How many graduate accounts can someone have?

JamesWMH

Hi,

I graduated in July and my NatWest student account became a graduate account, retaining my £2000 overdraft limit.

Am I allowed to open a second graduate account? And would I be allowed to have an overdraft on the second account as well as my current overdraft with NatWest?

Anyone got any experience?

Cheers,

atypical

You can see all the eligibility criteria for the different banks in the table here:
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/students/graduate-bank-accounts#table

Some say you have to have had a student account with them. Others, like Santander, want you to be working and to use the account as your main one.

You can get overdrafts on both accounts. But why do you want to do this? The overdrafts are short-lived and gradually reduce the longer you hold the account.

melancholly

also remember that they can take away your interest free overdraft without really any notice. in the past it seemed to be an empty threat, but reports of it happening are increasing.

it is worth doing a statement of affairs (SOA) - from the DFW board - to see how else you might be able to manage your finances instead? a second overdraft might be ok as a last resort, but if there are alternatives, can you explore them first? this will be a short term fix as they'll start to scale down the overdraft a year after graduation.

JamesWMH

I only need a short term fix, I've got a massive wonga loan, i'll owe £794 when i can next extend it, and I only earn £830 per month, so I need something I can pay off over 4 or 5 months, which no interest being added.

melancholly

if you're relying on places like wonga, then that's killing you with interest. have a look at how to do an SOA:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/107280

have an overhaul of all your finances. if you post up incomings and outgoings in that board, there are people on there who are amazing at making your money go further. it's also a frightening reality check to work out where all your money goes (although a spending diary was where i saw how much cash i wasted!)!! well worth doing, especially if you already use pay day loans on a regular basis.