Graduate Overdraft - should I change?

bma14

Hi MSE-ers! :j

I am currently in the process of paying off my Graduate account overdraft.

It was around £2k and am now approaching the £1k mark. I have to pay an overdraft usage fee (£6) and interest (not sure on percentage rate but is no more than £2 per month) on anything i use over £1000. I think after I get below the £1000 there's no fees/interest, although I will be approaching the end of my 'grace period' from graduating in May and think the charges will re-appear at that point.

I am making moves to completely wiping it and have been averaging a pay-off of around £250-300 per month so far and that will continue until at least August (I'm on a fixed term contract until then and so no guarantee I will have a job after this).

My question is, is it worth it for me to get off of my Graduate Account and put the remaining overdraft onto a credit card? I only use the account for my wage to come into and bills to come out of, and otherwise the overdraft just sits there waiting to be repaid.

I don't know if it's worth putting the OD onto a credit card and then switching banks using the switch service, to get a bit of a reward back in (to go to the OD repayment of course)?

I do piggy banking otherwise and so I don't use the main account at all for day-to-day spending.

Thanks,

bma

eskbanker

bma14 wrote: »

My question is, is it worth it for me to get off of my Graduate Account and put the remaining overdraft onto a credit card?

The only way to achieve this is to get a card that allows money transfers and these will charge a fee for doing so (plus interest unless you have a 0% offer), so you'd need to weigh up the cost of the transfer (and interest if applicable) against what you'd save in OD fees by transferring.

The other thing to consider is whether or not you'd qualify for one of these cards, especially the 0% ones - as ever, much depends on the state of your credit file and what cards you already have but try the eligibility checker at https://creditcards.moneysavingexpert.com/?money-transfers

bumpercars99

Why not switch the account to a Santander Graduate Account? They offer interest free overdrafts for 3 years after graduation and would give you time to get it all paid off without paying fees or interest. You'd also save on balance transfer fees etc which you would suffer with a credit card.