Student forced to pay for overdraft

rikpotts

I am in my third year of full time uni and, like most students in the UK, I have an overdraft.


My problem is that Halifax (and a bunch of other banks I applied to) wont give me a student account. I am simply told that my application has been refused/declined. I have banked with Halifax since I was around 11-12 and have NEVER been overdrawn for more than a few days. I started uni with a £500 overdraft on a regular current account which I have steadily bumped up to £2600.


This means I am paying £2 a day for an overdraft that I simply cannot afford. I always find it difficult to pay the £60 a month and usually (for a few days) go over my overdraft and that costs me £5 a day.


It has now got out of control and im totally skint. I have just spent my last £60 on last months overdraft instead of food and I am mightily !!!!ed off and hungry!


Do I have a legal right to a student bank account? Do I have a legal right to a free overdraft as a student? Is it illegal for Halifax to insist I have a current account and not allow me to have a student account.


And can I get my money back!!??


Thanks for any replies

eskbanker

Unfortunately the answer to all of your questions is 'no'. Will they offer you a loan perhaps?

Jakg

rikpotts wrote: »

Do I have a legal right to a student bank account? Do I have a legal right to a free overdraft as a student? Is it illegal for Halifax to insist I have a current account and not allow me to have a student account.

No, no & no I'm afraid.

custardy

3rd year at uni and you need to ask?

eskbanker

Perhaps it would be worth posting more of the background - nearly six years ago your first post on this board stated that "ive got one more payment on my collection of debts", which would suggest that your financial history may be a tad more complex than the average student, which may in turn give some clues as to why you're not getting what you're looking for from banks now?

pjread

£60 a month minimum, ouch.... I know it's the obvious thing to say, ut you need to clear that OD one way or the other. Unfortunately you knew the charges when you became overdrawn, and I suspect you'd struggle to get something "better"....

Worth begging parents to bail you out and getting a p/t job to pay them back? You'd instantly be £60+ a month up (don't use the OD again!) which would probably be enough to feed a student on it's own.

custardy

£600 off,would drop it to £30 a month

PeacefulWaters

rikpotts wrote: »

I am in my third year of full time uni and, like most students in the UK, I have an overdraft.

It's a fair few years since I was involved in research on the subject, but at that time around 60% of students had no overdraft.

My problem is that Halifax (and a bunch of other banks I applied to) wont give me a student account. I am simply told that my application has been refused/declined. I have banked with Halifax since I was around 11-12 and have NEVER been overdrawn for more than a few days.

Capital letters that you go on to contradict.

I started uni with a £500 overdraft on a regular current account which I have steadily bumped up to £2600.

This means I am paying £2 a day for an overdraft that I simply cannot afford. I always find it difficult to pay the £60 a month and usually (for a few days) go over my overdraft and that costs me £5 a day.

Have you ever asked them if they'd convert your existing account to student status? Or gave you always applied for a new account? When did you last apply?

Do I have a legal right to a student bank account?

No.

Do I have a legal right to a free overdraft as a student?

No.

Is it illegal for Halifax to insist I have a current account and not allow me to have a student account.

No.

And can I get my money back!!??

I thought you owed them £2,500+. So it's more a case of can they get their money back.

I've bolded a question above. I'd be interested to know their explanation for not switching you to student terms on an existing account that has full banking facilities. That might give a complaint some mileage.

But I must say, there's an uncomfortable sense of a feeling of entitlement running through your post.