Top Graduate Accounts 2009/10 Article Discussion

supermatt_2

First post & it might seem like an obvious/silly one but i am very wary and unsure when it comes to banks.

I have a Halifax Student Current Account with around £800 debt and after speaking to them i cant use the 1-year graduate facility until february when they deal with overdrafts. Now if I want to switch to a different graduate account with a different bank can i pay off the debt with the new one? i.e. transfer the debt?

if someone could reply and help me out it'd be appreciated.

Linzi1madi

Hi supermatt you can transfer your debt as long as the new bank will give you enough overdraft.
I've just transferred from HSBC to RBS from £1500 overdraft to just under £2000 interest free overdraft so they more than covered my debt. They do everything for you like arrange to move direct debits to your new account and you don't even need to see your old bank. If you close your account yourself without seeing a new bank you will have to pay off the overdraft before

Hope this helps

eileen123_2

nice thoughts

Naykon

I just tried to apply for the RBS graduate account, apparently though you have to have graduated no more than 12 months ago?

article states 3 years ago

rgajria

book12 wrote: »

It seems that most graduate accounts want graduates to be in employment.

Are there any graduate accounts that don't need employment as the criteria?

Will they be lenient since it's hard to find a job?

similarly If you are a full-time postgraduate, having completed a first degree, yet not in full time employment, hence not having proof of expected salary, can you get graduate accounts?
Thanks

suited-aces

I'm guessing the link on page 1 isn't supposed to go to cheap car hire?

Sailing_By

Superb freudian slip on the Lloyds website as they miss out a crucial 'y' and reveal their true motives for offering a £2k overdraft:

'An account that gives you time to find our feet'


Lol.

tigertedd_2

HAving looked at the alternatives, I think I did well with my graduate account back in 2007, but now I'm coming to the end of my interest free period, and I have managed my money very well in the interveing three years.

I was given a £3000 interest free overdraft, which went down to £2000, £1000, then stops at £250 interest free after three years. So I currently have £1000 interest free. But I am still constantly between £2500 and £3000 overdrawn. I'm charged a 9.9% interest rate on this part of the overdraft, which I think is quite a reasonable rate and I end up paying around £15 a month in interest, which I think is pretty good for £3000 overdraft, (I pay a lot more for my £900 credit card on 34.94%!). I'm also charged an account fee of £7 (which I know the article says I should avoid like the plague), but I have got reasonably good value out of the free phone insurance and break down cover that comes with the account (or am I just falling into their trap?).

I've been thinking about switching, but I doubt any bank would want me to just transfer my £3000 overdraft to them, and I haven't been able to find a bank account with a better overdraft rate. At one stage I was hoping to transfer it all to an interest free credit card and try to pay that off, but my ctredit rating at the time wasn't very good (it was simply because I wasn't on the electoral roll, thanks to MSE for pointing that one out to me).

Anyway, I think the point of this post is to highlight something that wasn't mentioned in the article: If you get one of the 0% interest accounts, realise that they do run out eventually, and set yourself a plan to pay off the overdraft before the 0% deal runs out. And if you're going to pay account fees, make sure you get your money's worth.

I didn't do that. So the second point to the post is: Can anyone suggest a reasonable way out of this predicament. Am I able to switch my graduate account? Is there anything out there with a smaller interest in overdrafts? Or have I actually got a good deal where I am and should just stick at it, and if I'm disciplined it will be paid off in three years or so.

Thanks for any help.

Student999_2

It all looks good when they are trying to get your custom, BUT be aware that these guys do not automatically award the maximum amount of overdraft.

Also, if at the end of your course you go overdrawn and are unable to secure work straight away you will incur such humungous charges and fees you can end up in a hole that is VERY difficult to get out of without having paid vast sums of very hard earned cash to people who are living off other people's misfortunes.

Incidentally, the experience will also leave you with a credit rating that it will take 7 years to repair and hinder your chances of getting mortgages and other financial facilities.

AVOID OVERDRAFTS.

My advice having been through the system ?

1. Save before you go to University so you have credit in your account
2. Be thrifty while you are there
3. Put your money in an interest bearing savings account that is ABOVE INLFATION - the banks use YOUR STUDENT LOAN MONEY to play the stock markets to make even more money for themselves, hence their alacrity to get their hands on your money !! They aren't going to lose, high returns either way for them.

What about you ??

;)

Madz

I have just decided to close my account with Nat West. It has been nothing but trouble. People in the branch don't seem to know anything about student accounts, the debit card is as temperamental as a hormonal Cracken, they keep promising to send out another card and don't, the call centre staff are defensive and blame anything they can on anybody else, they have so many different departments it's like being on a merry go round trying to sort anything out and it has just been generally stressful. I would avoid like the plague.