Making money from overdraft AND HBOS

clairol55

Firstly has anyone actually managed to get the £2750 overdraft from Halifax this year?

My plan is to get the high overdraft Halifax account. I am planning to use £1250 of this as a normal overdraft and put the rest into a nationwide (my normal bank) 1 year fixed rate ebond along with other savings for next year (a total of about £5000). This ebond pays interest each month into my nationwide current account so I would be gaining money I could actually use this year in total about £500 i think (the interest rate is 6.5%) this would top up money my parents will be giving me which will go into my nationwide account.
Does this sound feasable? I would put my student loan and some money from parents into the Halifax account. Would Halifax get funny about this?
If I don't get the Halifax account would it be possible to open two student accounts elsewhere using one as a normal student account and the other just for investing the overdraft?
Thanks for the help! I've spent 5 hours this afternoon working it all out, so confusing!

Gemmzie

They said to me that they don't give the full overdraft until the loan has gone in so it's hard to say

geordie458

My son has just been given a HBOS student account. On the initial meeting with HBOS staff to open the account, we were told he'd be given a £500 overdraft. I pointed out that their literature states the £2750 sum. They pointed out that the literature states it is "upto" that ammount. How very misleading!!!! Well, as he was depositing £100 to open the account they kindly agreed to a £1000 O/D limit which will be reviewd periodically, so by the time he leaves uni he may finally qualify for the full O/D limit, oh joy! I believe HBOS are misleading potential customers with their headlining O/D limit. In the end my son opened the account as he still needs a bank account, but i was VERY disappointed in HBOS. The staff member was apologetic to a degree but nothing will get back to head office about my complaint will it?

clairol55

Tried to set up the Halifax account, but they are possibly the most unhelpful and pathetic people in the world. I had to chase them up 3 times after being told they would ring me back after 48hours, then 3 days etc. I was declined in the end. The irritating and very unknowledgable woman who was dealing with my account told me she couldn't tell me why it was declined and to ring a number, which turned out to be for staff members and told them how to use their computer system! She gave me another number, but the guy who answered was completely stuck and had no idea why she had referred me to him. Eventually I found out it was because I had 'no credit history'. I have a store card which has no problem with me and an overdraft on my current account. I got the feeling I was just following a long line of excuses (server was down 3 times apparently!) I think the £2750 od is very misleading, I would be very interested in an investigation to see if anyone has actually received it.I'm now waiting to hear back from co-op, just hoping that halifax's decline won't ruin my chances at getting an account with them.

BritishNinja

First of all, hi everyone, I'm new! I've been lurking for months and months and I figure it's about time I joined in with the MoneySaving chat.

On the subject of Halifax overdrafts: to be honest I don't know anybody who's got the full limit. Last year, in my second year of my three-year course, they told me they would only consider going to the maximum amount for final-year students, and then they would need some sort of written correspondance explaining my financial situation. This year I am still having trouble getting them to increase my current £1k limit in any way, even though I have written to them and visited numerous times. (I don't actually need it, I just want to repay them for their stinginess by stoozing the overdraft into my ISA... but they don't know that ). My conclusion: the overdraft limit you are likely to get out of Halifax is around £1000, possibly £1200 if you plead and/or threaten them. I think to claim that you can get £2,750, as if this was a reasonably likely thing to happen, is an enormous exaggeration and barely true.

clairol55, Halifax may get funny about your stoozing but I checked their terms recently and I couldn't find anything in writing that expressly forbade it, maybe someone can correct me if I'm wrong. It should be perfectly possible to open two student accounts, however you will likely encounter difficulties if you try to apply for two student overdrafts, as most banks' T&Cs for student overdrafts generally don't allow you to apply if you already have one with another bank.

b33r

Just like to point out it certainly isn't impossible, I've just finished Uni and I had 2750 for my last 3 years, one of which was a year in industry which I was earning from so didn't need it all, I just filled in the form they sent me for renewel after 1st year and put the max amount in requested amount box.

Frank87

clairol55 wrote: »

Firstly has anyone actually managed to get the £2750 overdraft from Halifax this year?

My plan is to get the high overdraft Halifax account. I am planning to use £1250 of this as a normal overdraft and put the rest into a nationwide (my normal bank) 1 year fixed rate ebond along with other savings for next year (a total of about £5000). This ebond pays interest each month into my nationwide current account so I would be gaining money I could actually use this year in total about £500 i think (the interest rate is 6.5%) this would top up money my parents will be giving me which will go into my nationwide account.
Does this sound feasable? I would put my student loan and some money from parents into the Halifax account. Would Halifax get funny about this?
If I don't get the Halifax account would it be possible to open two student accounts elsewhere using one as a normal student account and the other just for investing the overdraft?
Thanks for the help! I've spent 5 hours this afternoon working it all out, so confusing!

Hi! I did exactly what u just described last year and it worked. I made a nice bit of beer money from the interest.... However I just received a letter from Halifax saying that they are removing my overdraft, so im off to pay it off and close the account today!
Last year halifax gave me £1700 so it depends on your credit rating but i imagine i will try the same with Natwest this year up to their limit. Then in my final year ill try another bank. Im pretty sure it doesnt affect your external credit rating but only the individual banks rating (meaning that they will be less likely to let you keep the account/ increase the overdraft)

Good luck!

BritishNinja

Halifax removed your overdraft because you put it in your savings? Or for another reason?