Halifax customers upset by pronoun badges close accounts and cut up credit cards

People are very upset (Picture: Getty Images/@HalifaxBank)

Angry customers are closing their Halifax accounts because staff are allowed to display their preferred pronouns on their name badges.

Some have labelled the move as ‘communist propaganda’ and have accused the bank of ‘alienating them’ with ‘pathetic virtue signalling’.

Halifax introduced the option so staff could show customers what gender they identify as and how they’d like to be addressed.

On Tuesday the bank tweeted a photo of a badge with the name Gemma, with (she/her/hers) listed underneath. A caption read: ‘Pronouns matter. #ItsAPeopleThing’.

Many responded with fury, accusing Halifax of ‘jumping on the bandwagon’ and trying to ‘lecture their stakeholders’.

Accusing the former building society of being ‘disingenuous’, one Twitter user said it was merely following the ‘prevailing overall opinion that has the current momentum’.

Another added: ‘Is there a direct email address for the head of the bank so we can let him know why we are closing our accounts at this bank?

‘Need to bypass the woke media team and communicate directly with someone at the top.’

The bank said the policy is part of its ‘strive for inclusion, equality and what is right’ (Picture: Twitter)

#ItsAPeopleThing
So is closing your account with Halifax apparently! It’s about time people started pushing back on this utter nonsense. Hopefully other companies will heed the warning of Halifax’s virtue signalling. https://t.co/E7nDUT4acs

— Sozzinski (Person without a cervix) (@Sozzinski) July 1, 2022

“Lefty snowflakes are offended by everything”
Says the man who is closing his Halifax bank account because they’ve added a few words to their name badges 🤦🏻‍♂️

— Danny Washbrook (@Washy85) July 1, 2022

Although Halifax made clear the scheme is optional, people expressed concerns that those who chose not to display their pronouns would be singled out or judged.

Either way, Halifax didn’t appear to bothered that customers were threatening to leave, and even showed them the metaphorical door.

After a user called the bank out for ‘virtue signalling’ a Halifax social media manager named AndyM said: ‘We strive for inclusion, equality, and quite simply in doing what’s right.

‘If you disagree with our values, you’re welcome to close your account.’

This added fuel to the fire, with former Conservative councillor Caroline Ffiske saying: ‘It is incredibly rude for Halifax to say to customers if you don’t like it go away. It’s astonishing to have a bank behaving like a trans activist.’

People got even more angry after the bank provided details on how they can close accounts (Picture: Twitter)

Halifax are closing my credit card account today, yey!
I will not tolerate forced compliance with a belief system and my speech will not be compelled. The absurdity of a bank not just focusing on banking is beyond me.

— Rad Luke (@prozakuk) June 29, 2022

Imagine closing your bank account over a name badge someone else is wearing 😂 #Halifax

— 🜏 Phil 🜏 (@Nosfeshartu) July 1, 2022

One customer wrote: ‘Credit card closed. Bank switch in progress. Not paying good money for have communist propaganda.’

Another added: ‘My wife and I have followed this advice, partly due to Halifax’s current virtue signalling but mostly the eagerness of AndyM to lose customers.

‘Mortgage is being moved, credit cards have been cancelled, deposit account closed. Had been with you since the 90s.’

Another said there was ‘no need’ for the scheme and said they would be ‘blocking the bank on Twitter.

One unhappy customer told MailOnline his whole family had transferred their accounts to Nationwide, amounting to a loss of £450,000 in investments and savings.

Halifax’s inclusion excludes women that believe sex mattersI will be closing my account
Ta-ta Andy and @HalifaxBank https://t.co/G5oOySNrTQ

— Le_Sorelle_Arduino KPSS (@Sorelle_Arduino) June 28, 2022

I’m a Halifax customer and I will remain one, if you think someone’s badge is worth the effort of closing your account then you are very sad. @HalifaxBank

— Matt 🏳️‍🌈 (@MattyTHurst) July 1, 2022

Another said he’s transferred £1,100 from his credit card to another company, saying: ‘I’ve closed my account… sick to death of woke’.

Many more said they were closing their ISAs and cutting up their credit cards in protest.

But others didn’t see what the big deal was, with one Twitter user writing: ‘Weird to see so many people in a frothing rage about a bit of harmless courtesy. Well done for doing this.’

Writer and speaker Cassandra Schadenfreude, wrote: ‘Indeed, politeness and courtesy matter. Casually misgendering someone is not polite or courteous. So pronouns *do* matter.’

One Twitter user wrote: ‘The people closing their Halifax accounts over pronouns are THE biggest snowflakes ever. I cannot stop laughing.’

Another added: ‘People are going through the hassle of changing banks just because they don’t like the staff having badges with some f*****g words on them.’

Speaking to BBC Radio 4, financial commentator Matthew Lynn warned: ‘Companies don’t need to aggressively take positions on what are still quite divisive social issues.

‘It probably didn’t come from the CEO – it comes from a bunch of millennial 20-somethings running the Twitter feed.

‘To tell customers that they should go and close down their accounts and go to a different bank because they have a slightly different view on this is way too aggressive.’

Explaining its rationale, Halifax said: ‘We want to create a safe and accepting environment that opens the conversation around gender identity.

‘We care about our customers and colleagues individual preferences, for us it’s a very simple solution to accidental misgendering.’