IF (Intelligent Finance, an arm of Halifax) spluttered into the internet banking arena towards the end of last year. After delaying their internet service a number of times they are STILL having problems.
I received a letter on 18th December informing me that my IF plan (Plan in the name they give to a number of different accounts owned by one person, for example loan, credit card and savings). I have been unable to logon to the web site ever since and finally managed to get access on 4th January.
Despite numerous phonecalls to their helpdesk, the problem still took far too long to resolve. They didn't even have the decency to place a message on their webs site warning of the problems.
Although I am extremely unhappy with their service, the "plan" is fantastic. What it's basically about is linking the money you owe with the money you have saved in order to maximise interest received, or minimise the interest you pay.
For example if you have a £6000 loan, but have £5000 in savings you can offset the savings against the loan and pay interest on only £1000 of the loan.
This account could benefit us all !!
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Interesting to hear that employees don't have confidenc in the service either !
Still, my initial fury at the way my problems with the website have died down.... life's too short.
At the end of the day, I'm saving money using the IF service. IF (sorry about the pun) this situation changes, I'll revert to one of the reliable internet banks such as Barclays
mascarasnake 04.01.2001 23:16
I work or the b`stards and I have not bothered taking out a plan, although I did enquire, but they showed the usual incompetence that I associate with the Halifax so I told them to stuff it. I raise the following as a point to consider. If you have a £6000 loan and £5000 savings, why not pay off the loan and only borrow £1000 as a result? It is actually a bit more complicated than that, but the principle is there. If I had the money in the first place I would not be borrowing money from them on a mortgage or loan. I know first hand how `Mickey-mouse` like this package was cobbled together, shoehorning equipment into places that were never planned to take it, causing all sorts of chaos, so I would personally wait a lot longer to see what else goes wrong.
Advantages: Plenty of articles, has some messageboards, excellant quotes facilities Disadvantages: They've just ditched their Shares portfolio service, which was light years better than any similar service on the 'net
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