Higher overdraft at Halifax!

BrandNewYear

With the Halifax you used to be able to see what level of overdraft they were willing to give you without a credit check by clicking 'increase overdraft' online. Now they seem to have changed the system slightly. I'd like to increase my overdraft limit temporarily. However I don't want to lose the overdraft limit I already have in the process.

Can anyone talk me through what the procedure is at Halifax now when applying to increase your OD limit online? Do they perform a credit check? Is there any danger of them decreasing the OD limit you already have?

Macca83_2

Can you go into the branch? They can give you a good idea of what limit you'd be able to apply for using their internal scoring system.

BrandNewYear

Macca83 wrote: »

Can you go into the branch? They can give you a good idea of what limit you'd be able to apply for using their internal scoring system.

I'd prefer not to due to the long queues and rowdiness in branch etc (I live in a rough area)

Any idea how it works online?

Macca83_2

Not really Im afraid. I have heard that you can put a silly figure in, say £5000, and it'll come back with a suggested amount. But I haven't tried it myself so i couldn't guarantee that it works. How about telephone banking? Could you do it over the phone?

Jules2012

You put in what you require online however I am not aware of it suggesting an amount.

It either says yes your successful or sorry we couldn't.

BrandNewYear

Jules2012 wrote: »

You put in what you require online however I am not aware of it suggesting an amount.

It either says yes your successful or sorry we couldn't.

Thanks. So say I already have an overdraft limit of £1000 and I go online and request £1500. Could it come back with a decline for the £1500 and in the process take away my current £1000 and leave me with £0 overdraft limit?

Jules2012

No your current limit will remain if it says no, I think it only does a soft search as I have never noticed it doing a full check but I could be wrong.

I went from 300-500-1000-2000-2300 over a period of time, never used it just wanted to see what it would go to lol

212

You used to be able to put 9,999 and get your pre-approved limit, so I had 5k for a while.

Now it seems you can't - I (stupidly) removed the limit altogether, so recently tried £2,000 from £0 and it just gave me a straight rejection page explaining credit scoring etc.

They can pull your O/D at any time should they think you're a risk etc, but just applying for a bigger one and getting declined won't automatically mean your existing one is pulled - be careful though as if you're close to your existing limit and apply for more they may review you and decide you shouldn't have it, banks aren't too keen on people living in their overdraft.

You may be better off trying for another account elsewhere and hoping they'd give you an overdraft - Halifax is pretty expensive if you're only using 1k (at £1 a day?).