Halifax Downgraded My Student Account

lonelycooler

Greetings,

I have just finished university in may and recieved my results last week.

I had a student account with halifax which was supposed to have a 1 year graduation thing were it stays interest free for 1 year after graduating. I recieved a statement off halifax this morning with interest fee charges from last month and saying that I am now on a standard halifax current account. They have not yet asked for me to repay the overdraft and im dreading it if they do as i plan to return to studying next year and cannot afford to pay it at all at the moment (only money i have is summer phone bill money)

Anyone else having this problem? Im planning on going into my branch on monday and asking for some help on it but im expecting them to turn round and tell me it needs paying off which like I said is impossible at the moment.


I have been told that a Graduate account elsewhere could be an option but most seem to require that I already be in a Job which unfortunately I am not as I do intend to go back to university next year.

Edit: I should mentiont hat my overdraft is for £1500 and im almost maxed out on it at this point and I doubt there will be any money going into the account till october time (first loan payment).

MrsManda

It's likely to be a mistake. You should be able to sort it out in branch as the T&Cs says:

You can keep your interest-free overdraft (typical 0% EAR variable) for the length of your course. That’s up to five years – plus an extra year after you graduate.

So providing you've stuck to your T&Cs (regular payments/student loans...) you should get a graduate year.

lonelycooler

MrsManda wrote: »

It's likely to be a mistake. You should be able to sort it out in branch as the T&Cs says:

You can keep your interest-free overdraft (typical 0% EAR variable) for the length of your course. That’s up to five years – plus an extra year after you graduate.

So providing you've stuck to your T&Cs (regular payments/student loans...) you should get a graduate year.

Thanks very much for your reply, I have been paying a regular wage into it but not my student loan (this was paid into a different account which i use to pay bills and direct debits but parts of it where transferred into the student account)

Do you know if the bank are reasonable with giving a few months after graduation to find a job and not worrying about regular payments in this "grace" period?

Also just out of interest what would define a regular payment, as my student loan comes in once every 3 months.