Open Uni student cant get a student account?

farmio

Hello,

this is my first post on the forum. I’m hoping to be debt free by Christmas, hopefully sooner depending on what you guys think.

First a little history, I went to Portsmouth uni, where I got a student account with Halifax and HSBC. I had to leave Portsmouth for a number of reasons and have now moved back into my parent’s house.

I decided to carry my studies on with the Open Uni as it was a waste of a year and a half if I didn’t. I have a full time job which is paid into my HSBC account which is still interest free and the debt on it is nearly gone, hopefully next month. The problem is with the Halifax.

They have changed my account back to a normal current account. Now I didn’t receive any letters telling me they were doing this so I was a little bit miffed when checking all my statements.

Now this is partially my fault for not checking my statements, but they have so far charged me £268.96 in interest. I have been trying to clear credit cards off first so have been paying £10 a month into the account to keep it ticking over.

At the moment they are charging about £20 a month interest which considering I am still doing a degree I feel that I should still have a student account.

I went to my local branch and they tried to tell me that they don’t cover the Open Uni as it’s not a "proper degree". I saw red at this point but I kept my nerve. I explained that I do 28 hours a week study around work, which is more than most students!!!

They still wouldn’t have it though.

I’m wondering if anyone can give me some advice. I was thinking that when my HSBC account is paid off, just move the debt but I would still like to claim the interest back.

Regards
Richard

Voyager2002

Firstly, student accounts are for people who are studying full-time and don't have "proper" jobs, so it is clear that you don't qualify for one.

However, Halifax should definitely have told you that they were changing the conditions of your account before they started charging interest. On that basis, I think you would have a very good case for getting a refund of the interest that has been charged up to now.

And well done for going to the OU rather than just giving up.

Compound_2

It appears that Halifax have done a HSBC, namely started charging interest on your student overdraft without giving any warning (in breach of the Banking Code).

When you started at Portsmouth, what did you give as your graduation year to the banks? A year after the scheduled course completion, Halifax should have told you they’ll start charging interest. In the case of HSBC, they will convert it to a graduate account on scheduled course completion. Before this summer, the graduate account would have an interest-free overdraft, reducing year by year. But this year they scrapped free overdrafts without giving any warning.

I have advised students to get out fast from HSBC. It’s good you’re not likely to need the overdraft. You may have difficulty in opening a student account elsewhere, as they don’t normally cover distance learning.

farmio

Thanks for the quick replies. I didnt notice anything change with my hsbc account so im going to keep an eye on that incase it changes.

As for the halifax account, Im really disappointed by the action that the bank took. Im now doing more study than before yet I am not classed as a student. I am currently doing the same amount of hours as I did at portsmouth, but because I have to be at home I get penalised. Im going to close the account and be done with them.

I have about £1000 to pay off on the overdraft, do you recommend putting this on a 0% credit card or another current account?

Going back to the uni thing, the Open Uni is recognised by the LEA as i get a grant with them.

student_advisor

My partner's just switched to the OU and has a student account with Natwest. He went to change his account and they said that the OU WAS a valid uni for a student account.

Might be worth investigating some other banks and switching the debt.

Some banks require a student loan to be into the account which you obviously won't have as an OU student.