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.

Reviews Rating
32%
Review Score
This figure is an average of the reviews score, taken from customer reviews and the overall rating of the bank.
49%
BankRank® Score
This figure is the average of the bank’s total sentiment score and the review scores.
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Matt Crabtree
Senior Editor
Matt Crabtree
Matt Crabtree is a publisher at CompareBanks. He specialises in personal finance and is passionate about helping consumers make informed decisions about their money.
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Overview

First Glance

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.

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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.

Best Halifax Deals

Halifax Current Account Switch Deal – Up to £135 Free
Halifax Current Account Switch Deal – Up to £135 Free Halifax
Key offer details Halifax Current Account Switch Deal – Up to £135 Free Halifax has...

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Is Halifax Bank a nationalised(Government) one or Private one? How to open a new savings Bank account? — Isaac Robert

Halifax Reviews

Edwin Kemp
July 29, 2022

“customer service is the worst yet of uk banks. 24/7/356 is 'exceptionally large call volume' and 30-60 minutes waiting on the phone or refered to app messenger which takes 60-never minutes”

customer service is the worst yet of uk banks. 24/7/356 is ‘exceptionally large call volume' and 30-60 minutes waiting on the phone or refered to app messenger which takes 60-never minutes.
they took money when not supposed to, transfered it to an unknown account because they typed the wrong number, promiseeed a refund in 2 hours… still no cash. and over 2 hours international calls wasted while trying to enjoy a holiday.
totall incompetent totally understaffed. all the salery goes to executive millionairs and shareholders instead of workers

3 persons found this helpful
Chris Jones
July 27, 2022

“I had the most horrific experience with Halifax, and will never use them again”

I had the most horrific experience with Halifax, and will never use them again. We moved our mortgage to them. As a result of their incompetence and errors on their part it took far too long to move the mortgage. Halifax admitted their errors, and agreed that it “should never have happened” but they were absolutely resolute at not recompensing us for our losses and were incredibly rude on the phone.
Months later, the ombudsmen has agreed with us 100% and ordered Halifax to pay us compensation. A simple calculation and one which Halifax should have offered to do from the get go.

Really disappointing that we had to take them to third party arbitration; and the fact that we won shows that we had a valid case, that should have been dealt with directly by Halifax. They were awful on the phone, awful at moving the mortgage and I'll never use any of their services from this point onwards.

4 persons found this helpful
She He
June 30, 2022

“Bogus bogus bogus”

Bogus bogus bogus

3 persons found this helpful
Adnan Ali
June 8, 2022

“Good! Very good”

Good! Very good

2 persons found this helpful
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Halifax Accounts

Current Account
Current Account
Current
Free
Monthly Fee
Interest Rate
Yes
Overdraft
You’ll only pay daily arranged overdraft interest if you borrow over your interest-free amount (if your account has one). Your daily arranged overdraft interest rate is based on how you manage any accounts you have with us and on the credit information we hold about you.
Overdraft Rate
Reward Current Account
Reward Current Account
Current
No fee or £3
Monthly Fee
Interest Rate
Yes
Overdraft
You’ll only pay daily arranged overdraft interest if you borrow over your interest-free amount (if your account has one). Your daily arranged overdraft interest rate is based on how you manage any accounts you have with us and on the credit information we hold about you.
Overdraft Rate
Ultimate Reward Current Account
Ultimate Reward Current Account
Current
£17
Monthly Fee
Interest Rate
Yes
Overdraft
You’ll only pay daily arranged overdraft interest if you borrow over your interest-free amount (if your account has one). Your daily arranged overdraft interest rate is based on how you manage any accounts you have with us and on the credit information we hold about you.
Overdraft Rate
Student Current Account
Student Current Account
Current
Free
Monthly Fee
Interest Rate
Yes
Overdraft
Up to £1,500 interest-free arranged overdraft
Overdraft Rate
Expresscash (11-17 years old)
Expresscash (11-17 years old)
Current
Free
Monthly Fee
Interest Rate
No
Overdraft
Overdraft Rate
Basic Account
Basic Account
Current
Free
Monthly Fee
Interest Rate
No
Overdraft
Overdraft Rate
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