Halifax

About Halifax

Formerly known as Halifax Building Society, Halifax is a British bank. It is named after the town in West Yorkshire where it was founded in 1853 as a building society. The bank is a trading division of Bank of Scotland. The first London office was opened in 1924.

By 1913 Halifax was the UK’s largest building society and continued this success until it was demutualised in 1997. At this stage, it became Halifax PLC. Halifax then merged with Bank of Scotland in 2001, forming HBOS. When the group was reorganised just five years later, Halifax became a division of Bank of Scotland. HBOS was taken over by Lloyds TSB in 2009 and both Bank of Scotland and Halifax became part of Lloyds Banking Group.

Halifax Bank Products and Services

Halifax offers a range of current accounts designed to cover every type of customer.

• Reward current account: earns £2 per month provided £750 is paid in and the account stays in credit
• Ultimate Reward account – includes various insurance products, costs £15-17 per month
• Youth accounts tailored for people aged 11-17
• Student accounts
• Basic account – for customers who don’t qualify for other account options

Halifax also has a selection of personal credit cards for purchases and transfers.

As well as standard instant access and fixed rate savings accounts, Halifax has a savings account specifically designed to teach children to save, plus a tax-free cash ISA option.

Customers who are keen to invest can choose from an investment account or investment ISA or join the Halifax Trade Centre to deal in shares.

Lending options for personal customers include loans and mortgages; Halifax accepts both new mortgages and remortgages and offers various rewards for these customers.

Halifax offers home, life, car and business insurance policies.

One notable absence from the Halifax banking portfolio is a business banking service; these products are not offered. Business customers can choose to bank with either Lloyds or Bank of Scotland, both of whom offer business banking services.

Halifax Security

Halifax customers using online banking are opted into Halifax Secure, which intervenes as an extra security step in transactions where it feels needed. Secure asks extra security questions to ensure customers are not being defrauded. Customers can read additional information about keeping their account safe on the Halifax website.

Halifax is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Prudential Regulation Authority.