Natwest 'pestering' students to pay off overdraft druing course

melancholly

actually, a quick google comes up with this in their T&Cs:

4.3 You must use your account as your main current account and
deposit regular amounts by way of local education funding,
parental contribution, salary, student loan or other funding,
such as sponsorship or bursary.

http://www.natwest.com/content/global_options/terms/Terms_Conditions.pdf

so i'm not sure about the 42 days business at all.......... very odd.

GrammarGirl

melancholly wrote: »

actually, a quick google comes up with this in their T&Cs:

4.3 You must use your account as your main current account and
deposit regular amounts by way of local education funding,
parental contribution, salary, student loan or other funding,
such as sponsorship or bursary.

http://www.natwest.com/content/global_options/terms/Terms_Conditions.pdf

so i'm not sure about the 42 days business at all.......... very odd.

And that is how the student account was sold to me. I find the OP's problem very strange and have never heard of that happening before!

No_Future

OP either withdraw money and pay it back in or complain to Natwest and move elsewhere for a bigger overdraft! RBS and Halifax are both v good.

Many students do not have regular income, even loans are only paid 3 x year. The T&Cs normally state regular income as including student loan so they can't really complain as long as there is some activity w/the account

Volcano

You must use your account as your main current account and
deposit regular amounts by way of local education funding,
parental contribution, salary, student loan or other funding,
such as sponsorship or bursary.

So if the OP is depositing their student loan, by Natwest's own T&C he/she's doing enough?

This doesn't surprise me though, I had an overdraft from them as a student and after a year I got the "Pay up in full, now, or else..." letter, no warning, nothing.

Natwest are a very poor choice for a student overdraft.

rach1989

Im with Natwest, I hope I dont have a letter like that when I go back to uni. Theres no way I can pay mine back yet

atypical

I currently have £1,145 of the NatWest overdraft in a NatWest e-savings account (I opened it while the bonus was still being offered so it is 3.1%).

It's been around two months now, they've yet to ask for the money back and I don't expect them to.

Fire_Fox

GrammarGirl wrote: »

That's the key word though - most. I completely understand that your student account should be your main account. But although most students do work/get money from parents/have some form of cash paid in regularly, there will be some who have nothing other than their student loans. Some may also work cash in hand.

Suggesting the OP reads the terms and conditions is constructive - either they have used the student account as their main account AND paid in their student grant/ loan and can appeal to the bank, or they have been given plenty of early warning to change their banking behaviour AND learned to read the small print.

Relatively few people get paid in cash in hand unless they or the employer are trying to avoid tax. If you are paid in cash (I was, legitimately, for the first two years of my course) you can pay some into your bank and then withdraw it again via DDs or card payments. It's a small price to pay for an interest and repayment free four year loan. :money:

GrammarGirl wrote: »

I don't see banks as charities and I'm not recommending 'playing the system', I'm just trying to give the OP something more constructive than 'the bank can take your OD away at any time' - we all know ODs aren't to be treated as loans or free money or whatever else.

A thorough read around this website will show you it is littered with examples of students and graduates who have rinsed their student overdraft and then left the account dormant, or left university heavily overdrawn and forgotten to inform the bank of their new address. :rolleyes: They then complain how 'unfair' the bank is being when the overdraft is withdrawn (this is NOT a dig at the OP).

Just so you know I didn't bother to read the terms and conditions when I opened my student account. As a result my overdraft was withdrawn with no notice; the first I heard was when I bounced three or four direct debits. I rang the Co-op who informed me that I should have contacted them on annual basis to declare I remained a student. I grovelled and was lucky enough to have the charges refunded and overdraft re-instated ... lesson learned.

HangTime

As mentioned it seems to me that the simplest solution would simply be to make small deposits each month, it'll be some kind of automated system that 'flags' any accounts that haven't had a deposit during a given timeframe. Once you start doing that, I doubt you'll get 'pestered' any more

No_Future

Take advantage of interest free overdrafts. It's not playing the system, it's an offer from the bank.

paulryan99

i have just had one of those letters from natwest as well demanding i pay the overdraft in ful. i rang today to try and speak to an advisor about paying in monthly but was told this was not the case and they were going to close the overdraft facility and charge interest as of 9pm today!!! i am within my overdraft llimit allowed by the bank yet because my payments in were not regular they have decided to cancel it!!!!
is this right that they have not given me a warning or allowed me time to try and sort out some regular payments??
right now i feel this kind of haressment is unfair on students (particularly those in their final year) and does not make any sense!!
i really am not sure what to do now as my main concern is really to finish my final year so that i can earn enough to fully pay this overdraft off (and cancel any future dealings with natwest!!!!).
does anyone have any suggestions or had to deal with similar problems like this