Barclays Student Account 2009/10: We want your feedback

auburnmama

I am a 1st year student and get everything paid into my student account with barclays. when I opened it they gave me an automatic £250 (i THINK) overdraft, and said when I had deposited £500 it would go up to £500.
I then went in and asked for a £1000 OD until my bursary came through, but they gave me £750 as said something about asking formore than £250 meaning it would have to go to a committee for approval. I went in a few days later and put it up to £1000. The student advisor at barlcays said that was the maximum for a 1st year student, and I could look to incease it in year 2, should I need too.
I dont know what the website says, but there must be T&Cs for the [EMAIL="£2000@0%"]£2000 @ 0%[/EMAIL] in the first year - maybe only specific courses?

Its been an ok bank. only trouble I've had is sometimes it takes a while to update the computers, and the cashpoint says you have £x available when you actually have £0, so I got an £8 charge for that. only happened the once though - I keep a close eye on my account now and make a note of what i'm spending so I cant take money out I havent got.

the internet banking is good, although if I dont have that little machine on me it never lets me log in using my personal details, which is exceptionally annoying!

lisaroseanne

Hi,

I've been with Barclay's on Student Additions since 2006 - present.

My experience with them has been quite good. Initially, I was given a £1000 overdraft limit which I increased over the years as I needed it to £2000.
This also helped me in getting a Career Development Loan with Barclays to help pay the tuition fees for my Masters.
The only problem I had was getting the overdraft in place initially. If you have spent more than what's in your account without having an agreed overdraft already, you won't get student additions. i think your account has to be "clean" for 3 or 4 months...
Hope this helps.

DurhamGrad

Until recently, my experience of Barclays has been quite good - overdrafts were agreed to quite easily with just a brief inquiry re what I wanted the extra money for, etc, etc. Internet banking has been a blessing, but telephone banking (since most calls are answered by overseas staff) has been a nightmare. I should also point out that I have banked with them since I was 17. I am now 29!

I am currently having problems with my student overdraft having graduated in Jan 2008.

I understood when I did my first degree (graduated 2003) that from September two years after my degree ended that I would no longer be eligible for an interest free overdraft. This was all fine as I managed to pay it off and ended up going back to university in September 2005 for a two year Master's degree. I was told the same thing then, that my overdraft would accrue interest from the month of September two years after graduating. However, I graduated in Jan 2008 and have been forced to pay interest since Dec 2009. (I was made redundant in Oct 2009 and have been unemployed since so have had to dip into my overdraft). Based on what I had been told, I should not have had to pay any interest until September 2010.

I went into my branch today and was treated like rubbish by a member of staff who refused to accept what I was saying, kept cutting me off and I don't even think he understood what I was talking about. I now have to go into a different branch on Tuesday to find out what their version of events is. The info that I am given from telephone banking folks who are UK based is consistent with what I was originally told.

Frankly, I have had enough and as soon as my overdraft is paid off (hopefully I will be working again soon) then I will be switching to a bank that is more customer friendly.

leopard85

I have a Barclays student account and I hate them!! They have been awful to me. I have a £200 overdraft and get charged £10 for going a few pence over this limit. I called up once to ask if they could increase it by £10 for 3 days until I got paid to avoid charges when a direct debit came out and they said no, but they could give me a credit card! I was disgusted that they would be so irresponsible as to offer a student with no income and a maxed out overdraft a credit card. As soon as I finish uni I will pay off the £200 overdraft and close the hideous account.

HSBC on the other hand have helped me out every time, making sure that I stay on top of my finances with them, and giving me an interest free overdraft of £2000 and no charges for going up to £100 over that limit. They have made uni that little bit easier for me by taking away some of my financial worries and giving me peace of mind.

hoppityskip

My daughter tried to register for a student account and Barclays said that because she was ahead an academic year she could not have a student account because it has a credit option in it and you cant sell those to under 18's.
Surely in these days of reasonable smart computer systems they could open the account but not activate the credit side until she is 18.
Its sad how slow they are to recognise the reality of the new world!

wandakraml

hoppityskip wrote: »

My daughter tried to register for a student account and Barclays said that because she was ahead an academic year she could not have a student account because it has a credit option in it and you cant sell those to under 18's.
Surely in these days of reasonable smart computer systems they could open the account but not activate the credit side until she is 18.
Its sad how slow they are to recognise the reality of the new world!

Surely it's the credit side of the student bank account that makes it worth opening one? I don't understand why she'd want one if they couldn't give her an interest-free overdraft...

I haven't had too bad an experience with Barclays. They cancelled the charges the one time I went over my limit since it was the first time it had happened. I've just finished my fourth and final year of my undergrad degree and have my overdraft at £1000. I'm looking to extend it now though as I'm going to London to do a masters and am very short on cash. Hopefully Barclays will extend it to £2000 without much fuss. I tried to extend it a year ago while I was waiting for my loan to come in and they really do scrutinise all your transactions. They wouldn't extend it because I'd spent money on flights with Ryan Air (shudder). I tried to explain that I'd used my card to pay for the flights and then my gran reimbursed me as I was going to visit her but they wouldn't have any of it. Very annoying indeed.

Janeyjaz

My daughter is about to start her final year with a Barclays Student account and her overdraft is still only £200 - they offered her a credit card and she took it as they gave free Cinema tickets and when I saw her account the other day they are charging her 14.9% interest, this is because she was late with a payment as her pin sentry stopped working and she had to wait for a new one - telephone banking would not help her pay her bill and it was a couple of days late (I tried to pay it but it would not let me as I did not have a pin sentry at the time)
Ridiculous - paid off her credit card for her and then got another statement with more interest on it.