Best Option to Choose

OohSoHolly

Hello All - Not posted for a while but after a bit of advice.

I Have a student account with the Halifax which is as many coming to its end and my £1000 is still maxed out. I have not used this account for a couple of years as I opened a Barclays account - happier with the service and so need to make a decision.

Do I..

a) contact Barclays and ask for an overdraft (I currently do not have this facility with them) and use this to pay off my Halifax account and then close. Current Halifax fees would see me paying £31 a month whereas Barclays would be around £23.

b) Switch to a new bank such as Nationwide with there 12 month interest free overdraft.

c) Just close my Barclays account and take the hit with the Halifax.

I get paid around £1500 a month but on my pay day £650 goes out to pay bills so I am going to be in the overdraft for the whole month so will pay full fees until I pay it back.

My only concern with switching to Nationwide is that I am looking to get a mortgage next year and was worried the short time with this account would affect my chance.

Any help/advice would be gratefully appreciated.

MrJester

OohSoHolly wrote: »

Hello All - Not posted for a while but after a bit of advice.

I Have a student account with the Halifax which is as many coming to its end and my £1000 is still maxed out. I have not used this account for a couple of years as I opened a Barclays account - happier with the service and so need to make a decision.

Do I..

a) contact Barclays and ask for an overdraft (I currently do not have this facility with them) and use this to pay off my Halifax account and then close. Current Halifax fees would see me paying £31 a month whereas Barclays would be around £23.

b) Switch to a new bank such as Nationwide with there 12 month interest free overdraft.

c) Just close my Barclays account and take the hit with the Halifax.

I get paid around £1500 a month but on my pay day £650 goes out to pay bills so I am going to be in the overdraft for the whole month so will pay full fees until I pay it back.

My only concern with switching to Nationwide is that I am looking to get a mortgage next year and was worried the short time with this account would affect my chance.

Any help/advice would be gratefully appreciated.

a) If you aren't actively putting your wages into Barclays, then its not likely that they will offer you an overdraft.EDIT: Just realised this IS where your pay check is going. You could enquire about a grad account with barclays, to move the overdraft over.
b) When did you graduate? If you look at MSE Best grad accounts, it recommends either Santander or Lloyds for graduate bank accounts, and you can apply for a Graduate bank account up to 3 years after graduating!
DEFINITELY Look here:
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/students/graduate-bank-accounts
c) I don't see how closing the barclays account will do anything.

In terms of your mortgage, yeah you really need a golden credit history. and I mean golden. I would imagine that time spent with bank could affect those chances, but..
What I would consider doing, is if you are within 3 years of graduating, to be able to go onto another 0% overdraft check out the link I gave you above for Santander and Lloyds grad accounts.
It doesn't look like Halifax do grad accounts.. otherwise I would of suggested enquiring with them about moving to a grad account if they can give you 0% on the overdraft.

What Halifax do do is a current account with overdraft up to 2k is £1 a day fee. Though I think the options you've already looked at are cheaper..

Maybe someone else can weigh in here with some more help.

OohSoHolly

Ooo that sounds fantastic. I never knew you were eligible to apply for a graduate account 3 years later. I graduated in 2012 and Barclays appear to offer the same incentive so will most certainly enquire here. I' d much rather stay with them and bin off the Halifax.


Thank you very much!

MrJester

OohSoHolly wrote: »

Ooo that sounds fantastic. I never knew you were eligible to apply for a graduate account 3 years later. I graduated in 2012 and Barclays appear to offer the same incentive so will most certainly enquire here. I' d much rather stay with them and bin off the Halifax.


Thank you very much!

I assumed you was not aware of that, as far as I know, or can assume, is that its the same with any bank account offering a graduate account that you can apply for it within 3 years of graduation.
Obviously, enquire with Barclays directly.

Tell them that you would like to go into the grad account and need a 1000 overdraft.

Let us know how it goes.