Current Account

Soldato
Joined
27 Mar 2004
Posts
3,593
Location
England
I'm 19, a kinda student, who will be in full time employment from Feb hopefully if my course goes as expected.

I have an under 19's account with lloyds tsb. No overdraft etc which is great.

I got a call the other day from my local Lloyds branch saying that my account was no longer suitable and that I needed an adult account with which would enable me to gain a credit rating etc. Included with this would be an overdraft.

I'll be honest, I can see myself going into overdrafts as my wage hardly covers my outgoings at the moment and this is worrying me. The charges etc would cripple me as I'd go instantly overdrawn the next month and the next month etc etc.

Which banks do people recommend for my circumstances?

Thanks.
 
You just ask them not to give you an overdraft.

I don't have an overdraft, I'm just on a standard current account. It's the student account which comes with an overdraft as default I think.
 
I'll be honest, I can see myself going into overdrafts as my wage hardly covers my outgoings at the moment and this is worrying me. The charges etc would cripple me as I'd go instantly overdrawn the next month and the next month etc etc.

AFAIK even if they 'give' you an overdraft, you can refuse/disable it.
 
You can always ask your bank to remove any overdraft facility - all of the big banks are members of the banking association and as such are subject to the banking code.

Its a two second job for them in the branch so there should be no reason that they would refuse.
 
You can get any account and just ask for the overdraft facility to be removed :)

Personally though I like HSBC :) We had terrible problems with my ex's account at Barclays, Natwest loved to charge for things they shouldn't, Abbey refused to let me close an account when they wouldn't investigate fraudulent charges and Lloyds caused a lot of problems with my Mums account.
 
There is no need for me to change banks then? The girl seemed that rang me seemed to think that I couldn't gain a credit rating without an overdraft???

Most of my mates are with Halifax, but have ISA's bolted on. Two are with Natwest.

The good thing about my current account at the moment is the fact that if I had a balance of £20 and buy something for £25 it will bounce. This won't happen with an adult account will it? Hence all the nasty charges and then suddenly, my paltry wage, won't be a wage as it will be consumed by bank charges.
 
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The girl seemed that rang me seemed to think that I couldn't gain a credit rating without an overdraft???

AFAIK, everyone (over 18) has a credit rating, if you have debt and pay it off on-time, your rating improves. If you miss payments/late payments, your rating goes down.
Your rating is affected by this, and the length of time you have lived at your current address, income etc.
MSE has all you need to know MSE

So yeh, if you want to improve your credit rating, you need some debt (cc/overdraft/loan), and you need to pay it off on-time. But if you need to live off borrowed money, i wouldn't get an overdraft.
 
AFAIK, everyone (over 18) has a credit rating, if you have debt and pay it off on-time, your rating improves. If you miss payments/late payments, your rating goes down.
Your rating is affected by this, and the length of time you have lived at your current address, income etc.
MSE has all you need to know MSE

So yeh, if you want to improve your credit rating, you need some debt (cc/overdraft/loan), and you need to pay it off on-time. But if you need to live off borrowed money, i wouldn't get an overdraft.

I never intend to get an overdraft, what also is worrying me is the bank charges.

My balance regularly goes down to zero as I have taken a considerable pay cut to carry out a course which should enhance my career ambitions.

There have been times when I haven't checked my balance and gone to buy something, not realising I had say put £10 in the car the day before. It obviously bounces. As from what I have been told, with an adult account the transaction would be honoured?? Meaning bank charges!!:eek:
 
There have been times when I haven't checked my balance and gone to buy something, not realising I had say put £10 in the car the day before. It obviously bounces. As from what I have been told, with an adult account the transaction would be honoured?? Meaning bank charges!!:eek:

Tell them to NOT activate an overdraft facility on your account, and it will be the same as you already are.
 
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