Top Student Accounts 2008/09 Article Discussion

Ebbo_2

Hi, I'm starting Uni in under 2 weeks (gah!) and have left the student account thing a bit late, but better late than never! So I've read Martin's article on student accounts (several times) and have read all the replies to this thread, and the general gist I can get is if you can't get a Halifax account, most people are going to Natwest - but when looking through the comparisons, RBS gives out a much bigger overdraft (2750, to Natwest's 1250) ---- not wanting to miss something blindingly obvious before I launch myself with a never-ending mountain of debt, are people going for Natwest for the railcard (I wouldn't use it - ever!)? Or am I missing something obvious that is putting people off RBS..........??!!! Help!!!!

gabria

Hey can anyone suggest what is the best postgraduate student account in England for an EU national? I'm Irish so I think my choice is between Abbey and Barclays only, but I could be wrong. My course is one year long.
Thanks , Brian

MrsManda

Helen_T wrote: »

Hi all! I'm just about to open a Halifax student account. What I'd really like to do is to have the full £3000 overdraft limit and use it to pay off an existing bank loan I have which I am paying a high amount of interest on.

Should I arrange to speak to the Halifax about that or should I keep it quiet and just ask for an overdraft increase without telling them why I want it?

I opened my Halifax account last week. I spoke to them about my interest free overdraft and basically they give you £1000 initially and then when your student loans/grants have been paid into the account you can ask them to increase the overdraft. I wouldn't tell them you want the overdraft so you can pay off a bank loan, 1) because it's supposed to be there for student emergencies 2) it doesn't make you sound like a good credit risk.
Get the account and wait it out - your loans should go in in a week.

MrsManda

Ebbo wrote: »

Hi, I'm starting Uni in under 2 weeks (gah!) and have left the student account thing a bit late, but better late than never! So I've read Martin's article on student accounts (several times) and have read all the replies to this thread, and the general gist I can get is if you can't get a Halifax account, most people are going to Natwest - but when looking through the comparisons, RBS gives out a much bigger overdraft (2750, to Natwest's 1250) ---- not wanting to miss something blindingly obvious before I launch myself with a never-ending mountain of debt, are people going for Natwest for the railcard (I wouldn't use it - ever!)? Or am I missing something obvious that is putting people off RBS..........??!!! Help!!!!

As far as I know, RBS is not a bad choice. I think most people go to Natwest when they can't go to Halifax is because Martin's advice suggests it. Strangely however he recommends RBS if you live or study in Scotland but looking at RBS's website you appear to get the same overdraft if you are living/studying in England & Wales as well. There just probably isn't as many branches in England as in Scotland.

digsby202

I'm afraid obtaining the overdraft of £3000 at Halifax isnt as easy as it sounds.
My daughter is about to enter her 3rd year at Uni, she has a student account at Halifax. In year 1 her OD limit was 1250, year 2 it was 1500. She rang them today to confirm her OD limit for next year, her overdraft is due for renewal on 1st October. They told her it was being reduced to 1000. Their reasons being she didn't pay enough into her account, and there was no evidence of a salary going in ( at this she reminded them she was a student !)
Every month we pay 400.00 into her account by standing order, she has an ISA and occassionally transfers money from that ( yesterday she transferred 1100.00 over ). She also has her student loan paid directly into it.
We went to the branch today, and they were just as surprised, they told us that 1000.00 was the normal OD limit on the student account. I waved the brochure at them, asking if they knew anyone who received the 3000.00 limit, they said they didn't.
I am furious that they can do this, after luring students in with such promises.

Love D

ka7e

DD has finally had enough of Nat West's incompetence and is looking to switch Student accounts.

Our local branch set up a new student a/c for her in Aug 07 and told her to locate her nearest branch when in London and report her term-time address. She specifically asked it be a new a/c and that her current a/c not be "upgraded". Her credit card and cash card arrived at her home address, but no student info pack or promised Railcard. Staff in EC1 told her there was no record of any of her a/cs and told her to refer back to her home branch.

She requested internet banking, the first part of her paperwork was sent to her old home address, the second part never materialised.

Statements to her old home eventually showed her Student Loan and bursary were being paid into her current a/c.

After 3 months , EC1 staff admitted that her current a/c had been upgraded to a student a/c, but that she'd missed the deadline to qualify for the Railcard offer!

DD has 4+ days per week theory in 8 week blocks then 8 weeks placement in another area of London. City banks have the most antiquated working hours 9-3 and no Sat opening so it is virtually impossible to get into a local branch in person. Staff have been dismissive and obstructive when faced with internal mistakes. 2 further requests for online banking were ignored completely. As were notifications of her change of address, statements continue to turn up at her old home address.

