Has Halifax broken its student promise?

Former_MSE_Guy

Halifax has told a student, in documents seen by MSE, the maximum overdraft allowed in year one of studies is £1,750.

However, the bank’s marketing material clearly states a maximum £3,000, if you meet its credit criteria.

We want to know how widespread this problem is so please report any similar experiences below.

For full info read the news story:

Has Halifax broken its student overdraft promise?

rb10

What a complete nonsense post.

Guy, you will see from the Halifax web site and anything else advertising the account, that it says

An interest-free overdraft of up to £3,000

So that means that they will give out overdrafts of anything between £0 and £3000. There will obviously be many factors influencing their decision, one of which can surely quite fairly be the year of the course.

In the November of my first year at uni, I asked for an overdraft increase, and was told that until they have seen the second instalment of a student loan or grant, the maximum is £1750 (i.e. it can rise from January).

But in the case of the one student who's example you give, a provocative title such as the one you have given for this thread isn't really called for, in my opinion, as we know nothing about this particular student's history with the bank.

I am sure I have seen a post on here sometime about someone who did get the maximum of £3000 in their first year, I will try to find it.

But seeing as the overdraft that they offer is so much larger than other banks' overdrafts, it would surely be seen as a fair and sensible thing to do to be really careful who they give them to. And just because the person who contacted you has been a customer at Halifax for 12 years does not mean that they have been a good customer.

diddlydum

You totally miss the point, though. If they'd said 'you can have £3000 if you meet our criteria, but you don't, sod off' then there's nothing wrong with that. The point is that he was told that he couldn't have more than £1750 in his first year, despite advertising stating the contrary.

I'd be very interested to see if it's false advertising, I have to say it really wouldn't surprise me. I know a lot of students who have difficulty even opening student accounts, let alone getting overdrafts, and it really does stink.

Lokolo

diddlydum wrote: »

You totally miss the point, though. If they'd said 'you can have £3000 if you meet our criteria, but you don't, sod off' then there's nothing wrong with that. The point is that he was told that he couldn't have more than £1750 in his first year, despite advertising stating the contrary.

I'd be very interested to see if it's false advertising, I have to say it really wouldn't surprise me. I know a lot of students who have difficulty even opening student accounts, let alone getting overdrafts, and it really does stink.

If you read the article it says there are 1st year students on £3,000 overdraft. God knows why. But there are, so how aren't they keeping their promise?

A Halifax spokesman says the letter to Mark was incorrect, adding: "I can confirm the interest-free overdraft on our student current account is for up to £3,000, even in the first year."
He says some first-year students have a £3,000 limit but would not confirm how many.

rb10

diddlydum wrote: »

You totally miss the point, though. If they'd said 'you can have £3000 if you meet our criteria, but you don't, sod off' then there's nothing wrong with that. The point is that he was told that he couldn't have more than £1750 in his first year, despite advertising stating the contrary.

Yes, and if you read the MSE 'news story' you'll see that it was just a mistake that they said that £1750 is the first year limit:

A Halifax spokesman says the letter to Mark was incorrect, adding: "I can confirm the interest-free overdraft on our student current account is for up to £3,000, even in the first year."

Seems to kind of clinch the argument, doesn't it.

This really turns the whole 'news story' into saying:

Halifax has sent out a letter which had an error in it to one of their customers.

Lokolo

rb10 wrote: »

Yes, and if you read the MSE 'news story' you'll see that it was just a mistake that they said that £1750 is the first year limit:



Seems to kind of clinch the argument, doesn't it.

This really turns the whole 'news story' into saying:

Halifax has sent out a letter which had an error in it to one of their customers.

To be honest I suspect the letter was directly aimed at him rather than a generic one.

"We don't believe you should be allowed more than a £1750 overdraft in your first year" -> now is being put as -> Halifax don't give out more than £1750 in 1st year.

MrsManda

rb10 wrote: »

What a complete nonsense post.
Guy, you will see from the Halifax web site and anything else advertising the account, that it says An interest-free overdraft of up to £3,000
So that means that they will give out overdrafts of anything between £0 and £3000.

I think the point of Guy's post is that the document he's referring to doesn't say that that particular student can only get £1750 in his first year. It says that the maximum for anyone is £1750 in their first year. Therefore this is contray to marketing saying that the OD could be upto £3000.

On the Halifax student bank account description on their website it doesn't seem to say anywhere that it is upto £3000 from the first year, it just says that the OD is upto £3000 for duration of your course upto 5 years plus one graduate year. Therefore even if there is a limit on this for first years Halifax is still not breaking any promises.

rb10

MrsManda wrote: »

I think the point of Guy's post is that the document he's referring to doesn't say that that particular student can only get £1750 in his first year. It says that the maximum for anyone is £1750 in their first year. Therefore this is contray to marketing saying that the OD could be upto £3000.

But Halifax have since told MSE that the document he refers to was wrong, so it makes that point irrelevant.

The_One_Who

I am pretty sure it is in the small-print that not all accounts will get the maximum overdraft amount, especially not in the first year of being a student. It's up to a bank to say whether they'll increase an overdraft or not, I certainly would increase the limit before the second loan installment has come through.

rb10

The_One_Who wrote: »

I am pretty sure it is in the small-print that not all accounts will get the maximum overdraft amount, especially not in the first year of being a student.

It's not just in the small print, it's on their main student account web page:

An important note...
The amount of overdraft you get depends on your personal circumstances and whether you make regular payments into the account. You need to be aware that you may not get the full £3,000 overdraft. Halifax current accounts and services are offered subject to status. Overdrafts are repayable on demand.

mactoptips

Halifax clearly state the maximum overdraft facility on the account is £3000 at all times, i was told this upon setting up my account this year and was the main reason i opened the account with halifax, however i was only granted a £1000 overdraft and was told i could increase this to the £3000 when needed and my loan came into the account! However when funds ran low even after the loan came in, i rang halifax who informed me the maximum the overdraft could be increased to in the first year was £1750 far short of the £3000 stated in the adverts and the figure that was sold to me! I believe this is gross misrepresentation and although the bank states you may not get the full £3000 i do not believe it is possible to get £3000 as staff of the bank clearly stated when i rang it was not possible to go over £1750 in the first year as their system would not let them, suggesting no student actually gets the £3000 in the first year!