Getting abused by my bank, Someone HELP ME!!!!!!

fayeAndrews

My bank are refusing me a student account. I am currently coming to the end of my 2nd year and have been refused a student facility since august 2004. The original reson for this was that i was overdrawn on my current account in the month of august and had been charged for it, so this meant i had a low credit score and they wouldnt give me the account in september. This i understand. However, since then, this cycle has continued, as i am still living off a current account, loan and part time job. It is impossible to stay within my £250 overdraft limit that is applied on my current account, so as soon as i go over i get a heap of charges which make me hundreds of pounds over drawn in just a few weeks! this means i have no chance of getting back into credit and staying there for 3 months as i keep gettin told i have to do this. I am paying back charges with my small wage income, and not even touching the overdraft, and having no money of my own. It would be the same result if i wasnt working at all, as this is the effect my small in payments have on the situation! I have written, emailed and telephoned my bank constantly and i keep being told the same thing. I have been offered short term solutions, i.e a one off refund of my months charges, and more recently a higher limit on my overdraft. This is NOT what i want. I have been complaining and complaining about the lack of service from my bank and getting no effective response from them, just lots of excuses and the same story. My credit score is low, i cant have a student account. Right now i am at my wits end and i dont know what else to do.
any suggestions anyone!

RudeYute

Have you tried another bank?

I know you're not supposed to have more than one student account, but I think the circumstances exclude you from that, as most students have £1000+ overdraft limit.

Karnam

yes go for another bank. credit score could just be basedo n previous banking history at that bank, another bank might not know excatly how much you are overdrawn and how often etc.

fayeAndrews

Yes ive tried other banks, although not every single one, but at least barclays, natwest and lloyds TSB all want statements from my current account from the last 3 months. This then means they also refuse me for a student facility, due to the overdraft charges. I only have one bank account, which is a current account, so i wouldnt be opening ANOTHER student account with another bank. I dont even have A student account.
hitting brick walls every time i try to complain and resolve this!

Esoog

Have you read the posts on illegal bank charges? If you're getting hundreds of pounds of charges you can claim the !!!!!!s back, which should put you back in the black again.

madfrenchgirl

I sympathise with you Faye

why dont you try to change banks anyway, what do you have to lose?

Also, have you spoken to your CAB about this?

or even the students union, there should be a service or someone within the university who could be able to help you?

When my BF got into his 3 rd year, LTSB wanted to suppress his student privileges on his account. He went to see his tutor who wrote a p'd off letter to them, and the problem got sorted.

melancholly

hope you sort it out - it sounds odd - most banks throw at least £1000 of free overdrafts at students, so you being a bit over £250 overdrawn seems an odd excuse. if there's a university branch you can make an appointment in, they may be more sympathetic, or least understand the situation more than other branches to give you advice.

reesla

Faye,

I work in Student Registry for a University.

We provide letters to banks detailing your name, the course you are doing, start and end date of the course. The students come to Registry and ask for a "Bank" letter and take these to the Bank to provide evidence that they are a full time student.

My advice to you is to find out if your Student Registry provides this service - it may also be Student Services. In my University the Student Services department has specialist financial advisors who are able to advise and help students in a situation similiar to yours. Check your University website - perhaps they have details on what dept. you need to go to i.e. Student Registry or Student Services.

If you get your letter and your bank still refuse your account (remember to tell them that you will be a graduate in a 1 or 2 years time and perhaps they wouldn't want to lose your custom when you do graduate!), my suggestion would be to go to another bank, with the letter from the University and open another account elsewhere.

Beechy_2

fayeAndrews wrote:

My bank are refusing me a student account. I am currently coming to the end of my 2nd year and have been refused a student facility since august 2004. The original reson for this was that i was overdrawn on my current account in the month of august and had been charged for it, so this meant i had a low credit score and they wouldnt give me the account in september. This i understand. However, since then, this cycle has continued, as i am still living off a current account, loan and part time job. It is impossible to stay within my £250 overdraft limit that is applied on my current account, so as soon as i go over i get a heap of charges which make me hundreds of pounds over drawn in just a few weeks! this means i have no chance of getting back into credit and staying there for 3 months as i keep gettin told i have to do this. I am paying back charges with my small wage income, and not even touching the overdraft, and having no money of my own. It would be the same result if i wasnt working at all, as this is the effect my small in payments have on the situation! I have written, emailed and telephoned my bank constantly and i keep being told the same thing. I have been offered short term solutions, i.e a one off refund of my months charges, and more recently a higher limit on my overdraft. This is NOT what i want. I have been complaining and complaining about the lack of service from my bank and getting no effective response from them, just lots of excuses and the same story. My credit score is low, i cant have a student account. Right now i am at my wits end and i dont know what else to do.
any suggestions anyone!

I realise you posted your problem a while ago, but I was wondering if you had resolved your situation and managed to open a student account yet? I ask because my daughter has had a similar problem. She had a Gold current account with Lloyds and they refused her a student account because she was doing a Foundation year before her main 3 year course, and the smallprint stipulated at least a 2 year course, even though she had been accepted on the course on a 1+3 basis. She then tried Halifax and was refused on a credit score basis, even though she had store cards which had always been paid off on time. She has now given up and just kept her Gold account. However, most of her money from her grant and loan has now gone and as a parent on a low income with husband currently out of work, I'm going to have to go into even more debt myself to help her. If you, or anyone else can advise, I'd be very grateful.

Voyager2002

Beechy wrote:

I realise you posted your problem a while ago, but I was wondering if you had resolved your situation and managed to open a student account yet? I ask because my daughter has had a similar problem. She had a Gold current account with Lloyds and they refused her a student account because she was doing a Foundation year before her main 3 year course, and the smallprint stipulated at least a 2 year course, even though she had been accepted on the course on a 1+3 basis. She then tried Halifax and was refused on a credit score basis, even though she had store cards which had always been paid off on time. She has now given up and just kept her Gold account. However, most of her money from her grant and loan has now gone and as a parent on a low income with husband currently out of work, I'm going to have to go into even more debt myself to help her. If you, or anyone else can advise, I'd be very grateful.

Poor you!

Halifax are notorious for refusing student accounts to most actual students. I think your daughter should just persevere and approach as many banks as possible for a student account (with interest-free overdraft).

tripled

That's wierd, I have a low credit score and Halifax gave me a student account! Mind you I was 23 at the time so maybe that affected it... strange though as most students are 18-19. I'd reccomend just trying another bank, they all have different lending criteria and maybe there is one which will accept your daughter.