HSBC scraps free overdrafts for this year's graduates

Blacksheep1979

Who did you open your new account with?

MW1773

There are so many people who are graduates now it seems everyone has a
degree. Should they all get free overdrafts? When I graduated the bank
offered me a graduate loan which was great, I took it and paid off my
overdraft and used what was left to have a good holiday. Why should I now
have to subsidise those people who don't want to pay off their debt. If you
borrow money don't you expect to pay interest? I know it seems harsh but
nothing in life is free it is just the way of the world.

Blacksheep1979

MW1773 wrote: »

There are so many people who are graduates now it seems everyone has a
degree. Should they all get free overdrafts? When I graduated the bank
offered me a graduate loan which was great, I took it and paid off my
overdraft and used what was left to have a good holiday. Why should I now
have to subsidise those people who don't want to pay off their debt. If you
borrow money don't you expect to pay interest? I know it seems harsh but
nothing in life is free it is just the way of the world.

But how would you feel if you had been told that you would have an interest free overdraft for 3 years (reducing) and had planned according to this, only to be informed at the end that the rules were changing and now they were going to make £500 or so out of you?

MW1773

Well I owed £1000 when I finished so it would have only cost about £8 a
month which is less than I spend on coffee in a week! Anyway I opened
another account in the first year after I graduated when I started my first
job and the first time I went over my overdraft by £5 they charged me £30
so I closed that one straight away. I have gone over with HSBC 3 or 4 times
and never been charged a penny, so I figure even if I had to pay the £8 a
month I would still be in pocket.....is it worth changing?

melancholly

MW1773 wrote: »

There are so many people who are graduates now it seems everyone has a
degree. Should they all get free overdrafts? When I graduated the bank
offered me a graduate loan which was great, I took it and paid off my
overdraft and used what was left to have a good holiday. Why should I now
have to subsidise those people who don't want to pay off their debt. If you
borrow money don't you expect to pay interest? I know it seems harsh but
nothing in life is free it is just the way of the world.

but presumably when you got your degree you didn't have to pay fees!! now that that has been introduced, it seems harsh to expect people to leave uni with minimal debt. an interest free overdraft that decreases each year seems to be reasonable and sensible to help people pay money back when they start earning.

Blacksheep1979

and more than just being sensible - it was what you were told you'd get when you initially signed up. Verbal contract anyone?

melancholly

MW1773 wrote: »

Well I owed £1000 when I finished so it would have only cost about £8 a
month which is less than I spend on coffee in a week!

i can't even contemplate spending £8 a week on coffee - i simply can't afford to waste that much money! i also couldn't survive at the moment without an interest free overdraft (but that's postgraduate study!). if natwest (who i have my student account with) even tried to cancel my overdraft with no warning, i would be in a lot of trouble. i plug everything i can into savings and then live off as little as possible and use my overdraft - it just makes sense to earn interest on what little i have. they are changing the rules - as blacksheetp1979 says - after telling you things to make you sign up. that's simply not fair!

MW1773

Be realistic, we are only talking a couple of pounds a week here. If you are continuing in postgraduate study then there are loans out there that you can take that do not require payment until your studies are completed, once studies are complete the onus is then on the individual to move into employment - and then what's a couple of pounds a week? It seems to me that too many people expect to be given a free lunch once they leave education, at some point you have to stand on your own two feet and face the reality that there really isn't something for nothing in the real world.

melancholly

MW1773 wrote: »

Be realistic, we are only talking a couple of pounds a week here. If you are continuing in postgraduate study then there are loans out there that you can take that do not require payment until your studies are completed, once studies are complete the onus is then on the individual to move into employment - and then what's a couple of pounds a week? It seems to me that too many people expect to be given a free lunch once they leave education, at some point you have to stand on your own two feet and face the reality that there really isn't something for nothing in the real world.

i actually have converted by account back into student status so i pay nothing! and will then get 3 years after the phd is over too!

i cannot see at all how having a staggered decrease in an interest free overdraft allowance can be so offensive to you! obviously you didn't have to pay the huge fees that students do now, or you would realise what a lifeline it is.

i'll be more than happy to stand on my own feet when i leave education, but it's unrealistic (slightly daft?) to expect all the debt to be paid back at the point of graduation.

and you still keep missing the main point - people took out student accounts having been told about the graduate account situation. now HSBC appears to be changing the rules, which is very unfair to people graduating this year. whether the banks should or shouldn't offer this service isn't the issue - they said they would and now they aren't. that's simply wrong!

guardianangel

I'm confused too!!! I graduate this summer but when I went into the Bank on Friday they said that my overdraft wilkl decrease over 5 years by £300 each year (currently I have £1500 overdraft). Guess I'll have to check that again next week at another branch. This is becoming stupid!!!