my money. She looked worried. She asked me to keep my voice down as I was drawing attention to the matter. My tactics were working! She asked me to sit down, got me a cup of coffee and then vanished for about ten minutes. She reappeared with the branch manager in tow. I politely but firmly told the manager that if he did not pay me the money owed I would stand outside his branch with a placard that had “Halifax stole £1100” or words to that effect and I fucking meant it.
After ushering me into a private room we went through the evidence. I was able to prove that I had only paid 2 months insurance with the Halifax before canceling it and taking insurance with the NatWest. The useless bastards had carried on collecting the premiums and were adding them to my old mortgage account without my knowledge. The manager made a call to the “dual insurance unit” who acknowledged the “mistake” and I was refunded the £1100 the next day.
Why have Halifax got a dual insurance unit? Is this a common practice?
If I had not moved house when I did how much fucking money would I be owing now without my knowledge? I was lucky that my wife keeps paperwork for ages and I was able to prove that I had been paying insurance elsewhere. My advice to you is don’t listen to the fuckers, pay off your mortgage account in full if you ever have the chance and read the small print. We still have a mortgage with the Halifax but I keep a sharp eye on the fuckers these days.
In hindsight I was a bit hard on the girl at the help desk. She nearly burst into tears after my initial outburst and she did tell me that I was really frightening her. So I would like to take this opportunity to apologise to you my dear. It was nothing personal.