Today she visited a branch in E3, hoping to nominate it as her "home branch" and arrange payment of her rent. They let her transfer nearly £1000 from her ISA to her student a/c, but would not let her transfer money to her landlady's a/c as she didn't have her cashcard on her!! She had a copy of her Student Loan Agreement, a letter from the landlady, her last bank statement and her passport as ID, but they tried to insist she needed her cashcard as well. When she kicked up a fuss, they agreed to either transfer the money for a £25 fee or let her withdraw £950 cash and walk across the road to the local branch of Barclays and pay it into her landlady's a/c. She choose the latter (whatever happened to the £250 per day withdrawal limit?) Why not use online banking, they suggested :doh:.She vowed to move her a/c asap.

They also declined to raise her O/D to that of a second-year student unless she had a letter from her uni, specifically stating she was in her 2nd year of study (the fact that she had a student a/c for nearly a year and had her Student Loan Agreement for 08/09 with her, notwithstanding).

Dara

I just opened my Halifax student account and got the £500 overdraft. They told me to come back when my loan had gone into the account to increase my overdraft.

Considering all that's happening with this Lloyds HBOS merger, am I still as likely to get an increase in my overdraft? or should I switch to RBS now???

I am already with RBS so they are probably more likely to give more than £500 anyway... but then its not quite £3k is it?

Not sure what to do. Assuming I'm not tied until the student loan is paid in.

digsby202

Dara,
If you read my post above about my daughters experiences with Halifax, let me know how you get on, I would love to hear from anyone who has managed to get the 3000.00 overdraft.
Following on from yesterday, the branch sent in an appeal on her OD limit. I really don't know what you need to do to qualify for it, at present my daughters account is 1400.00 in credit and thats before the student loan goes in. Granted , she doesn't really need an OD of more than 1000.00, but it was their attitude in cutting it and as a student its useful to have that cushion.
I think I just want to win this one with them !

LOVE d

JRKyte

Hello,
This is my first post on the forums, after finding this website looking for the best student account I read the article and these forums, and then decided to try a technique posted by a member (and highlighted in the article by Martin); open mutliple student accounts where the terms and conditions do not restrict and then employ one as my full-time account which I will use for purchases and a 'security' whilst at university and the rest put the overdraft money into an ISA.

So far I have opened an RBS student Royalties account, a NatWest Student Current account and a Halifax Student Current account - so I thought I would share my experiences of the banks and also my thoughts on the whole illegal/legal debate.

RBS: RBS were very helpful, this could of been due to the fact the advisor in the bank had been to the university I am going to and we shared a few interests so may have been over-nice with me. However, the process was quick - I was accepted and granted an overdraft of £1250 which I can increase (according to the advisor) when my loan is paid in -- this is the account I will be using as my main. He also activated the account without the need for a deposit, but he did say try and get £50 in the next few days (I went back up however and paid this the same day).

Halifax: Halifax was easily the quickest application and I didn't face any of the problems many people have been reporting - they sat me in an office made a call, handed me the phone and a women on the phone went through the application with me which took around 5 minutes. They carried out a credit check and another couple of security checks, which instantly cleared and she told me I was accepted. The cashier opened my account and told me I needed to deposit £100 overnight into the account to activate the account and get my card, PIN and cheque book sent out. So with Halifax the best experience of customer service so far - However, I do not know what my overdraft is until my card is sent out and I can activate my internet banking.

NatWest: NatWest was the only bank I had to book to see, although again, hassle free, approved in less than 30 minutes an awaiting the documentation to activate the account.

AS for the debate about legality of deficit banking, I’m no financial expert by any measure, but, I’m fairly certain Martin wouldn’t publish illegal methods on his website and speak about them on the radio. I'm pretty sure it will just be a loop hole in which you can utilize your overdraft to make you money, the risk being all the banks terms and conditions state the overdraft is payable on demand, and if its tied up in an ISA this could be problematic.

Anyway, my plan would be to;
1. Take all money from NatWest, Halifax, (and eventually) Co-op and put into an ISA.
2. Pay student loan into RBS.
3. Pay wages into NatWest (as although the article doesn’t state this, but it must have regular activity)
4. And direct debit money for rent from RBS, to Halifax account then to the landlord.

Can anyone see any problems with my plan? and I hope my information on the banks can provide people with help in making a choice about their accounts.

Thanks

Jon

Lokolo

Yep thats a good idea.

However as you say, the overdraft is repayable on demand. I would keep regular eye on the account as you will be charged if they take it away from you and you are in it.

Also, with credit checking it can be bad on your credit rating if you are going around asking for credit as this is marked on it, and many of these marks can have a bad effect.

Finally, have you been told how much OD you will get with Natwest or not? And how long did Halifax say until you get your card?