It may be the best student account but..

Ian_Boys

My daughter applied for the Halifax student account but failed the credit check. She's at school, she doesn't have any credit, as I'm sure the vast majority of new students don't. Even having £2000 hard worked for savings to transfer was not enough. Maybe thats why that account looks like the best, they won't give it to most students. :mad:

sfboy

Does anyone actually have the full £1750 overdraft? I don't know anyone.

System

My daughter opened the Halifax student account after she got her letter confirming her acceptance to university and following advice she received here she has put her £1250 interest free overdraft into a high interest savings account. The only problem she has had is that she was not informed when opening the account that the overdraft had to be renewed each year and recently had a call from Halifax head office telling her that her overdraft had been reduced to £500 and she needed to put some money into her account. A quick call to the current account call centre sorted that out and she was told that now she is going into her 2nd year she could have her overdraft increased to £1400.

If your daughter has been declined she is entitled to ask why. It could be something as simple as not being on the electoral roll or not yet being in college or university.

ohit

You can ask why, but they'll never give a useful answer.

joe13

sfboy wrote:

Does anyone actually have the full £1750 overdraft? I don't know anyone.

my daughter was offered £1250 when whe recently opened the halifax student account.

mistyarthur

Do ask because I was declined after 2 weeks of waiting and when I went in and asked they said it was because I couldn't show proof of being a student which I had faxed to them!!!
They are useless in my opinion, it has taken me over a month to actually open an account with them and its only got a 1000 pound overdraft.

Jan8_2

Applied for account online...heard nothing...phoned and got told a sort code and account number which i then told the SLC and LEA. No card arrived, contacted Halifax...account has been declined? Wot??? Took son to local branch..hour and a half later...all ok..same account number, dont panic. Letter received saying account declined, 2 days later. Another call to Halifax, wont speak to me, its my sons account. Ive no idea where the loan has gone..should have been in the account today, 26th Sept.
As for the overdraft...not got a clue, and they wont speak to me. Also registered the account online and that has been suspended and they wont discuss this with me either, even though i set it up so my son has no idea of passwords and security questions??!!
Im only a worried mother trying to sort out his finances!!!
Grrrrr...

muddyfox470

For the above:

Your son should be able to do this for himself now, give him some space and let him find his own way. He will only learn from his own mistakes, and well you can't lead him blind for ever, how is he going to cope at uni?

Maybe just go to another bank now, i.e. natwest get it sorted and finished, and the loan payment should be able to be changed to the new account. Let your son contact halifax and the SLC.

For security reasons the bank should only speak to the named account holder, so you are luck you managed to speak to anybody about it before.

It's your sons problem, let him work it out otherwise he may end up thinking that you will be doing everything for him and he will have less to worry about. Also why have a larger overdraft? So he can spend more on overpriced clothing? I have heard so many stories of people living lavishly and building up the debt its just stupid.

your son needs to be financially savvy, so guide him and teach him, dont push/force him.

Best of Luck

Ian

lee__48

ohit wrote:

You can ask why, but they'll never give a useful answer.

Halifax won't give me anything. I tried getting a credit card and a student account - both declined! When I asked why they just said it was because I failed the credit check. I told them I'd never had problems elsewhere but they wouldn't budge. Strange that I have a normal current account with overdraft with Intelligent Finance (Halifax's online bank).

Lee

Karnam

Halifax are dreadful. When i opened a student account two years ago, I had nothing but problems. for a start the overdraft can only be granted up to 750pounds in the branch and then they have to write to headquarters in order to get anything more approved. also this overdraft doesn't automatically get increased every year (like it does at HSBC) but they withdraw the overdraft facility unless you request it every year. so you need to get the people in branch to write to headquarters every year in order to get the full overdraft approved. also do NOT accept the credit card they offer, it is horrendously overpriced. after 2 years I had to borrow over a thousand pounds from my parents to pay off my overdraft and close the account. biggest banking mistake ever.

JanCee

Ian_Boys wrote:

My daughter applied for the Halifax student account but failed the credit check. She's at school, she doesn't have any credit, as I'm sure the vast majority of new students don't. Even having £2000 hard worked for savings to transfer was not enough. Maybe thats why that account looks like the best, they won't give it to most students. :mad:

I don't bank with the Halifax but I have dealt with student accounts in the past and I am fairly certain that someone there is making a mistake.

Students accounts are not credit scored in the same way as ordinary current accounts because all students would fail to meet the credit score. You mention that she is at school and this may be the reason, student accounts are aimed at students in further education, like university, and they usually have to take in a letter from the university confirming their place which is then stamped by the bank. This may have been the reason she was refused but it is very bad that the Halifax have been unable to explain the situation to you properly.