Top Student Bank Accounts 2006/7 article Discussion Area

bel2310

My daughter applied for a Halifax student account and received rejection letter today as she did not "pass the qualifying tests." She has had a card cash current account and regular saver with Halifax since July 2004. Whilst waiting to sort her student account her maintenance loan is going into card cash account. She has never been overdrawn - what more do they want?!
She will now apply elsewhere for student account and pay just enough into cardcash account to pay standing orders over to regular saver at 7%.

Student_Saver_4

I recently applied online for Halifax's student account, hoping to benefit from the overdraft before starting my final year. My mother then received a letter from Halifax thanking her for applying for an account online. They then subsequently sent her a letter asking for proof of her student status, ironically sending a money laundering leaflet! If they can't even get an application correct, my money's going elsewhere...

shylock_2

disguise wrote:

My daughter opened a HBOS yesterday in Falmouth. It was very easy and quick, took about 10 mins. She must deposit £100 in the account and has an instant overdraft of £500 and was told she cold 'work up to' £2750 over the 3 years, the £2750 isn't instant which we had hoped.

The Halifax tried to tell us the same (after opening the account) but when we pointed out that was not what their website said, they changed their minds and said 'as long as £400 per quarter is paid into the account, ring us when the first payment goes in and we will activate the full overdraft' having looked over the thread today, it looks like the Halifax have not trained their staff on this account.

good luck.

bowleyi

Over the past few weeks I have helped my daughter to open a Halifax Student Account on the strength of the MoneySavingExpert recommendation. My daughter is 18 and has had a current account for a very short time with no credit problems. However, when the account was opened it only had a £500 overdraft limit, which I appealed, quoting your site and that "most students should get the full £2,750". I was told that this would be put right once my daughter's student loan went into the account, which it now has. Then Halifax decided only to allow her a £1,000 overdraft, "as they do with most students", until they see how the account is being operated (so presumably, if she uses the overdraft it will not be increased). They now deny guaranteeing me the full overdraft and point out that all applications are subject to a satisfactory credit score. My point is that most students will not have a credit history as they are opening an account for the first time. This appears to me to be a complete con, as their decision makes it one of the worst offers on the market, not the best.

onzey

My son has just tried to open a student account at NatWest but they say he can't because he is doing a foundation year as part of his course.

Anyone know if the other banks are likely to say the same ?

onzey

He's just gone back and explained fully that his foundation year at college is a part of his degree course at the uni and can prove he's been accepted by the uni on the course and now they say it's ok.

Catmaiow

I have just opened a student account with Halifax, which had a £500 overdraft. I went into an estate agent branch who increased it to £1000, then emailed the head office people who can put it up more; they said no because I had never had a Halifax account. I then took a years statements from my HSBC student account into a full branch and asked them to try again, faxing those over so they could see how I treat my student account. No joy there. She says I should stick to £1000 and try again after 6 months - but with HSBC I have £1250 which is better short term. Does anyone think Halifax will give me more long term if I stick it out and reapply later? - I have to close one of the accounts and I cant decide which is better!

jxp

My son is about to start year 2 of his 4 year course. He opened an HBOS student account last year but they would only give him a £1000 overdraft. He tried to increase this last week without success. He has no history of debt other than operating within the allowed overdraft. HBOS have refused to increase it and he feels like going elsewhere.

His strategy is to maximise his money by using the overdraft to invest at a higher rate elsewhere - he simply transfers money into the HBOS if he has a big bill coming for which he needs to write a cheque.

Does anyone know if he is likely to get a bigger overdraft with another bank if he sticks with this strategy or does he need to change the strategy so the regular monies come into the HBOS account first before going out to the higher interest earning accounts.

Jess

lrosie1 wrote:

Hi
I just applied to HBOS to their student account and it rejected me even when i apealed. It said i had a bad credit rating but i got my credit file and theres nothing wrong with it. any advice would be useful!! should i try apply to a different bank??

Have written previously about this but think it's worth repeating as the same thing happened to my daughter who was told that it wasn't because she had a bad credit rating (she had had an account at another bank for 21/2 years and never been in the red) but because she had NO credit rating. It seemed to us at the time that very few students would get an account at the Halifax because very few have a credit rating.
I would be interested to know what Martin finds out.

My daughter has now changed her existing account to a student one and they couldn't understand how the Halifax operated when we told them what had happened.

CrispyUK

Just wanted to add my own experience with the HBOS student account.

Signed up a few weeks ago as a student going into my second year, told on phone I'd be able to get £2,750 overdraft when I took my ID into the branch, branch said they could only do £500 but she would apply for full overdraft to head office for me.

Head office lettered me to say thank you for your o/d application, we can't offer you an overdraft and took the £500 away. Followed up with a phonecall where the guy set my o/d limit to £1,000 on the spot and applied for the full one again for me. Rejected again but limit stayed at £1,000 this time.

Then the loan went in and I asked at my uni branch about increasing it, she again e-mailed to ask if I could have full amount, I also asked her to add a note in saying would they consider another lower amount.

End result, £1,750 overdraft which is £500 more than HSBC are currently giving me so switching over now

My tips:
- Don't bother trying to get your overdraft increased until your student loan has gone in, you'll save yourself wasted time.
- When you do ask for the full overdraft ask them to add a note onto the e-mail saying to offer whatever they can if they won't give you the full £2,750.