Rejected by Halifax, anyone else had problems?

rjl89

Hi

Im in my 2nd year at uni, and have had Natwest's student account since i started, as i had one of their accounts before uni it was upgraded to a student one.

I've taken out the overdraft with them (£1400), and have it put in a savings account.

As Halifax offer the biggest overdraft, i wanted to open an account with them so i could put more into my savings. However, when i went to open one with them, the application was rejected due to my credit score.

I've used Experian to check my credit report, and the only negative things i have on there are:

- my overdraft with Natwest (around £-1200 balance usually), i've never gone over the limit and incurred any charges.
- a credit card application last month (it got rejected but i dont think they would know that)
- I also had a few recent identity checks for savings accounts but i dont think these show up either.

The person in the Halifax branch also said my Natwest account would cease to be a student accout if i opened a student account with Halifax, is this true?

They said they would contact me again in 4-6 months to reapply.

Would i need to get my balance with natwest to a positive amount before i apply next time to get accepted? Or remove the overdraft facility if its possible?

Ideally i'd like to keep the natwest account open just for the free railcard, and have my overdraft with Halifax and get my student loan paid into Halifax, as would be necessary.

thanks

Mike1989

The person in the Halifax branch also said my Natwest account would cease to be a student accout if i opened a student account with Halifax, is this true?

Yes/No. Basically there are people out there who have 2 or 3 student current accounts with interest free overdrafts. For example HSBC says you cannot have any other student current account, Co-op on application tells you that you cannot have another and must switch to them, and so do Lloyds TSB. But places like RBS, Natwest, Barclays, on application it simply says the main source of income must be paid into the account. So in theory you can have two accounts, maybe three, but I am not one hundred percent sure how you would achieve it if the other banks use credit checks to see what other accounts you have.

But, if the Halifax is rejecting you and you want it purely for the savings account, despite them being very low these days except the odd fixed rate and monthly saver at Halifax and Barclays. Then I would try setting up an account at Barclays, see how much overdraft you can get and set up their monthly saver, last time I checked it had a fixed rate for 12 months of 6%. So you could save for example £100 per month of a £1000 overdraft for example. But other decent accounts would be Abbey direct isa 2 which has 2.90% and you can get a student current account from them and I don't think they check for a second account.

Would i need to get my balance with natwest to a positive amount before i apply next time to get accepted? Or remove the overdraft facility if its possible?

As I said above, some people manage to get two or three student current accounts having providers like Lloyds TSB and HSBC, or Lloyds and NatWest. And some of these bansk say you cannot have more than one student overdraft. So I suppose if you have told the Halifax about the acount, or, they have checked your credit file and found the account. Then I guess for them to accept you it would need to be removed. Could be wrong though.

Ideally i'd like to keep the natwest account open just for the free railcard, and have my overdraft with Halifax and get my student loan paid into Halifax, as would be necessary.

Do you need the NatWest account open to continue use of the railcard?

Thought once you signed up you got the card for x amount of years. I haven't got one myself from NatWest, instead I bought one. But do you need the NatWest account open to keep it?

But, there are other banks like Abbey, Barclays and even Yorkshire Bank you could try to see if you can get a good overdraft from there. Because there is no guarantee that you will get a bigger overdraft at the Halifax than Barclays or Abbey for example. Remember it says up to £3000 and very few students get that or near that. YOu might only get £1000 or £500, so you could always try another bank.

aqueoushumour01

Mike1989 wrote: »

Then I would try setting up an account at Barclays, see how much overdraft you can get and set up their monthly saver, last time I checked it had a fixed rate for 12 months of 6%. So you could save for example £100 per month of a £1000 overdraft for example. But other decent accounts would be Abbey direct isa 2 which has 2.90% and you can get a student current account from them and I don't think they check for a second account.

.

Remember though that a 6% monthly saver(saving say £100 per month) will earn roughly the same amount of interest as putting a lump sum equivalent (say £1200) into an account paying 3%.

blue_ashleigh

It could be that you're not on the electoral role or haven't lived at your address for long enough if you're using your term time address (presuming you don't live at home).

Mike1989

aqueoushumour01 wrote: »

Remember though that a 6% monthly saver(saving say £100 per month) will earn roughly the same amount of interest as putting a lump sum equivalent (say £1200) into an account paying 3%.

Yea, you would get about the same in those two accounts. But it depends on if you can find a good account paying 3%. But it is hard to find a good saving account now that offers a decent rate, the Halifax Guaranteed which ties your money up for 6 months with no money being able to go in is one of few. THere is an Abbey ISA at 2.90%, but reality is the accounts are getting harder to find. I managed to tie away 3k in a guaranteed saver at 5.50% or 6%, when the rate was high. But that is now about halve if that has not been changed, and that is only for 6 months whilst mine is tied for 12. So finding the accounts is a hard, you can find a few that offer a 1% like web savers but you may as well go for a monthly saver if you can afford it.

I have a regular saver which I have thrown £500 in the first month, will do the second month, third month, and fourth month, and there after changing it down to £100 per month. So I will occur more interest in the months were you get the highest, 12/12, 11/12, 10/12, 9/12 and so on. They can be quite useful and to be fair most people don't know how the interest is actually worked properly.

withnell

At university I held a NatWest current (required me to pay my student loan in) and a Smile current (required me to use it as my main account) so loan into natwest, then across into Smile!

I think that Halifax won't approve you because you have the overdraft with NatWest, but if you go and book an appointment with them they should be able to sort it out (I applied online for one and was told this by a halifax staff member)

rjl89

blue_ashleigh wrote: »

It could be that you're not on the electoral role or haven't lived at your address for long enough if you're using your term time address (presuming you don't live at home).

Nope, i gave them my parents address, im on the electoral role and have lived there for 12 years.

