open a few student bank accounts

maniac886

I want to transfer my hsbc account to rbs one but not sure of the best way of going about it..... When doing online application does it allow you to switch accounts ?The thing is i only want the rbs account if they can offer me £2750. I will deffo be paying my loan into rbs account if they accept my application but i cant close my hsbc account until rbs offer me £1500 or above!

emma_b_4

i disagree with the post about halifax , i opened my 2nd account with them and told the lady in branch i already had an account with natwest she just shrugged and said well theres nothing to stop you doing that ..

rhig

Emma, you are quite right I think I have misinterpreted Halifax’s web site, on the link below it states customers are only permitted to have one Student Current Account when they are simply referring to accounts held by Halifax.

http://s50.photobucket.com/albums/f318/Beads-and-things/?action=view&current=HBOS.jpg&refPage=&imgAnch=imgAnch1

maniac886 wrote:

I want to transfer my hsbc account to rbs one but not sure of the best way of going about it..... When doing online application does it allow you to switch accounts ?The thing is i only want the rbs account if they can offer me £2750. I will deffo be paying my loan into rbs account if they accept my application but i cant close my hsbc account until rbs offer me £1500 or above!

I had to call to request an account switch but this was on my false assumption that I would have to switch. You are able to apply for another account with HBOS without closing your HSBC. You will simply be required to change your loan payment details with the Student Loans Company. They are unlikely to approve you for £1500 immediately so you will need to keep you HSBC open, its not a bad idea though as you may be able to squeeze HSBC for something if you threaten to close your account.

si1503 wrote:

I only have the £500 right now, but obviously I want to get it increased. If Halifax run a credit check on me then i assume they will be able to see the credit check lloyds did on me, would that be enough to make them curious? Can't I say (if asked) that i've opened up a classic current account/monthly saver with lloyds? (which I plan on doing shortly by the way). If it could be a problem then how long should I leave it until applying for a higher limit?

Assuming the Lloyds check is on your file they will probably guess, a bank has no need to credit check you for a classic or savings account as they don’t need to make an assessment regarding the risk of lending to you. The terms and conditions of the account may also not grant the bank the authority to credit check you as it may be a breech of the data protection act.

si1503 wrote:

Sorry if this is a stupid question, but why is this a bad thing?

This is bad for you as sharing information means banks will know about your other student accounts, even if other accounts are not prohibited they may decide not to grant you credit because of your other credit agreements (overdrafts) with separate banks.

rhig

si1503 wrote:

Well, if those accounts you mentioned above do not have a policy on holding more than 1 student account then they might be safer bets. How long would you recommend leaving it before closing an account and perhaps reopening one elsewhere? As its likely to mean another credit check.

ilovecakes06 wrote:

what is a credit check? when will t be deleated/ expire?
i also have recently opened an account with halifax with the £500 interest free overdraft (i also opened one with llyods and have the £1500) how long should i wait to ask for the increase or should i just go ahead and ask soon?

I have separated this post because credit checks, histories and scores are a fairly complicated subject. I find them interesting but am far from an expert, this forum is gifted with some excellent posters who work or have worked in credit control The best places for advice are the loans and credit forums.

Everyone has a credit record which is updated by lenders when you apply for a credit product, be it a loan, credit or store card, mortgage etc. The record contains your personal details, a list of credit agreements you hold, your payment histories for the credit accounts you hold and a summary of credit checks which have been made against your name.

A credit check is nearly always made against your name when you apply for any type of credit, they are also used when applying for a mobile contract as this is essentially a loan to pay off the handset cost, the phone company also wants to make sure you can be trusted not to run up a huge bill and default on it. A lender uses your credit history as a basis on whether to approve credit, if you have no or little credit history it is less likely the bank will allow you the full overdraft, especially if you have only just opened an account.

The main reason you don’t want to apply to a lot of banks at once is your previous checks will be visible to the lender and they may believe you are in financial difficulty or are going to take the overdraft and not use the account. The check will not technically be deleted for years but as long as they are spread out it probably wont signal alarm bells.

In your position I would purchase a copy of your credit record from Experian or Equifax (costs around £2) to see if the checks are listed. If they are and you need the money then go for it. If you can wait it would be wise to make it believable, use your Halifax most and have your loan paid in to it then shrink the balance and call for an increase. If they ask what you want ask if they think you will get £2750, if they sound dubious maybe ask for £1500 and increase it in the future.

If the banks guess you have other overdrafts you may reach a stage where you are not given further credit, there is a balance banks have to make between your annual income and your total credit allowance (the total of your overdrafts, cards etc) to assess the likelihood that you wont default. This is a little different for students as we have very low incomes and are more likely to be bailed out by parents which reduces risk in the banks eyes.

The size of your overdrafts will not be listed in your credit history but must be declared at the request of your bank when applying. It sounds very nice when you look at Martins tables, but if you apply for banks and fill in the applications honestly you will probably find you arn't given overdrafts by banks after few accounts.

I am by no means saying that the tables are not useful, but warning that you probably won't be able to open many accounts without making an incomplete declaration of your credit agreements with other banks which would be considered a fraudulent application. The obvious way around this is to open a few accounts, decline the overdraft then apply for it when the accounts are open, you are usually asked about other credit agreements when you do this though and a credit check is highly likely.

DrFluffy

emma_b wrote:

i disagree with the post about halifax , i opened my 2nd account with them and told the lady in branch i already had an account with natwest she just shrugged and said well theres nothing to stop you doing that ..

