Why is Halifax sending me all these Ex Files?
Ms S.B. writes: I have accounts with Halifax and when I moved house some months ago I gave it my new address. But Halifax has applied my new address to accounts belonging to my exhusband, including one he holds with his second wife. I have tried to get this corrected – in my local branch, on the Halifax complaints line and numerous times by letter – to no avail. Apart from the annoyance, I am concerned his financial affairs may reflect badly on my own credit record. IT WAS hard to believe the wealth of personal information you were able to send me about your former husband – all courtesy of the letters and statements sent to your address by Halifax.
I now know his name, date of birth, Halifax sort code and account number and the fact he was granted an overdraft of £3,250, but exceeded this by £174.
I know he has a personal pension plan, I have the account details and the most recent valuation shows his pension pot stands at £53,292.
I also know he and his second wife have been warned by Halifax of the daily fees they are running up on overdrafts, both authorised and unauthorised.
I am sure readers will wonder why you did not simply forward the letters, or return them to Halifax.
The answer is that you have been divorced for a decade and did not have your ex-husband’s address, any more than he was aware of your address. You returned the letters to Halifax, explaining your ex-husband has never lived at your current address.
But correspondence and statements meant for him and his second wife kept on arriving, making you increasingly worried any debts he was running up could backfire on you.
I asked officials at Halifax’s head office to look into this.
They quickly assured me that while your ex-husband’s personal information was wrongly sent to you, there had been no disclosure of your details to him or anyone else. They have now been in touch with you. Halifax told me: ‘We have spoken to Ms B. and ensured all details are correct so she receives the appropriate correspondence.
‘We have apologised and arranged a payment of £300 for any distress caused.’
You have told me you are happy to accept both the apology and the payment.