Has anyone actually got the overdraft at Halifax?

regularsaver1

I used to key these accounts, and had one myself. I now work in mortgages, but know of the accounts through former colleagues who i speak to often

the branch can only deal with overdrafts up to £1000 - anything over they have to send an email to student overdraft appeals - so a real person in branch can not influence it

you do not tend to get anything higher than £1000 initially. at around 4 months after you can apply when they see credits going in , it does not always happen automatically

if they automatically gave £2750 to every student, wouldn't people moan they they are pytting students in debt?

maniac886

regularsaver1 wrote:

I used to key these accounts, and had one myself. I now work in mortgages, but know of the accounts through former colleagues who i speak to often

the branch can only deal with overdrafts up to £1000 - anything over they have to send an email to student overdraft appeals - so a real person in branch can not influence it

you do not tend to get anything higher than £1000 initially. at around 4 months after you can apply when they see credits going in , it does not always happen automatically

if they automatically gave £2750 to every student, wouldn't people moan they they are pytting students in debt?

So how come some people are getting the £2750 straight away? Is this because they have an excellent credit rating?

regularsaver1

sometimes, or if they have an existing halifax relationship

i also know that it is quite hard to get the account in the first place

i would not advise anyone applying in your student home address. always parents, putting a correspondence address on later

maniac886

regularsaver1 wrote:

sometimes, or if they have an existing halifax relationship

i also know that it is quite hard to get the account in the first place

i would not advise anyone applying in your student home address. always parents, putting a correspondence address on later

Yes I have put my parents address as I do live at home anyway. I was basically thinking of getting the account and asking if they would give me the full amount. If not i can probably put in £800 a month with is a mixture of my savings and wages and hopefully they will see this and increase the OD.

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 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!

maniac886

Catmaiow wrote:

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 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!

LOL...you have the same dilemma as me. I think they should at least match the overdraft that you have with hsbc. Thats what i was told they would do with me. then i would move as there is always a chance halifax would raise it further.

weiran

This £2750 overdraft is a joke. I got denied even for an account, even though I bought in a Nationwide statement that showed I have a £3000 overdraft with them and I wanted to switch accounts.

Maybe they sussed that I was just going to whack that £2750 into an ISA?

melancholly

regularsaver1 wrote:

i would not advise anyone applying in your student home address. always parents, putting a correspondence address on later

this is good advice!
it makes things easier if you apply at the same address as you are registered to on the electoral roll, but it also means that you don't have to change your address every year in new accommodation and hope that people forward things on. (doesn't help people not getting overdrafts though - no idea about that i'm afraid)

regularsaver1

its for the credit scoring - the halifax themselves online say that it depends on your application and credit score what initial overdraft you get. it will dpends later what it is increased to by the credits to the account

it is not worth applying for an account where someone has lived 2 weeks and certainly not a university halls address either.

nige

I am a second year student and switched to halifax at the start of September (was with Natwest) and they gave me £500 overdraft, increased to £1000 as soon as I got the account to £100 in credit and told me that I could get the full overdraft when my loan came through. Went in today and they weren't going to increase it at all saying that I might spend it all and complain at them as they have no idea what I am like with money, they ended up putting it up to £1500 because I am a second year student. What really gets me is if I did spend it all then they could just offer me an agreed overdraft and get interest on that money, why !!!! me about, and as for not knowing what I am like with money, that is what the credit check was for before giving me the account dumbasses. I can't complain really as £1500 is more than I would have had with Natwest anyway this year, they also said I could reapply to get it increased when my next loan payment comes through, but that if I do not have more regular money than just my loan going in then it is unlikely.

Anyway, all this led me to a thought, if I transfer the overdraft to a current account and then have the two accounts set up to transfer £100 a month into the Halifax account and then £100 in the other direction, as long as I keep £100 under the overdraft limit in case one of the payments doesn't go across fine, then I have a regular payment going in other than my loan, any thoughts if this would work?