Doing business with Halifax banking online or over the phone is one thing, but when it comes to a face to face services, they seem to of lost the plot with soft skills and common sense. The following occurred between late 2007 to early 2008.

For many months I was living off an overdraft; not exactly the cheapest way to live and certainly not recommended for the faint hearted. It was my choice to do so as I was using the loan to make money elsewhere. As long as monthly interest charges were met, Halifax kept my overdraft perpetual, in fact, they even raised my upper limit. I’m sure this is a common situation; banks love the extra charges they can make for lending money, until a “credit crunch” looms.

Suddenly, in the latter half of 2007 Halifax warned they were going to cut my overdraft by approximately 50%. It was very short notice even though they had previously raised my upper limit on borrowing. Why did they do it, was it solely down to a re-assessment of credit risks? - I doubt it, I almost never exceeded my borrowing limits. My theory is, they gambled I would not make payments if they called 50% of the overdraft, thus I would be subjected to late payment fees. Banks like to test the limits of borrowers to maximise interest charges and the odd late payment fee is good too. It all works great for them so long the money keeps coming in.

I wasn’t happy with them, to me it was a dirty trick; on the one hand they were encouraging me to borrow more by raising my limits and then suddenly trying to wipe me out. Fortunately, I wasn’t on overdraft to meet living expenses, the money was working elsewhere. I sold some assets and paid off my overdraft in full. In one sense I suffered a lose as I had less money working for me. On the other hand, my mind was freed of burden a little as I had one debt less. I’ve stayed in credit since and you can be sure I will never borrow from them again. Strange how they never followed through by lowering my overdraft like they said.

A few months ago I went to a Halifax branch to pay some cash into my account. Anyone can pay money into an account so long as they have the correct details. For convenience, I handed over my debit card which has my account details embossed on it. The lady paid the cash into my account and then noticed I had not signed the back of my card. I explained, I never signed my card as pretty much everyone in the UK has switched to using Chip and PIN terminals. The cashier took issue with this, things escalated and the manager was finally called out.

The deciding issue should of been obvious; I was paying cash INTO an account and to do so there is no requirement for me to be the account holder. If I had wrote down my account details on a piece of paper, they would of accepted it without question. Additionally, I highlighted the fact that Halifax does not provide Chip and PIN terminals inside their own branches yet they require all of their customers to use them where they are available, which is pretty much everywhere.

The bank had no way to prove the card belonged to me so they retained it. They claimed, I could of found the card and put a signature on the back. They admitted they would of accepted my transaction with any signature. Oh I see, good idea, then the crook could carry out their evil deed of paying money in, great!

In their opinion, they were ensuring the security of the original card holder who might of lost their card. So, I showed them photo ID and I offered to type my PIN, if only they could supply a terminal. But it wasn’t good enough, apparently I could of found that too. Finally, I snatched the card off them and walked out. They cancelled my card and subsequent transactions. I was issued with a new card and had to run around updating my details for bills etc. Stubbornness is a bad human trait.

I’m all for alert cashiers but common sense tells me that paying money into an account, when anyone can do so, is not an act of suspicious behaviour.

After a while I ventured to the same Halifax branch again. I had £10 of coins which I wanted changed into a bank note; 10 x 50 pence and the rest in 20s, 10s and 5s. The cashier said she could only do so if I had an account with them. So I told her I had an account and produced a piece of paper with my account details. Then she said it was too many coins to pay in.

“Oh” I said, “so what’s the minimum I can pay into my account?”

“£1” she replied.

So I gave her £1 in coins to which she said, “You’re not doing that 10 times”.

“What? Why not?” She continued to refuse the money so I had no choice and asked for the manager. It was a different manager from my previous experience.

To me, if I want to buy food I go to the supermarket, if I want to deal with money I go to the bank. So, dear manager, what is wrong with my money? “It’s too much” he said, “if you want to pay it in you will have to queue 10 times”.

Okaaaay. So I paid £1 into my account and queued a second time. At my second visit to the counter I asked, “so what is the maximum I can pay in coins?”

“Sir, you made a deal to queue 10 times.” The manager comes out and confirms, the maximum allowed in coins is also £1.

So I queued. 10 receipts, 10 smiles, 10 thank yous, “anything else sir?” Yes, I was there a long time. Can’t help wondering what they would say if I had too many £10 notes.

What is wrong here? Does common sense have any place here? Different people, same attitude and it feels like the problem is systemic. I lodged official complaints and their responses were denial of anything wrong.

Good customer care is all about people and doing that little extra. You won’t get anywhere by alienating your customers or business partners, bad names stick. Let people expect less and get more. You have to love you’re work and you have to take a genuine interest in all the people you do business with.