"Do you need the NatWest account open to continue use of the railcard?"

It gets renewed each year that you have the account open in july. So if i closed the account before july, i wouldnt have a railcard next year.


Also, there seems some confusion as to why i want Halifax's account. I don't want one of Halifax's savings accounts. My savings accounts I have at the moment are: barclays tax haven ISA - 3.12%, Birmingham Midshires e-saver 2 - 3.38% and Barclays monthly savings, fixed at 7.75% until november.

I want a higher overdraft so i can keep more money in these until I graduate. Halifax's account also has the £3000 overdraft for the year after I graduate as well. So, compared with Natwest, this would be an extra £1400 in my savings next year, and an extra £1000 in my savings. Even at 3%, thats an extra £72 over the 2 years.

Im not expecting to be able to have 2 overdrafts, i just want to swap the Natwest one for Halifax, and keep the Natwest one open without an overdraft just for the railcard.

So has anyone got any suggestions for how to get Halifax to accept me?

I could pay back my overdraft to Natwest and remove the overdraft facility, then apply to Halifax. If that doesn't work i could just put the overdraft back with Natwest. With Halifax, from what i've read on this site, ill get £500 initially, and should have the £3000 by the end of the year.

withnell, I did apply in a branch

rb10

Natwest will (probably) not update your credit file as soon as you pay back their overdraft. It's impossible to say how long it'll be before it won't show, just depends on how often they report back to the credit reference agencies. So for some time, it will appear to Halifax as if you have the Natwest overdraft.

If applying in branch, you should be able to get £1000 put on straight away, no problem. Many advisors will do £500 instead, although they are perfectly able to authorise anything up to £1000 in branch.

Once a student loan payment / other large credit has gone in, you can then phone up (or better, get them to call you from http://www.halifax.co.uk/bankaccounts/callback.asp ) to try to increase the limit.

Mike1989

rjl89 wrote: »

I want a higher overdraft so i can keep more money in these until I graduate. Halifax's account also has the £3000 overdraft for the year after I graduate as well. So, compared with Natwest, this would be an extra £1400 in my savings next year, and an extra £1000 in my savings. Even at 3%, thats an extra £72 over the 2 years.

I could pay back my overdraft to Natwest and remove the overdraft facility, then apply to Halifax. If that doesn't work i could just put the overdraft back with Natwest. With Halifax, from what i've read on this site, ill get £500 initially, and should have the £3000 by the end of the year.

There is no guarantee you will get a higher overdraft at the Halifax. Remember it says up to, not, you will get £3000. That is what some don't understand and complain when they don't get £3000. So be aware that you may not get more than your current overdraft at NatWest. Overdrafts are done if I'm not mistaken by credit checks and by your status. So you might get £1000, you might get the same as you have now, but be careful because there is no guarantee you will get a better deal.

A friend of mine works three days a week one day 5 till 10, another 5 till 10, and then 10 till 8 on Saturday. That is 20 hours per week being paid into an account every month along with loans and grants and she still did not get the full £3000. She gets £1000 or £1500, can't remember which but she never uses it. I get £500 because I never use it, nor get near it. Its there as a safety net. So just be aware it is up to, not £3000 guaranteed, because my credit rating is better than most students and I would have a hard time persuading them to up my limit to £3000.

So, don't expect a better deal, and don't expect the overdraft to raise to £3000 by the end of the year. Because that is subject to a number of criteria that you would have to meet. So by all means go and apply, but don't be surprised if you walk out with a maximum of what you currently get at NatWest. So you will probably have to do a lot of haggling to get it above your NatWest one.Its up to, not a guaranteed £3000, remember to read that bit as it is the key factor. Upto.

rb10

Mike1989 wrote: »

So just be aware it is up to, not £3000 guaranteed, because my credit rating is better than most students and I would have a hard time persuading them to up my limit to £3000.

You might have a hard time persuading them to up your limit. You said yours is only £500, so how do you know?

So you will probably have to do a lot of haggling to get it above your NatWest one.Its up to, not a guaranteed £3000, remember to read that bit as it is the key factor. Upto.

I disagree. When I phoned up in about November of my first year at uni, they checked my account, saw that large credits had been made, so said that I could apply for a limit of up to £1750 at this stage. They put me on hold to speak to the underwriters, and about 30 seconds later came back to say I'd been approved. And remember that at that time I'd only been at uni for two months. Whilst the full £3k may be harder to get, it probably isn't difficult to get above the Natwest level.

Mike1989

rb10 wrote: »

You might have a hard time persuading them to up your limit. You said yours is only £500, so how do you know?

I said I would have a hard time getting them to up my limit to £3000, not to up my limit period. However, you are right, I don't know because I haven't tried. But I see no reason to try when I don't need it.

I disagree. When I phoned up in about November of my first year at uni, they checked my account, saw that large credits had been made, so said that I could apply for a limit of up to £1750 at this stage. They put me on hold to speak to the underwriters, and about 30 seconds later came back to say I'd been approved. And remember that at that time I'd only been at uni for two months. Whilst the full £3k may be harder to get, it probably isn't difficult to get above the Natwest level.

Again, I never said you will not get above your NatWest level. I said you would have to do a lot of haggling. Now whether that is a simple phone call to up your limit above it or a debate over getting it raised does not matter. As I never said he could not get it above the NatWest, instead, he would expect some debate over getting it above his NatWest one.

I do agree that it probably isn't difficult to get above the NatWest level. But there is no guarantee and on a forum I don't want people to misread what I say and take it that they will get equal or above their current limit. I don't want to mislead people. So I gave him my honest opinion that he would expect haggling to get it above his NatWest level and there is no guarantee that it will be higher, or that he would get near the 3k mark. Still, he can only try I suppose.