Please help im worried about paying money into my account!!!!!

fostersman

Please help, I’m really in a bind.
I’m a mature student and worked as a builder and decided to go to uni. I had a lot of savings which I intended to use to pay for my courses and what not and am still doing foreigners when i can for extra money.

I just this week had my credit card limit slashed by 5k even though i never missed a payment and i always paid the minimum payment by DD and every so often paid extra. I’ve never missed a payment and can only think it was because i have never been that near my limit. I googled it and found out they have been doing this loads recently (HBOS)

Problem is I’m now nervous to pay money into my student account incase they slash my overdraft after making a large payment. Have had a mate who once paid £1500 into his personnel account and he was £1k overdrawn, taking his balance to +500 ,he paid his rent of 500 but then the bank took his overdraft off him and he was left with 0!!!!!

What should i do, I’m overdrawn but don’t want to pay my money in now incase they do the same to me!!! Can they do this with a student account or is it just with personnel accounts???

Oldernotwiser

Why not just open another account if you're worried about this? It doesn't have to be a student one if all you want to do is pay money in; it could even be just a Post Office account.

rb10

Just because you are near the limit of your overdraft doesn't mean they won't reduce your limit. They can do this at any time they like, and can just write to you letting you know that you have x days to get your account above a certain amount.

Zazen999

Open another account, it's the easiest way.

bandraoi

I don't know about your account, but in my internet banking there is a "guaranteed overdraft available" number, which it will give you instantly.

Whenever I change my overdraft within this number, the overdraft facility says it is applicable for a year, and will be reviewed on XX/XX/XXXX date. This happens even when I only change it slightly. I would also guess that if your guaranteed limit is lower than your current limit, it's likely to be slashed at the next review date.

If you have this (Halifax) or something similar, you could change your overall overdraft amount slightly and it should guarantee it for the year.

anniecave

Is it a specific student account?
If so then first of alll check on the providers website what they offer to students as standard.
Eg Lloyds TSB seem to do £500 for the first term, £1000 for the next term, rising to £1500 at end of year one, and this is continued for up to 3 years of uni
If what you currently have is different to what is says on the providers website, then phone them up and ask

With student accounts in my experience providers don't suddenly reduce your overdraft in the same way as they might do for none student accounts, so don't worry!

fostersman

Thanks, I still have my business account which has no credit facilities so my money would be safe in there. Just know that i have to pay money into my account regularly and I’m like 900 overdrawn on a 1250 limit and just didn’t want to pay in a couple of grand only to lose the overdraft when i pay it off.
Though they might ambush me like my card (wait for a large payment) then cancel without warning. Everything would be fine if they send a letter because i can budget for that and get the account closed. Just thought it might be harsh on normal students who rely on student loans because a student losing a grand because the bank took it could cause them so many problems.
Thought it might be slightly difference because normal students have only a small income and they might be protected. Just wanted to get an idea on whether they can ambush you or have to let you know their intentions first. Can understand the card because people could just go out and spend to their limit. Will ring the bank and see what they say.