Student Overdraft Urgent Advice Needed

Superstition

Hi guys,

Firstly, what a wonderful forum you have here. :beer: Now to my problem.

I'm in 2nd year Uni and currently with the Bank of Scotland. My overdraft is currently £300 but friends I've spoken to have vastly bigger ones than this. Last year I was at college so I'm not sure if that had something to do with it but I was told after increasing it that I wouldn't be allowed to increase it for a year? Does this sound right even though I have friends with £1000 overdrafts!? This was in February/March but I could desperately do with a bit of cash right now.

The other thing is (to my shame) I've went a bit OTT with online betting and spending time in the pub so I'm a bit hesitant about swaggering into a bank and moaning about my overdraft only for them to have a look at my account and see gambling/beer!

What do you guys think I should do? Am I going to have to tough it out and wait the year or should I go into a different branch and see what is said? All I'm wanting is about £100 to see me over.

Thanks for your time.

zppp

Superstition wrote: »

Hi guys,

Firstly, what a wonderful forum you have here. :beer: Now to my problem.

I'm in 2nd year Uni and currently with the Bank of Scotland. My overdraft is currently £300 but friends I've spoken to have vastly bigger ones than this. Last year I was at college so I'm not sure if that had something to do with it but I was told after increasing it that I wouldn't be allowed to increase it for a year? Does this sound right even though I have friends with £1000 overdrafts!? This was in February/March but I could desperately do with a bit of cash right now.

The other thing is (to my shame) I've went a bit OTT with online betting and spending time in the pub so I'm a bit hesitant about swaggering into a bank and moaning about my overdraft only for them to have a look at my account and see gambling/beer!

What do you guys think I should do? Am I going to have to tough it out and wait the year or should I go into a different branch and see what is said? All I'm wanting is about £100 to see me over.

Thanks for your time.

It will be more than likely due to the gambling. I suggest that if this problem is causing you hardship you seek the advice of Gamcare. If they are declining your overdraft, I suggest you contact your college/university to see if you can apply for a hardship type loan.

rb10

Have you actually asked them for an increase??

Easiest way is to phone them up.

Superstition

I've not asked them as I was told I would have to wait a year and I'm just wondering if this is standard procedure or if they were just trying to avoid extending?

As for the gambling - yes, very silly. I've just self excluded myself from a few sites and limited my deposit to £15 per month on another so I shouldn't get into that mess again. I'm worried that will have an effect on their decision.

onlypaddy

You are right, banks don't often look kindly upon online gambling habits as they see gamblers as a risk (i.e. you could rack up unauthorised overdrafts etc) - quite often I have heard of accounts being closed on these grounds.

I would suspect that an increased overdraft is very unlikely.

As someone has suggested, if you are in genuine hardship then you may be entitled to an access to learning fund grant. I'm not sure if the system has changed though, as I had one in the first half of 2008. It isn't a loan and isn't repayable. You should have to apply directly to the university and they will assess your application.

They asked me for 3 months bank statements etc to assess your incomings and outgoings - this includes savings accounts and they WILL scrutinise it, so expect questions about your online gambling and be ready to show the steps you are taking to stop. They will likely demand that you stop all gambling.

Falleniceangel

I would just ask, I'm with RBS and have a £1,400 overdraft, I think it started at £1000 though. The thing you have to ask yourself though is, what are you getting the overdraft for? Are you going to the pub and to buy trainers etc, or are you going to be buy wild crazy things like food? :P I think it would be better to try and budget out your cash than open a bigger overdraft, but that depends on your cash and things.

onlypaddy

Of course, there is the bugeting thing too ^^^

Out of 4 years at uni, the most useful thing I ever did was to (eventually) sit down and work out a budget.