Halifax Student Account holders (and graduates) - a bit of a warning on overdrafts

IceBus

IceBus

IceBus

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Unbeknownst to me, Halifax have changed their overdraft rules and you will now be charged £2 EVERY DAY for an arranged overdraft once you are no longer a student. Obviously being out of the country when they changed this made me miss out on what is quite a massive change to their T&Cs.

This is specifically relevant to students, because if you've graduated you've only got one year in which to pay back your overdraft - in its entirety. Halifax also don't give you much warning before they want it back and also can ask for it back at any stage.

e.g. I got a letter last Saturday saying mine would run out on 29th May - not exactly a great deal of notice.

Having had to run around sorting this out for two days (five days before I leave the country for three months) I can safely say it has put me off Halifax, and as soon as my overdraft is repaid I won't be dabbling with overdrafts of any nature for the foreseeable future.

If you have a student account with Halifax, just be very careful how much of it you use and be aware they can ask for it all back at any point!
 
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Not exactly great news, and yes, I'd be annoyed if they were my bank. However, £24 a year isn't the end of the world. I've been charged more than that in charges that weren't even my fault! :p

Only thing banks will listen to: walk. Bank elsewhere. They rely too much on the notion that people tend to be 'loyal'.
 
Ha, thanks mate. I'm with them now at a £1000 overdraft. That can go upto 3.5k i think in the final year.

Been with Halifax since i was born and never had a problem, but i can see where they are coming from, country being in debt n all?
 
They can ask for it back anytime within the one year after graduating? Or anytime after the year period is up?

Surely if you signed upto the account and it's accompanying overdraft knowing you would have one year after graduating to pay it back they can't change the goalposts now you've racked up a few grand of debt?

Or are they now just charging £2 per month for the year period after you graduate?
 
dandoubleo said:
Does anybody know if this the case with natwest student overdrafts following graduation? I seem to remember hearing it many month ago.
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No but they have been on my arse for a year because i haven't deposited any money in that account :D

They can do one tbh :p
 
dandoubleo said:
Does anybody know if this the case with natwest student overdrafts following graduation? I seem to remember hearing it many month ago.
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All banks call in their undergraduate overdrafts within a few years of graduation. It's just how it is. Usually however, it seems to be roughly over 2-3 years. What Halifax are doing are charging for the virtue of being in your agreed overdraft (they do this on their normal accounts too), whereas the other banks don't tend to do this.

However, every single bank maintains the clause that the overdraft is repayable on demand, which means they can snap a finger and demand it back right away. Lloyds did this to me whilst I was still an undergraduate. The lovely people that they are effectively stole my student loan. :/

http://www.natwest.com/personal/stu...nt-account/account-details.ashx#tabs=section4

Overdrafts

You have to repay any overdraft upon our request. Overdraft and interest rates may change

An arranged overdraft of up to £2,000 is available for students in year one after graduation
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That's all I can find, but that may just mean after a year, the £2,000 is reduced to £1,000, etc.
 
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Sorry sorry sorry I made a VERY big typo in my original post. That should have read £2 PER DAY you are in your ARRANGED overdraft - so £60 per MONTH!!

They demanded mine back 29th May when I should have until mid-July, which is when I graduated (they had no record of when my course ended - another shocker - so I could have lied and said I was doing Architecture I suppose). I'm now going to pay off the minimum I can to Halifax in the short term, and then transfer the overdraft to my other account which gives me until I'm 28 to pay it off, and I plan to have it all gone PLENTY before then.

After that I'll only keep my Halifax account to have a Visa card, as my other card is Mastercard and a lot less widely accepted.
 
IceBus said:
Sorry sorry sorry I made a VERY big typo in my original post. That should have read £2 PER DAY you are in your ARRANGED overdraft - so £60 per MONTH!!

They demanded mine back 29th May when I should have until mid-July, which is when I graduated (they had no record of when my course ended - another shocker - so I could have lied and said I was doing Architecture I suppose). I'm now going to pay off the minimum I can to Halifax in the short term, and then transfer the overdraft to my other account which gives me until I'm 28 to pay it off, and I plan to have it all gone PLENTY before then.

After that I'll only keep my Halifax account to have a Visa card, as my other card is Mastercard and a lot less widely accepted.
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Eugh, that sucks! The main reason I'm thinking of going with RBS. Still a big OD (up to £2750, and I have a reasonably good credit rating) and a very decent graduate account.
 
Thanks for the heads up, I had no idea about this. I had planned to dip in to my overdraft to pay a hefty insurance premium too. I thought the whole point of an arranged overdraft was that it was free up to the arranged limit, hence the arrangement, else what's the point in having it 'arranged'?

As there's no Halifax branch in my town I've been looking at opening a Barclays current account anyway.
 
dandoubleo said:
Does anybody know if this the case with natwest student overdrafts following graduation? I seem to remember hearing it many month ago.
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No charges on Natwest student overdrafts, for grads you start getting charged interest after a year, it works like this:

Assuming you have a 2K overdraft at the time of your graduation (the most allowed on a student overdraft with NW), after you graduate you pay no interest on the full 2000 for a year, then the interest free part of the overdraft goes down to 1000 for a year, then 500 for a year, after 3 years it should be turned into a standard current account and you'll have 100 interest free. The overdraft itself isn't reduced, that's uo to you to do if you so please, or you can take out a Graduate Overdraft Repayment Play aka GORP which is an interest free loan to pay off your overdraft, how much you can get depends on how long ago you graduated.

Oh and regarding Nix's comment, banks don't care if you say you will close your account, unless you have a business account they couldn't care less what you do with your money.
 
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Question, are you still going to be paying interest on agreed borrowing?

I can see where they are coming from however, after seeing so many people who live in 3K+ overdrafts because it just doesn't click that what they essentially have is a loan they aren't paying off, this could act as one hell of a deterrent.
 
It's been like this for months. And tbh if any of you have been stung by it then it serves you right for not reading their letters/emails. :p

It's pretty disgusting though, I now use a different bank for my main account and only use halifail as a backup (spare card for when I travel).


Edit: Oh and it's not unique to student accounts, as thread title suggests.
 
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seek said:
It's been like this for months. And tbh if any of you have been stung by it then it serves you right for not reading their letters/emails. :p

It's pretty disgusting though, I now use a different bank for my main account and only use halifail as a backup (spare card for when I travel).


Edit: Oh and it's not unique to student accounts, as thread title suggests.
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I was out of the country in December (when it came into effect) and even though I read through all my mail I don't think I got a letter and definitely didn't get an email.

The problem I'm describing is unique to student accounts though, because you suddenly go from a free, often large, overdraft a year after you've graduated - which means instead of paying nothing you'll be paying up to £60 a month if you haven't kept track of what Halifax do with their other account types.
 
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