Overdraft transfer from Santander to Lloyds: what are my chances of approval?

icarus_69

I have an arranged overdraft limit of -£2000 in my Santander Everyday Current Account. This is a hangover from the overdraft I was given while studying and on a 1-2-3 account (which has since reverted to Everyday). My average balance at the moment is around -£1800.

I am making good progress to get out of this hole, with a new job that pays more and for more hours. However, this will still take time.

I have noticed that Lloyds are offering 0% interest on overdrafts for 3 months when you open a new account and transfer your old bank's balance.

This sounds like a great option for me, as this would help speed up the saving process.

I want to figure out my chances of getting approved to transfer my overdraft balance over when applying for this Lloyds account and offer.

I do not want to find myself in the difficult situation of applying to do this, then being disallowed from transferring the whole balance over, and then being forced by Santander/Lloyds to pay off a portion of my transferred overdraft immediately. I want to pre-empt this kind of scenario where possible.

To clarify what I'm referring to here, this is a screenshot from Which?:



It's that last sentence that worries me. If, for instance, I'm only offered a £300 overdraft by Lloyds instead of a £1800 one, that would leave me in the position of having to pay up £1500.

My credit rating is low at the moment (612 on Experian) and I have around £1000 of debt spread between an MBNA card and PayPal Credit, too.

Is my thinking correct on all this, and what do you think my chances are?

cymruchris

From what you've outlined, I think your chances of getting a large overdraft from the word go are slim.

Particularly if you are persistently in your overdraft from month to month. (Any new bank is going to see the pattern).

Lloyds do however have an overdraft eligibility checker that will give you an 'indication' of the likelihood of acceptance at a given value.

If you go to their website - pick the current account you're interested in, and scroll down until you reach the part about overdrafts - you'll see a link for the eligibility check tool. Use it - see what the outcome is. There's a slide bar you can move for the overdraft you'd like - and it'll tell you whether you are likely (or not) to get it. 

stymied

Lloyds says “ We will show you the maximum amount of arranged overdraft we can offer you before you complete your switch request form” so you’ll know before you switch and can say no thank you at that point if needs be.