Top Student Accounts 2008/09 Article Discussion

Pisceanjoy

My son has been refused a student account because of his poor credit rating
Any suggestions?

Former_MSE_Natasha

natweststaffmember wrote: »

Martin, is there any information on Northern Ireland banks? and I can send something to MSE Natasha if she wants(did some research a few months ago for another forum I was involved in).

Yup, feel free to send me a pm with any information you'd like me to look at.

[Deleted User]

Pisceanjoy wrote: »

My son has been refused a student account because of his poor credit rating
Any suggestions?

Was he actually refused the account or just the overdraft?

melancholly

Deleted User wrote:

A lot of people seem to be going for NatWest because of the rail card, missing out on a bigger overdraft. The biggest overdraft you can have with NatWest is £2000, which you can get only in year 5. the biggest with Halifax is £3000 which is available in the first year.

although that's true in principle, Halifax doesn't guarentee to go up to that maximum and there have been a lot of threads on here from students who were denied the full amount (or indeed any overdraft at all). personally, i think natwest is a safer bet based on reading other people's experiences.

Tom_Holden

Can anyone who had the HBOS account last year give any feedback on when and by how much they were able to increase their overdraft each time? I'm about to apply, but it would be really handy to have some idea as to when to ask for an increase or to know if theres some kind of pattern to it or if its done on a case by case basis. Do they do a credit check for each increase? If it normally takes a certain number of requests to get to the full amount then it would be good to be able to plan ahead and space these out.

arthurmauk

I'm starting Uni this October and I'm planning on getting both a NatWest account for the freebies and an HBOS account for the overdraft. Would this be possible?

To be even cheekier, looking at the full table http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/1121700170,82362 it seems like quite a lot of banks don't have it in their T&Cs that I have to be exclusive with them, so can I actually just open up 6 different student accounts with 6 different banks with such T&Cs and practise deficit banking that way?

TheLostProphet

Thanks for posting it, MSE team!

irisheyes123

One thing that is missing from the Llloyds TSB requirements is that one of your parents needs to have an account with LLoyds TSB to open a student account....CRAZY.....I know!!

I'm 20 years old and was refused an account because of this. I live in Northern Ireland and will be going to uni in Manchester, and was looking for an account which is based on the main land as opposed to NI/ROI banks such as Ulster Bank and Bank of Ireland.

After applying and beng told i needed to apply gain I was then told I can't get it....thus affecting my eligibility for other banks....hence Abbey declined me!!!!:mad: :mad:

FURIOUS!!!!!:mad: :eek:

Niall
Northern Ireland

[Deleted User]

Tom_Holden wrote: »

Can anyone who had the HBOS account last year give any feedback on when and by how much they were able to increase their overdraft each time?

I have a halifax account, opened last year when the upper limit was £2750.
I got an initial limit of £500, however this was increased to £1000 immediately (I opened the account in a branch.) I had already applied for my loan though, so this was being paid into another account. I was told to apply for the bigger overdraft when the loan was set up to go into my account.

In Martin's article, the comparison page says that Halifax (HBOS) does their overdrafts on an individual basis, whether that means a full blown credit check or not, I don't know. Certainly for the initial £1000 there was no credit check other than the one done before setting up the account.

The loan is going into my account this year, so I will be applying for a higher overdraft limit. (You have to do this in a branch). I'll try and let you know how it goes. It may be worth asking the bank itself how much you will get initially and what you need to do in order to get the full amount.

c.cam108

I opened an HBOS account last year and only got a £500 overdraft. I was also told that I couldn't ask for a larger one until the end of the financial year!

Now I want a larger overdraft, how do I apply? Do I just go into a branch? What is the chance (if any!) of me getting the full £3000?

Colin C