Changing your name with Halifax

How do I change the name on my Halifax mortgage?#

Halifax's mortgage help gives two ways: write to Halifax, The Green Building, Leeds, LS78 1LB, or go to a branch. In a branch, Halifax says you need "the original version of your name change document", such as your marriage certificate or deed poll.

Either way, begin with Halifax's change of name form, which is filled in and printed online, not downloaded. Sign in to Halifax Online Banking, open Your profile, then Change your contact details, then Change name; the mortgage page links to registration if you do not bank online. Halifax will want to see both signatures, the old and the new.

The form and the Leeds address are the same ones Halifax's general change of details page gives for everything else you hold. That page also says a change of name reaches "all your Lloyds Banking Group accounts", listing Lloyds, Bank of Scotland, MBNA and Lloyds Bank Private Banking. The one gap is insurance: some policies Halifax sold are managed by someone else, Halifax will not update those, and the policy itself says who to tell.

After marriage#

Halifax lists the marriage certificate, and the civil partnership registration document, with no condition attached, so either is enough by itself. Show the original in a branch, or post the original or a certified copy with the form.

A new surname does not change who is named on the mortgage. To add a husband or wife, or to take anyone off, Halifax says you apply for a remortgage in the names of the new property owners: it checks affordability and eligibility, a new loan may carry fees, and a conveyancer is needed. Its mortgage page asks you to get in touch to start; the ways to reach Halifax are on its contact page.

The lender's records and the title to your home are separate, too. HM Land Registry changes the name on the register for free, GOV.UK says, when you send form AP1 with original or certified copies of the documents that connect your old and new names; changing your name with HM Land Registry explains the form.

With a deed poll, the passport or licence comes first#

Halifax accepts an enrolled deed poll as it stands. An unenrolled one, which is what you have unless you applied to the court to enrol it, Halifax accepts only if you can also show a valid UK or EU passport or driving licence in your new name. So the deed poll has to open other doors first:

• HM Passport Office needs the original deed poll plus one document, issued within the past year, that shows you using the new name. A letter from your council, your employer or HMRC counts, and so does a statement from another bank.
• DVLA, given a deed poll, wants a document dated within the past year, and after the deed, that shows the new name; a utility bill is among those it lists. Or you can give the number of your new UK passport.

Tell your council, your employer, HMRC or another bank first, then apply for whichever of the passport and the licence suits you; Halifax needs just one. Our guides to HM Passport Office and DVLA take each application in turn. Enrolling would remove the condition, but GOV.UK prices it at £53.05 and warns it can take several months, and Halifax's list marks enrolled deed polls as unavailable in Scotland.

Current accounts, savings and credit cards#

In the app, Halifax lets you update your name as well as your address and contact details. A change of name there needs a UK or EU passport or your driving licence. Halifax is still introducing that service and Android phones cannot use it yet; its alternative is a letter or a branch visit with the form.

When posting, you can send originals or certified copies. Halifax suggests recorded delivery, sends originals back after the change, and returns certified copies only on request, so post a certified copy of your deed poll and keep the original.

Beyond marriage and deed polls, Halifax's list covers:

• Divorce: the decree absolute or other divorce papers and the marriage certificate, together with one more document: your birth certificate, a deed poll on the same condition as above, or in Scotland a copy of the Register of Corrections entry.
• Other reasons: a statutory declaration or an adoption certificate; in Scotland, a Register of Corrections entry or an amended birth certificate from the Registrar General in Edinburgh.

Halifax's page for existing credit card customers points a change of personal details to the same guide. Changes made in the app usually appear at your next log-in, Halifax says, though some take up to 48 hours; it publishes no timescale for postal changes, and nothing about a child's change of name.

Divorce and joint accounts#

Halifax's separation guide says a joint account holder can be taken off in a branch once any overdraft debt is paid off, with both of you signing forms to agree. For a joint mortgage it points to independent advice, or to your lender about moving the mortgage into one name, which brings you back to the remortgage described above.

Halifax is becoming Lloyds#

Halifax's brand is changing to Lloyds. Customers who use its app and online banking are being invited, in stages, to move to the Lloyds versions, and the Halifax app will eventually stop working. For a change of name the two banks' pages match: Lloyds' own help page gives the same app service, the same form path and the same list of documents, and your account numbers and sort codes stay as they are. Changing your name with Lloyds Bank covers the Lloyds side, and how other banks compare covers the rest.