Hellifax

One of the banks that had to rely on government intervention to stop it going under was the Halifax. I have banked with them for some time, and have not found them to be particularly clever. For example, when they sent me a letter containing my details and those of a complete stranger, saying one account was going to pay the credit card bill of the other in monthly payments, I phoned them up straight away so that it could be put right. All I asked was a couple of pounds put into my account to pay for the phone call. Their later letter refused, saying that, as they had already refunded me £12 over another of their mistakes, they didn't owe me anything! Pay for one mistake, get the other one free. After the intervention of the regulator, they paid me £100!

Well this time, I won't be laughing. Today I came home to a letter, dated 31st May, saying that on 3rd June and every month thereafter, they would be paying £995 from my account into the account of a total stranger. It obviously did not occur to them to check in advance the legitimacy of this uncharacteristically large sum, so by the time I heard about it my account was nearly £1000 light. That's close to four times the amount of my largest standing order, for the remainder of my mortgage. Yet it has been nodded through as though I did transactions like that every day, or indeed every month "until further notice".

Well I did notice, and they say that the money will be back in my account by close of business tomorrow. But if they find that it isn't a mistake by the bank or a fraudulent transaction, they will take it back again.

What the FUCK do these people think they are doing with MY money?