When the local Halifax counter closes in October, it could have a profound effect on East Leake and surrounding areas.  First of all it will mean that some people will have to travel outside the village to do their personal banking.  The chances are that they will also do some of their shopping outside the village in order to justify the cost of travelling and this will impact upon local shops and services in the long term. Have your say with our Online Survey and make your views known.

East Leake as a village is growing and with the new development on Gotham Road, there is potential new business for anyone who trades in the village but it has to be worthwhile for people to do their shopping and other business in the village. Banking facilities enhance the village business community so we need to make a protest. If it is ignored, we have nothing to lose by withdrawing our customer loyalty and subscribing to another unrelated bank or building society instead.

So far the survey has revealed some interesting results. Some people have absolutely no complaints and will continue to use Halifax regardless since they are equally likely to visit a town branch. In short, the closure doesn't affect them very much at all so their response isn't really relevant.  It serves only to highlight the fact that those unaffected by the branch closure are least likely to complain about it.  Equally it could indicate that they lack to foresight to imagine a time when they might depend on local banking or simply don't care that some vulnerable people will be greatly inconvenienced and incur expense on the basis of an ill considered commercial decision. Our Online Survey will make your views known.

Lots of people believe that Halifax is merely responding to the economic climate so they are not altogether surprised at the branch closure. At the same time those same people believe that Halifax has a responsibility for communities such as East Leake and surrounding areas including Gotham, Bunny, Costock, West Leake and Sutton Bonington so the fact that the branch might not be 'profitable' is not sufficient excuse for a business that is extremely profitable as a whole, to prune those branches that are less profitable but have a community or social value.

My observation about the 'economic climate' would be to ask what brought it about? It doesn't take a genius to arrive at the conclusion that it was the irresponsibility and greed of the finance industry including banks and some building societies - including Halifax and its associates. Not only that, one wonders how much business they picked up when other banks closed their local branches or if they have considered the fact that East Leak is growing with yet another development on Gotham Road? If you have an opinion express it with our Online Survey and let them know that it isn't acceptable.

It has been pointed out to me that some parts of my survey were contrived to 'put words into people's mouths' so I have revised it accordingly, even thought I credit the people who respond  to it with sufficient intelligence as to make up their own minds in spite of any opinions  I might express. Nevertheless, I do maintain my stance that Halifax is not a nice company with which to do business but what bank or finance company is? Here's an example of the underhanded way Halifax does business.

About three years ago, Halifax told a wide cross section of customers (including me) that their current account was being discontinued and that it was necessary to upgrade to a new account since the old one would soon be closed, thus leaving them without banking facilities. To make it attractive Halifax offered to pay interest on balances in credit, increase the amount of overdraft and maintain a favourable rate for arranged borrowing.

Anyone who banks with Halifax will know that they later changed the terms, contrary to the Unfair Terms Regulations, and ceased to pay interest on credit balances. Worse still, they imposed a charge of £1 per day on arranged borrowing so that even if you use 5 pence of your overdraft, it will cost you £1 for every day it remains outstanding.  The Halifax dismissed our complaint out of hand and refused to explain or discuss the radical and disproportionate change in terms which we have not accepted and intend to challenge at law.. It might appeal to someone who enjoys a £1000 overdraft but anyone who relies on a small income is being charged disproportionately if they decide to use their overdraft for any reason - such as being stranded abroad! Use your right to protest with our Online Survey and make your views known.

The change in terms was not negotiated with customers and in my opinion, this is contrary to the Unfair Terms Regulation so there is room for a challenge in law, once the Ombudsman Service gets its act together and decides whether or not it is prepared to do its job. Perhaps insufficient people complained to make it worthwhile but our complaint to the Ombudsman has apparently fallen into a 'black hole' and there has been no communication from either the Ombudsman or Halifax apart from a bland acknowledgement.

To add insult to injury, earlier this year we were stranded in Spain by the Icelandic volcano activity and having made inquiries with Halifax, we were told that in the circumstances, the charge for using the agreed overdraft would be waived. A redeeming gesture you might think?  Nothing of the kind - two months later the charge was imposed and had we not been misled, we could have borrowed the money from a family member to pay for additional car hire without interest or charges. Halifax lied to us and we paid when there was no need.

Now, having established the reasons for the Halifax wishing to persuade customers to change their account on the basis of lies, I checked to see whether or not the 'old' account had in fact been closed - it had not.  Consequently, we have reverted to the old account and experienced no difficulties in doing so. There are good reasons for doing this as will be revealed in due course but it established that Halifax mis-sold a service by deception and for dubious reasons of which they were completely aware at the time.

On the basis of this sequence of events and some inside information, I have the right to express my opinion that Halifax is a greedy, unscrupulous, dishonest organisation that has no sense of social responsibility and no respect for customer loyalty. They are prepared to lie if it serves their purposes and contrary to the assertion that arrangements have been made for some vulnerable members of the community to use the Post Office instead, this is not the case because the Post Office cannot handle all counter transactions - only supply envelopes or process withdrawals.

As for the staff they will make redundant but try to convince us that they won't, regardless of who employed them - Halifax or the agency - the fact remains that they will be redundant and by definition this is bound to affect the local economy and employment. Even if they were aware of it months ago the fact remains that the employees are being made redundant due to a Halifax decision and there are no other jobs on offer - more lies from Halifax.

I suspect that there are many customers who can relate to our experience of Halifax and might wish to use words such as 'charlatan' and 'profiteering' in exactly the same way as there are other who express a positive view in spite of my opinions - usually people whose balance is substantially in credit since it costs only £1 a day to borrow £1000 on an arranged overdraft or those who don't have a need to borrow. Don't be fooled by the propaganda - all banks are the same - unscrupulous and dishonest. Have your say with our Online Survey and make your views known - in your own words of course!

If anyone takes issue with my observations they are welcome to a debate and I shall be pleased to listen to any alternative views that can be supported.  So far I have heard none.  All I will say is that I am happy to declare my identity (see 'Contact' option below) and I expect those who wish to challenge me to do likewise. My view and opinions are not set in stone and if necessary I would be willing to open a forum on this website so the discussion can be made open to all who have an interest.

As Winston Churchill once observed, “Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.”

Thank you to everyone who has spoken, whether or not I agree with you, and for anyone who regards this as an attack on Halifax, of course it is but it is made public in the interest of East Leake, the surrounding areas and the people who live here. There is no profit in this for me!