Overdraft review date

StudentBoy

Hi,

My overdraft review date is next month. Can someone tell me what exactly this entails? Is it just sitting down with someone in the bank and discussing your current overdraft limit? Will they recommend an increase or decrease in the current limit based on my income and expenditure over the previous 12 months?

Thanks for any replies

Fire_Fox

What year of study are you in? Or have you graduated? How have you behaved on your account? Have you kept well within your limits and funded your account regularly?

TDQO

90% of the time nothing happens, you just get a letter confirming nothing has changed. However they could choose to decrease it so it could be an idea to talk to your bank. I had mine reduced by 500 quid and it royally screwed me over.

omelette451

All overdrafts are subject to annual review, but if you've still got at least a year left as a student and their computer shows up no abnormal activity on your account (i.e. it's had at least some money paid in to it and you haven't exceeded your limit, stuff like that) chances are they'll just send you a letter saying they've reconfirmed your overdraft for another year and specifying your limits. It's usually nothing to worry about.

PinkPig

You won't have to speak to anyone. Unless your account has been badly managed you'll just get a letter confirming that you limit has stayed the same for another year. If you want your overdraft limit to increase, you'll need to contact them about that.

Broke_Student

This year my automatic review for 2 of my student accounts did'nt seem to happen (the limit did not change and I had no letters after the date) despite being told earlier in the year when it will happen.

I simply walked into the banks yesterday and asked for my 'overdraft to be increased now that I'm in my second year of study'. In each case they just called head office and asked for an 'instant decision' and increased the OD to whatever I asked (£1050 and £1550 i didn't want to push it).

These accounts had both been stoozed for the previous years with 99% of the balance in savings accounts. I just made a £300 deposit into the accounts each term and withdrew the money at the cash point the next day. I also paid off the full balances (overpaid with £500 credit) 5 minutes before having the ODs increased - I find this seems to heavily tip the computers decision in your favour (they sometinmes don't give large increases if already in debt). I will withdraw the balances over the next couple of days.

Natwest doesn't automatically increase OD limits AFAIK but you can easily call the freephone student number and have it done instantly.

omelette451

Broke_Student wrote: »

This year my automatic review for 2 of my student accounts did'nt seem to happen (the limit did not change and I had no letters after the date) despite being told earlier in the year when it will happen.

Most student accounts have rules saying you can't have more than one official student account (usually described as one with an overdraft attached), so while you're lucky for getting away with it you want to be careful as if the relevant banks find out they'd be well within their rights to withdraw both credit facilities immediately.

Lokolo

HSBC have an overdraft review date. It doesn't mean anything really. If you have changed your overdraft more than once or arranged an informal overdraft you get charged £25.

Mike1989

If you have a HSBC and Lloyds TSB student current account, you are breaching their terms and conditions. Likewise if you have a HSBC and a Halifax student current account, you are once again breaching their terms and conditions of only holding one student current account.

However, if you have a Halifax and RBS student account you are not breaching their terms and conditions. RBS say that the account should be your main account, Halifax have no such terms according to this site or their own off what I can see. So for example if you pay your part time job wages into your RBS account, pay your student loan and bursary into your Halifax account, or vice versa, then you are not breaching either banks terms and conditions. And you are well within your means to hold those two accounts.

There are banks who say you can't have more than one account, but some allow you to hold two. Some do specify that the main source of income needs to be paid in, for me that is my wage, then its the bursary. So if I had two I could, in theory, could be wrong, get away with having two paying wage into one and bursary into another.

I only hold one account and this year, can't remember when, I got a letter saying my overdraft review was up and they simply renewed my overdraft to what it was set at. Never used it, not been near it, and my account has been managed well. So the whole review is not anything to really worry about.

omelette451

Mike1989 wrote: »

RBS say that the account should be your main account.

How do they define 'main' account? When I first had a student account (with HSBC, admittedly it was five years ago) they took great care to define it as both the recipient account for a student loan or other main source of funding and the only account held with an overdraft facility. I have no idea about RBS, but would be surprised if they didn't say something similar.

Twister84

Both of you are right, in a way.

Based on what I've been told, and what is said on the RBS website, you can have 2 student accounts, but you're only allowed any kind of student facilities, on just one (Such as interest free overdraft).

When the website mentions that you must "use your student account as your main account", it is saying that you can have 2 or more current accounts with RBS (although why you would, I have no idea ), but you must use the student account as the main one, ie use it for bills, or if you get paid from a job or student loan company, the funds must go into that account.