There isn't anything they can do to stop you as such, but if they 'find out' officially, then they can pull all the benefits that come with that account - i.e. the overdraft facility, giving you next to no time to pay it back... REad the small print on your account "we reserve the right, blah, blah, blag..."

maniac886

With the RBS student account do they offer a service where I can have statements online only because I have had problems with my post being opened in the past? HSBC currently offer this thats why I have stuck with them..its just the £2750 overdraft facility which is swinging me.

ben500

Please excuse me if this post gets in the way of the theme of the thread but have been reading and understanding "a little" and was wondering if the following would be feasable.

My other half has just resumed her course and I was thinking she could apply for these accounts and just take advantage of all the freebies, we don't need a student loan and would not really want one, could we sign up get the freebie and close the account to repeat with another supplier just reaping freebies as we go, forgive me but I have been on the brandy and had a lightbulb moment reading this thread and was worried my judgement and understanding of the situation may be impaired..

si1503

Assuming the Lloyds check is on your file they will probably guess

you say that as if the halifax are going to notice this credit check from lloyds and the red sirens are going to go off and they are going to screw me for having a 2nd student account, somehow i don't see how that can happen, i am in the process of opening an IAS account with tesco and even they mention that i will be credit checked when opening the account, it could be that i went to lloyds and they credit checked me but i decided not to open the account, or that i decided to get a credit card with them instead, many reasons, i can always ask the halifax if they will credit check me or not as they ran one when i opened the account, not too sure why they'd need to do another so soon, i'm also after an A&L current account and reg saver, who knows if they will credit check me! that might be 6 checks in a month! is that really that much of a bad thing? possibly in regards to applying for short-term credit, but in the long-run surely these will wiped off in a few months time and have no impact on my future rating?

rhig

ben500 wrote:

Please excuse me if this post gets in the way of the theme of the thread but have been reading and understanding "a little" and was wondering if the following would be feasable.

My other half has just resumed her course and I was thinking she could apply for these accounts and just take advantage of all the freebies, we don't need a student loan and would not really want one, could we sign up get the freebie and close the account to repeat with another supplier just reaping freebies as we go, forgive me but I have been on the brandy and had a lightbulb moment reading this thread and was worried my judgement and understanding of the situation may be impaired..

You wont have a problem switching accounts for freebees especially if you do not request an overdraft however unless your other half is in her first year she may not be eligible for some student freebees e.g. Lloyds iPod shuffle which are only offered to first years on their first degree. There is more in investing the overdrafts for a couple of years than in the freebees though the five year railcards are an excellent deal.

si1503 wrote:

you say that as if the halifax are going to notice this credit check from lloyds and the red sirens are going to go off and they are going to screw me for having a 2nd student account, somehow i don't see how that can happen, i am in the process of opening an IAS account with tesco and even they mention that i will be credit checked when opening the account, it could be that i went to lloyds and they credit checked me but i decided not to open the account, or that i decided to get a credit card with them instead, many reasons

When Halifax see the other checks they may ask you about it and believe you but its more likely they will guess what you are doing as you are a student and are statistically far more likely to be looking for credit than a savings account. Of course they don’t know you have opened the account and may even make the assumption that you were denied credit by Lloyds and that they are your only creditor in my experience Lloyds, like Barclays (not Barlaycard) tend to take a more traditional approach to lending.

If they assumed you had acquired a credit card from them this would be worst, firstly because it will not be mentioned on your application and secondly because it increases your total available credit – once you reach a certain level of potential debt in proportion to your earnings most high street lenders will be likely to grant your applications for their credit products.

si1503 wrote:

i can always ask the halifax if they will credit check me or not as they ran one when i opened the account, not too sure why they'd need to do another so soon, i'm also after an A&L current account and reg saver, who knows if they will credit check me! that might be 6 checks in a month! is that really that much of a bad thing? possibly in regards to applying for short-term credit, but in the long-run surely these will wiped off in a few months time and have no impact on my future rating?

If Halifax credit check you they will notify you on the phone when you apply for more credit, it is almost certain they will if you want to increase your credit, especially if you are a relatively new customer. This is imperative to your current financial situation; it would be foolish for any bank to make decisions about customer credit agreements purely from their previous experience with the customer or recent credit checks.

As I said before I am far from an expert on the subject but a bank will virtually always credit check you before allowing you to access credit with them. Having a large number of checks in a small period of time is very bad as it implies you have either been granted a significant amount of credit in a few weeks or have been repeatedly denied credit by other lenders based on their interpretations of your credit record. More than a couple of requests in a short period of time implies the likelihood of the applicant either having financial difficulties or anticipating them in the future for example, “I am likely to be sacked so I will apply for credit to use when my paycheques stop”.

You are right that the requests will have little effect on your credit in the long term but the extent of the effect is difficult to anticipate. You credit score will lower with many applications for credit or late payments but the rate of recovery of that score is impossible to determine as the algorithms used to calculate a score (e.g. FICO scoring) are trade secrets guarded by the scoring companies.

DrFluffy

ben500 wrote:

Please excuse me if this post gets in the way of the theme of the thread but have been reading and understanding "a little" and was wondering if the following would be feasable.

My other half has just resumed her course and I was thinking she could apply for these accounts and just take advantage of all the freebies, we don't need a student loan and would not really want one, could we sign up get the freebie and close the account to repeat with another supplier just reaping freebies as we go, forgive me but I have been on the brandy and had a lightbulb moment reading this thread and was worried my judgement and understanding of the situation may be impaired..

you have to be a 'new' student usually for the freebies... Resumption of her course might preclude her...