Delined by Halifax for student bank account

Voyager2002

Hi everyone,

My wife recently arrived in the UK from China to begin her PhD, funded by the university here. She needs a bank account in order to receive her bursary, and for many other reasons. Now, Halifax indicate that they offer student accounts to international students, so she went through the whole process of applying for this account, showing the appropriate papers, etc. They promised to telephone the following day but did not do so, and now she has received a letter declining her application (no reasons given).

Now, she obviously has no UK credit history and does not appear on the electoral role, but this would be the case for virtually any international student. She does have evidence of a UK address; evidence of funding for her studies; and in fact has been an additional cardholder on my UK credit cards (including one from Halifax, until I recently closed the account).

So, can anyone suggest what is going on here? Could I reasonably presume that this is a case of racial discrimination -- presumably a student from the USA would not have such difficulty? And above all, is there any mechanism for appealing or complaining about this?

Thanks for any suggestions.

ltlmiles5

I came here 7 years ago from malaysia. My local Barclays had decided not to offer any cards for student accounts to malaysian students that could be used abroad, allegedly because some students previously had racked up debts and returned to malaysia without paying it off.

However, NatWest was accepting our applications. A few students closed their Barclays accounts and opened Natwest ones instead, which offered the same perks as to English students.

When my friends and i went to do the same at barclays, the lady asked why, and we told her. She went to the back and returned, saying that now we could be given cards that can be used abroad, plus gave us the same benefits as that advertised. They didn't want to lose the accounts of all the malaysian students obviuously, and there were probably almost 150 of us.

I would suggest you try another bank instead, as they have different policies and different experiences with students from various countries.

NervousYetFeisty

I hate Halifax. They really screwed me over when I was a student - perhaps she's had a lucky escape.

mandyc

I would suggest she goes to one of the banks which is on or near her University campus as they are sure to be able to advise her.

IvanOpinion

Get your wife to talk to someone in the bursars office who maybe able to advise about other banks .. or are there other students in the same boat that can offer advice... the old adage applies, these facilites are a privilege not a right.

Ivan

hjb123

There are so many foreign students in universities in the UK now that you would have thought that the banks would have realised this and provide or be able to provide banking facilities for them!

When I was at Uni - seems a while since now! - there were lots of chinese students and they had bank accounts fine. I shared a house with some and he got a letter one day that he didnt understand that I had to explain for him - took some doing translating a letter from the bank into easy to understand english!

As Ivan says you could speak to the university and see what they say - many universities have banks on their campus - you could always go to them!

M_Thomson

Voyager2002 wrote:

Hi everyone,

My wife recently arrived in the UK from China to begin her PhD, funded by the university here. She needs a bank account in order to receive her bursary, and for many other reasons. Now, Halifax indicate that they offer student accounts to international students, so she went through the whole process of applying for this account, showing the appropriate papers, etc. They promised to telephone the following day but did not do so, and now she has received a letter declining her application (no reasons given).

Now, she obviously has no UK credit history and does not appear on the electoral role, but this would be the case for virtually any international student. She does have evidence of a UK address; evidence of funding for her studies; and in fact has been an additional cardholder on my UK credit cards (including one from Halifax, until I recently closed the account).

So, can anyone suggest what is going on here? Could I reasonably presume that this is a case of racial discrimination -- presumably a student from the USA would not have such difficulty? And above all, is there any mechanism for appealing or complaining about this?

Thanks for any suggestions.

Don't be silly! It has nothing to do with Race. First of all your wife being a second cardholder on an account won't make any difference as it is your account so any credit history will be reported in your name. Secondly, the Halifax account comes with an overdraft and a Visa Debit Card with a cheque book. The chequebook gives the potential to borrow up to 3000 (30 cheques could be guaranteed for 100 each) and if she has not been in the country long, she will not have any credit history for them to judge her on. The fact that she is from China would make no difference. It would apply to anyone from any country overseas who has no credit history.