Santander 123 Student Account overdraft rates?

Jlawson118

I'm in my second year of university now and at the moment I'm struggling financially. My step-dad just told me that you're able to get student loans throughout banks themselves but I told him I wasn't sure about that and that I've never heard of it before, although I told him I did have a HSBC student account with one of their student, no interest overdrafts, and closed it down when they ripped me off again (un-relatable to this thread)

However, I just did a google search of bank student loans, and the Santander Student Account was the first to come up. Now there's nothing about student loans but I was thinking that maybe the (up to) £1500 overdraft will come in handy.

However, is this really 0% interest until I leave university? So can I say, transfer it to another account for a year and not have to pay interest for it? (As an example, not that I'd do it) or are there some hidden charges?

And secondly, my credit score has gone down a lot over the past few months due to a lot of applications such as a phone contract, an overdraft with First Direct when I needed to borrow some money, car insurance and also changes in opening new credit cards and closing my old ones down. As well as opening and closing current accounts down when I wasn't happy with them. Would it still be alright to apply and sign up?

eskbanker

Jlawson118 wrote: »

I'm in my second year of university

The Santander student account Ts & Cs state:

To open a new account or transfer from an existing Santander current account, you must be in your first year of study.

WillPS

Santander is off the menu but you could try other banks. Whether they accept you or not is not really something anybody can tell you - if you have lots of applications in a short period that can look bad, but other things such as not having much credit history don't tend to be so much of a problem with student accounts.

If I were you I'd wait until 3 full months from your last application have passed before trying to apply.

Jlawson118

eskbanker wrote: »

The Santander student account Ts & Cs state:

WillPS wrote: »

Santander is off the menu but you could try other banks. Whether they accept you or not is not really something anybody can tell you - if you have lots of applications in a short period that can look bad, but other things such as not having much credit history don't tend to be so much of a problem with student accounts.

If I were you I'd wait until 3 full months from your last application have passed before trying to apply.

I read their terms and conditions and afterwards it says that you can apply from any year, and their customer services just confirmed that. So I'm going to check out a few accounts and sort one out

Dragonfly1

You are absolutely right that you are eligible for a Santander Student 123 Current Account provided you meet their credit search.

For everybody else that has commented, you can open a Santander Student 123 Current Account from a Santander 123 Current account and also not be in your first year of study.

I had to go through several telephone support layers, and the branch manager had to discuss it too, but it can be done. Basically their information center (what staff can see) has contradictory advice - I wasn't eligible because a) I had a 123 Current Account and b) I am in year 3 of 4 - part a could be overruled because I agreed to swap my 123 Current account and therefore no longer have it, and b) could be overruled because a new customer is allowed to be in year 3 of 4 - and you are a new customer as soon as you leave Santander . One reason to be eligible was to transfer an account from a different bank, which according to their information center, doesn't specify a year of study. I did have to swap a spare bank account.

They can then override the system as I threatened to leave Santander and re-join one week later - low and behold - they could do it without me leaving for a week :rotfl:

It's apparently very rare / it took a hell of a lot of people to decide that I could do the above. I was also told it was only eventually approved because I stated my intention to leave and re-join one week later.....

The reason why I'm so clued up on this, is it only happened one week ago

But for the OP, it'll be very straight forward as you are not an existing Santander customer. The only question is whether they will want to extend you an overdraft when you already have overdrafts elsewhere and - in your own words - not a great credit rating.

EDIT: I do believe you have to swap an account to them at the same time. i.e. Switch from a different bank using the account switching service which they will do for you. I switched a dormant bank account. You would need to clear any overdrafts from this bank account before the switch. I would clarify this again with telephone banking

Dobbibill

Jlawson118 wrote: »

I'm in my second year of university now and at the moment I'm struggling financially.

If you are struggling there is no guarantee you will get this....

I was thinking that maybe the (up to) £1500 overdraft will come in handy.

Up to is not guaranteed and subject to application & approval.

And secondly, my credit score has gone down a lot over the past few months

Your score means nothing. Don't pay too much attention it. CRAs may score you but do not offer lending so their score is of no effect on your ability to get lending.

However.........
All the applications for credit facilities recently may make you look desperate for credit though so don't get your hopes up on an overdraft.

You may need to either increase your income or decrease your outgoings while you study. For more hints and tips on that the DFW board is helpful.

Westie983

im surprised that Santander is one of the banks you havent had problems with, reading your other posts you seem to have issues with most banks.

If you credit file isnt that healthy you may struggle to obtain the overdraft, just because its a student account doesnt automatically mean you will get an overdraft and if you do, that it will be £1500.00 as the T&C's say upto, also have you read that you will have to fund the account with £500 each month. You are free to withdraw the overdraft if applicable and not pay any interest for the remainder of your course, but of course will need to keep up with the regular funding, as like all OD they are subject to credit checks and can be repayable on demand, and if you keep the balance at full OD you run the risk of the bank calling it back in at any point during your degree.

Jlawson118

Dobbibill wrote: »

If you are struggling there is no guarantee you will get this....



Up to is not guaranteed and subject to application & approval.



Your score means nothing. Don't pay too much attention it. CRAs may score you but do not offer lending so their score is of no effect on your ability to get lending.

However.........
All the applications for credit facilities recently may make you look desperate for credit though so don't get your hopes up on an overdraft.

You may need to either increase your income or decrease your outgoings while you study. For more hints and tips on that the DFW board is helpful.

I'm struggling financially at the moment, but this is set to change in the next month or two, it was just at this moment in time it's triggered me to open a student account.

I've decided Santander isn't for me though

Dobbibill

Jlawson118 wrote: »

I'm struggling financially at the moment, but this is set to change in the next month or two

Unfortunately they don't project what a CR may look like, they look at previous activity.

Your previous activity (well the amount you've shared on here) would indicate cause for concern from lenders.

YorkshireBoy

Jlawson118 wrote: »

I've decided Santander isn't for me though

Now there's a surprise!

Jlawson118

Dobbibill wrote: »

Unfortunately they don't project what a CR may look like, they look at previous activity.

Your previous activity (well the amount you've shared on here) would indicate cause for concern from lenders.

I don't think there'd be that much of a concern, looking on my records I've had various credit for a number of years, in which I have never been in debt with and I have always paid them on time. Too many credit applications does look bad but at the end of the day, they can also see that I have managed it well, I've just opened and closed the odd account recently due to issues