Receiving and sending funds

Take a look at the quick and easy money transfers available from your Halifax current account.

If you register for online banking, you'll be able to transfer money between your accounts online, as well as pay your bills or set up standing orders.

Register or sign in now to online banking.

Regular debit card payments

CHAPS

Electronic overseas transfers

The table below explains when you can take money out of your account after paying in cash, cheques or automated payments. Your deposit receipt will tell you the withdrawal date.

'Day' means 'bank working day' – any day between 9am and 5pm which is not a Saturday, Sunday or English bank or public holiday.

Special arrangements apply to paying in:

• cash in foreign currencies
• cheques in foreign currencies or from foreign banks
• cash or cheques paid in at some of our agencies in the UK, or
• cash or cheques paid in at any agencies outside the UK. 

For more information, please ask at any branch.

If you pay a cheque into your account and we let you take some or all of its value out of your account, this does not mean that the cheque has been paid by the paying bank. If the cheque is returned to us without it being paid we may take the amount of the cheque out of your account, unless more than six bank working days have passed since the day you paid in the cheque. This is more commonly known as 'certainty of fate '. After six bank working days we can only take the amount of the cheque out of your account if you have been a knowing party to fraud.

If you want to be sure that a cheque has been paid in or out of your account before six bank working days have passed, you should ask us to deal with the cheque by our ‘Special Presentation’ service. If you use this service and we confirm to you that the cheque has been paid, you can be sure that the funds are available for withdrawal. You should use this service if it is very important for you to know that the cheque has been paid, for example if the cheque has a high value.

Regular debit card payments

Pay regular bills automatically, such as magazine subscriptions or insurance, using your debit card. You agree the payments with the company or organisation, often by telephone. If you need to cancel a payment, you'll need to speak directly to the organisation that set it up.

Electronic UK transfers

Pay your Halifax credit card

As a Halifax current account customer, you have two options to quickly pay your Halifax or Bank of Scotland credit card:

• Pay using your debit card.
• Transfer the money to pay your bill online or by telephone.

CHAPS payment

CHAPS (Clearing House Automated Payments System) is a method of sending usually high-value payments (for example, to buy a car).

Payments are guaranteed to arrive safely and securely, and cost only £25 each.

To send a CHAPS payment you'll need the receiving account name, number and sort code.

The funds will arrive at the destination bank on the same day if we receive your instruction before 1.30pm on a bank working day.

You can also receive funds into your account by CHAPS transfer.  We will credit your account with cleared funds the same day if we receive them before 4pm; otherwise the funds will be credited the next bank working day.

The sending bank should quote your account number and sort code.

Without these, or if any incorrect details are provided, we cannot credit your account and may return the funds to the sending bank.

Electronic overseas transfers

International electronic funds transfer

It's quick, safe and secure to transfer your money overseas with Halifax. Your money could arrive anywhere in the world in just one to two bank working days*.

You'll need the following information for the destination bank:

• euro payments: The account name, **BIC and ***IBAN
• rest of the world: the payee’s name and bank details.

To transfer your money securely overseas, call 08457 20 30 40 or visit your local branch.

You can also receive funds from overseas by international electronic funds transfer. To ensure your funds are received as quickly as possible you must instruct the overseas bank to send funds via SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication), quoting the following details: 

• euro payments: the account name, BIC and IBAN
• rest of the world: payee name and bank details.

For more about overseas funds transfers read our International Payment Services section.

*The transfer between banks is usually completed in the  receiving bank’s country within one or two bank working days. However, this is subject to local banking practices and time-zone differences.

**BIC (Bank Identifier Code) – a code by which a bank is identified throughout the world, in a standard format.

***IBAN (International Bank Account Number) – a code to identify a bank sort code and account number; it must be used when sending payments to a member country of the European Union.   

Foreign drafts

Ideal if you need to send money abroad but don't know the other party's bank details. You can have a cheque drawn in the currency of the destination country and post it to them, and they can deposit it into their bank account just like any other local cheque. Available in most major currencies.

Foreign cheques and deposits

You can also pay selected foreign currency cheques into your account at a branch counter.  We'll let you know the charges and when your account may be credited at the time you make the deposit. We may have to return some cheques to their country of origin – known as Foreign Cheque Collection.  We’ll tell you if we have to do this.  We’ll credit the cleared funds to your account when we receive them, which can take up to six weeks, and we'll write to tell you the amount received, less our charges. Any banks involved in clearing a cheque may make a charge.