Need to reorganise my accounts!

lil_lisa

Hi everyone! I was wondering if anyone could help me figure out the best way to do this!

I currently have accounts with 3 banks:
HSBC - Current a/c i've had since I was 13 and a joint a/c with other half.
NatWest - Student A/C (wanted free railcard)
Lloyds TSB - I work a weekend shift for them and need a Lloyds a/c for my salary to get paid into.

I'm sick of juggling between the 3 banks so I want to streamline. I can't close down the ltsb a/c or I wont get paid and I need the HSBC account because of the joint a/c (tried to convince other half to change banks too but there was no budging him!) so the natwest one will have to go.

Here comes the tricky part....

My student a/c is about £800 OD which isn't a problem as i'll have my loan (around £1000) paid at the beginning of term which will pay off the OD so I can close that account. But, as far as I know you can't have 2 student accounts at the same time and i'm worried that since i'm about to go into my 3rd year they wont let me open a new student account and i'll be left without my student OD, which I need, and i'll only have £200 left of my loan for the whole term!!

I know that I have a bad internal rating with HSBC coz I don't have a regular 'income' going into that account. I tried to ask for an OD with them and they refused and when I looked into the Lloyds student a/c I was told that if I already have a current a/c with them then they would convert it to a student a/c but I may not be able to do that as it's a staff account and different from a regular current a/c

Do you think I should get 2 student a/c's running at that the same time just to make sure I definitely can get the new account and the OD I need? What do you think?

emma396

do u have SO's or DD's coming from your Natwest account? seeing as it is a student account it'd be wise to keep it open for the interest free overdraft(??) if u r in your third year as well, the O/D should go up to £1600. it's a good idea to overdraw it to the limit, then put the money into a high interest account.

that was it's still open, but u don't need to worry about moving money back and forth. move any SO's or DD's to your HSBC or lloyds account.

[Deleted User]

I'd weigh up the advantages of rationalising accounts vs staying as you are - what are the benefits of the former, you've mentioned some risks but not the benefits for you?