Halifax Student account 2010/2011: We want your feedback

methodicalmadness

And on the otherside....
Sounds like you had a rubbish time rainmouse!
My experiance has been a bit different. I was a student, took out a large over draught, then I wasnt a student, so i paid this over draught off and changed it to a graduate account. Then I was a student again, and I changed the account back to a student account with out any problems. But as well as this, I lately asked to take out a whoping £1K overdraught which is not usually aloud in the first year of your course (I think its £500 for the first year), but they aloud me to because of the 'good use' of the account in the past. I have never had a problem with them....well I had one minor one that was sorted quickly, and I was compensated.
If you let them though, any bank will exploit you. My advice is to always always know what your accounts are, and how much you have (or dont have ), you are the only one responsible for your money. I know some people who avoid looking at their balance because they are afraid of what they might see....madness! Better to know and avoid any problems in my opinion!

hunter0405

Thought I would share my experience with HBOS.


As I start my university life in September 2007, I opened a student account with Bank of Scotland and got a £500 limit for my overdraft.

In my second year of university (September 2008), my overdraft went straight up to £2750. Although the limit has never gone up any further since 2008.

The good thing is that I was enrolled on a 5 years course and now I will be graduating after 4 years. This would be good if I manage to clear my overdraft debt and do some savings with it :beer:

I think I will stay with HBOS for another year after as it offers a one year graduate account. Looking forward to switching to another graduate account in 2013 :j

nnbbwo

my friends have had a student account for now with Halifax and have had no problems.

dandelions

I have a Halifax account and am going into my fifth year at uni. When I came to renew it at the start of my fourth year (Halifax of course requires yearly renewals of the overdraft facility), my £2k overdraft had dropped to £1250. When I asked why, they pointed out I'd never used more than about £300 at a time and therefore felt I didn't need it.

So beware anyone who's thinking "ask for a big overdraft but be prudent and don't use it" - Halifax will notice you're not using it and make it smaller again at renewal time. Just don't bother unless you plan to use it!

djohnson66087

Hi

I'm about to go into my fourth year and have been with the Halifax for nearly six year and had my student account for three year.

My overdraft is currently £1500, and I recently received a letter asking me to renew it as it was due to expire on 30th June.

I phoned up to do this and was told over the phone that not only do I have to renew it, but they also want to reduce to £1350 and that I have to go into the branch on Monday to talk about it.

Just wondering if anyone else has had this problem? I don't understand why they want to do this as I'm still a student and will have student loans and grants coming in. I have never exceeded my overdraft limit.

Thanks

dex91

Not sure if this is relevant, but I've had my student current account with HBOS for 2 years now and my overdraft limit is stuck at £1250, they wont increase it at all which is not what I signed up for... they promised me more

Elitist

RainMouse - I had a similar experience as yourself, I have just graduated - on thursday to be exact - and in May I received a letter from HBOS informing me that as of 1st July I will be charged £1 a day for the priviledge of my overdraft. I pointed out that surely there should be a grace period for graduates to allow them to pay off any overdraft they may have accumulated. However, they assured me that this was the case for everyone.

I am one of the lucky ones who does have a job to start in august, so yes it was annoying, and the prospect of paying £60 to them until I get my first wage wasn't great, but at least I knew I'd be able to pay it sooner rather than later. I worry about others who are not so fortunate and do not know when they will get a job or when any more money will be available to clear their overdraft off.

My advice - DO NOT GET AN HBOS STUDENT ACCOUNT!!

Very very few students are in a position to clear the entire limit of their overdraft at the drop of a hat and this is what HBOS would have you do, unless you are willing to pay £1 a day for a long time.

In addition to this, I feel the need to add that I also had a student credit card with HBOS which my limit was £1500, without warning this was reduced to £250 and the balance was £248!! Thankfully there were no pending transactions but the bank has no qualms about reducing your credit limit, overdraft or otherwise, without warning. I regularly spent close to my credit limit and always paid it off in full, so there is no way they could claim I wasn't using it.

All in all HBOS do not provide good customer service. I could go on and on with the catalogue of errors that HBOS has offended me with (someone else phoning their telephone banking and the money being taken from MY account!!!). Safe to say I will not be banking with HBOS ever again as this overdraft fiasco was definitely the final straw.

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socialworkstudent

Hi everyone, I am a 'mature' student (29)who applied for a halifax account in 09/10. I got £500 straight away, despite just having moved house and not having a good credit rating (not bad either I think). I should also point out that I have never had a job while at uni and the only money I have going in to my account is student loans, bursaries and grants.

After year one I applied to have it increased and it was (to £1000 or £1250) cant remember. Got it increased in December to £2250 (I asked for £2500 and got £250 less). No one was more suprised than me.

Just off the phone to Halifax there and now have the full £3000 at the end of my second year, no problems whatsoever. Cant fault them, they have been great with me. :j