Graduate Accounts 2007/8 discussion

NovaBlack_2

so let me get this straight... everyone who graduated this year with HSBC to find they DIDNT have an interest free graduate overdraft and got charged since july (about £60 here) is getting it refunded?

and there is now a £1500 interest free overdraft for all graduates this year ? (i.e ones who graduated in june just gone)

god im so confused. we've been told so many different things by HSBC and are now trying to change to natwest. last time i went in we had changed from a student acc to a current account (17.9% interest!) :mad:

then got them to change it to a graduate acc with 9.9% interest... so this is now back to 0% interest??

Stella66

Anyone who has an experience with Abbey National. I made an application for the graduate account online. I got a letter after 2 weeks to say l have to send some documents. It's now almost 2 weeks since l sent those but l still haven't heard anything yet. I have been on the phone to customer services, only to be told the documents have not yet been updated on the system they will make a follow up. I'm so frustrated. Is there a professional and effecient bank where l can open a graduate account out there?

haribo27

I graduated in July and I had a student account with Lloyds. I rang them and asked to be transferred to a graduate acc. I was told this happened automatically, so I asked what would happen to my 0% overdraft and was told that it would still be interest free. About three weeks ago, the switch happened. Now I am being charged interest. :mad: Have rung up repeatedly, get lost in the call centre etc, branch say they are investigating and will get back to me, cant call branch directly they dont answer, and in the meantime the interest is stacking up. I am told that the first £1k is 0% but not the next £500 I have borrowed. This is not what I have been told from the call centre, it is not what is on the literature that is about the account and I am very angry!!!!! They say they are investigating but so far they have stuck to their guns over this. Also, at no point have I actually REQUESTED to be moved, I have just been moved and now am being charged.

Any thoughts are welcome, I have made an official complaint will see where that goes.

Also I am in the fortunate position of being able to pay off all I owe and move. So I do have a big card to play.

c-m

I graduated in the summer of 2005 and my Student account with Natwest is still running. My overdraft limit is £1800 with interest around £10+ per month.t I am currently £1930 overdrawn.

Would I be able to move banks, bank accounts and transfer this debt to my new account, or whould they be like, well you already have an account over your limit so no chance.

Obviously at the moment this is costing me quite a bit.

Edit: lol thats 2005 not 2002 as previously put

tightasabulls

Hi there everyone, this is my first post on moneysaving expert.com, i think im addicted, i think i would go as far as to say that this site is working against the dictatorship we are living in (dressed up as a democracy)

Anywhez, on the subject of Graduate accounts, i have been looking into this recently (in order to make full use of the 0% overdraft facilities) but like many of the other posts i have found it a bit of a minefield!

1. Can we have more than one Graduate bank account? (A few people have asked this before but with no reply) Having access to 4 accounts would set up an ability to obtain 8k at 0% and netting a savy stoozer a neat 480 pounds per year!

4-09-2007 10:40 [php]PMStella66[/php] Anyone who has an experience with Abbey National. I made an application for the graduate account online. I got a letter after 2 weeks to say l have to send some documents. It's now almost 2 weeks since l sent those but l still haven't heard anything yet. I have been on the phone to customer services, only to be told the documents have not yet been updated on the system they will make a follow up. I'm so frustrated. Is there a professional and effecient bank where l can open a graduate account out there?

I have applied for several accounts, (Abbey National being one- and no response from them)

I have also applied for an Ulsterbank one who tell me i need to put my salary into the account (no chance) or part of my salary (little chance) for three months before i can apply. Il put in 100 pounds for three months and then il try them again. (graduate salaries arnt too good these days)

RBS did actually get back to me after i applied online for their account. http://www.rbs.co.uk/personal/current-accounts/g1/graduate.ashx A lovely fellow phoned me up and said i could open the account as soon as i dropped into my local branch and supplied the required documents. My nearest branch however is about 400 miles away in Liverpool. I live in Northern Ireland unfortunately.(disaster i know, dearest house prices and lowest salaries in the whole of the UK what an excuse for a country)

modders1984

Ive applied for a RBS Graduate account yesterday in order to transfer from HSBC as having the interest free overdraft for 3 years rather than 1 appeals...

I ensured that I took all the correct documentation (graduate certificate, bank statements, last 3 payslips, bills with address on) in order to make the process run smoothly and the whole thing took about 30 minutes. The guy who saw me was really helpful but said that he would call me back in the afternoon to tell me how things were proceeding.

(he never called me back, which makes me a little anxious as im not sure whether he's just left my application half finished.)

I also got a quote on a £5000 loan for a used car. I asked if i could defer payments for a few months until I had finished paying off my egg card
(which has a much higher interest rate), which he said shouldn't be a problem. We'll have to see how that goes...

SimonJ80

modders1984 wrote: »

Ive applied for a RBS Graduate account yesterday in order to transfer from HSBC as having the interest free overdraft for 3 years rather than 1 appeals...

I ensured that I took all the correct documentation (graduate certificate, bank statements, last 3 payslips, bills with address on) in order to make the process run smoothly and the whole thing took about 30 minutes. The guy who saw me was really helpful but said that he would call me back in the afternoon to tell me how things were proceeding.

(he never called me back, which makes me a little anxious as im not sure whether he's just left my application half finished.)

I also got a quote on a £5000 loan for a used car. I asked if i could defer payments for a few months until I had finished paying off my egg card
(which has a much higher interest rate), which he said shouldn't be a problem. We'll have to see how that goes...

Are the pay slips needed? I can't find mine. I have my certificate and a bank statement.

Helen84_3

I've just got a letter saying my HSBC Graduate account is being changed to a normal account and therefore my interest free overdraft is being removed from next month. I graduated in 2006 and thought I had a 3 year interest free overdraft however when I spoke to their customer services they say they have revised their graduate accounts and as a result all graduate accounts only have two years interest free. This means I have less than a month to find the 500 pounds to take me out of my overdraft before I start being charged interest at 18.8%

Has this happened to anyone else.
Any advice? i've already written to them to tell them how unhappy I am.

Optimisticpair

Hi All fellow graduates or should it be Grrrrrrraduates seeing as we are seething.

Switching sounds good but I can't find one for my personal circumstances - no job - to beat staying with Barclays who I've been with for years and have built a good credit history with.

I am going to have to see what happens if I use my overdraft on my still existing student account and then change it to the best they can offer me.

Stoozing isn't possible if the small print states that it has to be your main account and where your source of income goes into.

As I've mainly lived in the sticks my priority is to have a branch I can walk into and deal with face to face - never had a problem with them though. My local branch does free tea and cake once a week as well!

Infidel

Helen84 wrote: »

I've just got a letter saying my HSBC Graduate account is being changed to a normal account and therefore my interest free overdraft is being removed from next month. I graduated in 2006 and thought I had a 3 year interest free overdraft however when I spoke to their customer services they say they have revised their graduate accounts and as a result all graduate accounts only have two years interest free. This means I have less than a month to find the 500 pounds to take me out of my overdraft before I start being charged interest at 18.8%
.

Same thing has happened to me. It's actually cheaper for me to use my credit card (from another bank) than it is to withdraw money from my HSBC account.
The trouble is, because of the credit crunch, i only have a couple of hundred left on my CC limit.

Anyway....i see this thread was started a year ago, and here we are again getting screwed by HSBC (Which may or may not stand for High Street Banking Con???).

I just want to know if it is possible to switch to another account and move the negative overdraft balance over (mine is less than £1000), or do i have to pay my HSBC overdraft off first???

Thanks.