Has anyone actually got the overdraft at Halifax?

libertino

My application for a Halifax account wasn't even accepted (presuming it's because my student house is in a poor area of the city - where do they expect students to live?! I might try applying at the branch near my parents' house), but is it worth the effort of trying to get an account if they don't give the advertised "up to" £2750 overdraft? They give £500 to start with, and I've seen some people say they had theirs increased to £1000 or £1500, but that's no more than other banks give as standard. Who has managed to get the £2750 overdraft and what did you do to get it?

tazzababe

I was offered it, but declined. When I set up the student account they automatically geve me £750 overdraft. A few months later when I went in, I was asked if I wanted bumped up. Don't think I did anything specail to get it though

claralou

I was declined an account altogether and was given no clear reason why. Just that I had failed the credit check even though my credit rating is high as far as I can tell. Disappointing.

maniac886

I was thinking of switching but hardly anyone has got the full £2750!

StudentSaver_2

As far as I'm aware, you can get the £2750 if you're on a four year course, and you can only get it in your 4th year. I'm starting second year now - they gave me £1000 last year and I can bump it up this year if I want. Thankfully though I've never needed to go into it, so I'll probably just leave it at the £1000 level.

PS you have to ask for the overdraft to be applied - they don't automatically give it.

libertino

claralou wrote:

I was declined an account altogether and was given no clear reason why. Just that I had failed the credit check even though my credit rating is high as far as I can tell. Disappointing.

Likewise. The only thing I can put it down to is my street address/postcode, where credit ratings for other people is likely to be poor.

What's the maximum overdraft you can get in the 3rd year? Is £2750 only for 4th years?

Snow_Angel

This answers everything :

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?newsid1121700170,82362,

....so no, it's not supposed to be just 4th years.

techno_geek

I'm about to start my first year at Uni (eek!) and already have the full OD amount at NatWest.

What I'm planning to do is open a normal current account at Halifax and use this as my day-to-day account so they see lots of money going in (and out, lol), and then ask for the account to be upgraded to a student account at the start of my second year (or possibly half-way through my first year) in order to get the full overdraft amount.

It's a bit of a mission as I'll have to transfer all my DDs across, but hopefully it will be worth it to secure the full OD amount as I'll probably need it by my second year (of a 4-year course).

Food for thought for anyone with a bit of patience? Was it the Guinness advert that said "good things come to those who wait"? :rolleyes:

si1503

Just been declined a raise from £1000 to £1500, very embarrassing to be declined credit (considering that never being declined for anything before) and makes the advertised £2750 seem like a load of bollox to me! I phoned up Halifax as soon as I received the letter to demand an explaination for the refusal, they explained to me that i have only had the account for 3 weeks and it is very rare for any student to be given more than £500 within 6-8 weeks of opening the account, and that i need to wait for more funds to enter the account, such as my student loan so they can see that i will have sufficient funds to pay the overdraft back! Hello!?? Its a loan!! I've never heard such a load of horsep1ss in all my life!

freebie_junkie

everytime i go in they hassle me to take that blooming £2750, i dont want nor need it, they cant seem to understand that i dont want it!

chugalug

I've had a current account with Halifax for a few years. When I became a student (mature!!) I converted it to a student account. In my second year I had an overdraft of £1750 so not bad.