I had a very bad experience with Halifax mortgages. Sorry this goes on a bit...
In the summer of 2007, I realised I could pay off my mortgage, 15 years into a 25-year mortgage. I was over the moon.
Being naive (I don't pay off mortgages very often!) I asked them how to do it. Their man said - "send us a cheque". This I did, then the trouble started.
A couple of weeks passed and no acknowledgement of the cheque so I called them to ask for some sort of comfirmation. They sent a photocopy of the cheque.
Next I had demands for missed payments and was told to ignore them as the system was slow to catch up. Another demand came in and I called at Huddersfield branch to sort it. Staff there were very helpful and called all the right people but there was an anomaly of some sort. I showed the Halifax lady my photocopy and she noticed changed details which made no sense to me.
A Halifax employee at their Leeds-based mortgage office had altered the cheque and paid it into a private account!
Cut a long story short - weeks of anguish and dealing with their almost helpful fraud office (all at my time and expense) getting letters referring to the 'disputed use of my cheque book' (!) and the matter was resolved - probably because I wanted to call the police.
Mortgage account was closed, deeds were sent and all finished but never an apology and never an offer to compensate. I was too proud to go grovelling for it but they should have treated me better than this.
It is now about a year later and my delight is to tell anyone who will listen about my experience of the Halifax. Their customer 'service' stank (except at Huddersfield branch). Don't trust them with your mortgage.
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Aug 8th, 2008
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