Halifax Student Account. Did you get the full £3,000 overdraft

Kavanne

Trunk_z wrote: »

Thought I'd reply with my experiences...
Only able to get £1000 in my first year at Uni. Now just finished my second, they told me I qualified for the full £3000 ammount.

I declined however, as I didn't want the temptation of having that much overdraft.

Halifax have some ok-ish fixed rate accounts at the moment. You could make yourself a tidy profit

MrsManda

I did request the full amount but was turned down, got £1k. I didn't actually need it, just thought I'd see what I could get. What confused the person in the branch was that she thought I'd be a dead cert for the full £3K even in first year because:
a) I've had a current account with them for 9 years
b) I make regular payments in to the account (admittedly only £40 a month plus student loans)
c) I have a Halifax credit card with a £1250 credit limit which I pay off in full every month (which they gave me in lieu of a student credit card because the interest rate is lower and they could give me a higher limit despite being a full time student without a job).

She even phoned headoffice and was told they couldn't offer more than £1k in the 1st year. I didn't actually need it so didn't bother pushing it. Will see what I get upgraded to in July.

gracey-d

Hi everyone!
I'm in my second year at Uni and I've got a Halifax student account. In my first year I got a £500 overdraft at the start, then they let me increase it to £1000 once my second student loan installment had gone in, and then again to £1750 after the third loan payment. I was told that this was the highest they could give me in my first year, because the overdraft you are eligible to receive is directly linked to how much money you have had paid into the account (not sure how true that is now!).
In my second year I continued with this £1750, but as of the beginning of June it was due to expire. When I rang them up to renew it I was told that I could only have £1000 and that I couldn't apply for more. Not happy with my overdraft being almost halved I went into my local branch and complained so they gave me £2000 :-)

swachacker

I'm in first year, and at first I got £1k, but then asked and got it put up to £2k

ashapala

I was told in branch that I wouldn't be able to get the full amount. (Which was £2750 back then)

3 years later, I am increasing the amount slowly and steadily, and I am now at £2500, with a final £500 increase planned for the end of term.

But were I to go back in time, i would have gone with Natwest and got the free railcard. As they would also have given me a better overdraft and have a much better way of decreasing it after you graduate (steadily over 3 years as opposed to all gone after a year with halifax)

kateb7201

I applied for a Halifax overdraft about 3 years ago when i started uni. I didn't have a student loan asworked in the holidays to pay my accomodation etc and just wanted a bit more cash fo the over draft. They advertised anything up to £2500 i think.

I was told as I didn't pay in my student loan (which i didnt claim) I would only be allowed £750 for the whole 3 years! I asked why and they couldn't tell me. I think that's awful, surely as I didn't have a student loan I would have less debt at the end of uni and be in a better position to pay them back!!

Ronni_B

I applied before starting uni last year and was given an overdraft of £500. Once my SAAS money started going into the account I asked for this to be raised as I had a lot of equipment to buy for my course and the SAAS money comes in small amounts monthly. I was given £1000 which expired this week.

As a single parent studying on a course which runs 9am-6pm Monday to Friday with weekend and evening work required each month, I have been unable to get a job to support my income so I have been needing the use of my overdraft until I have access to some of my savings this summer.

I went in yesterday to request £3000 (with the hope that I wouldn't need it) but was told that the maximum I could get would be £1250 for my first year. I managed to argue that I have been a good customer holding several accounts with the Halifax over the years and they relented to give me £1750 until September when I can apply again as a second year student!!

me_and

I'm finishing the fourth year of my degree now, I've had a Haliifax student account since before I received official confirmation of my degree place. When I went in to my branch, they said they couldn't give me the full overdraft (then £1500, I think) as I had no proof I was a student. They did, however, give me a £1000 overdraft then, and as soon as I had proof I was a student, gave me the maximum.

Ever since, whenever they've increased the overdraft, I've called them and asked them to increase my overdraft to the maximum, and they've done so without issue.

It's the same old story: if you don't ask, you won't get.

mtudor_2

I'm posting this on behalf of my partner, who is the one with the overdraft. She did get the maximum (at the time) £2,750 BUT we had to fight tooth and nail for it. We got turned down on two occasions before it was referred to the head office and approved.

My partner is actually a salaried post-graduate so really this shouldn't have been so difficult...

I just feel for undergrad students, and unsalaried post-grads, as I recon for them it's a difficult thing to convince the bank to allow the full overdraft in Year 1.

The moral of the story though, seems to be not to give up on the first attempt.

bhavinshah

I was initially given £500 automatically when I applied.

I then asked for more..and it was upped to £1000

I asked for more last week, but was turned down.