What are my options after my 1 year post uni student overdraft with Halifax?

Skeeter

Skeeter

Skeeter

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Hi all

I mounted up a nice £2750 overdraft in my 4 years at uni with the Halifax interest free Student Overdraft. Once I finished uni I took the Graduate Overdraft option and extended the interest free for an additional year. This is up in September. Has anyone got any experience as to what options are available after the graduate year is up? I spoke to a guy in Halifax years ago and he mentioned they can reduce it gradually or something, but Im after anyones experience. Im earning and saving pleanty to pay it all off should I need too, but Im one of those people who will keep free money for as long as possible, so if there is any way I can keep some of my interest free overdraft I will.

Cheers.
 
How long was your 0% loan for?

And even if I moved the whole £2750 the Virgin card would cost £110 for 16 months interest free...
 
3 year graduate account! Halifax only offer 1 as far as I know.

Unfortunately the benefits of withdrawing the free money and putting it in savings is gone now that my ISA is paying a massive 0.5%!
 
I have thought about moving as a lot of banks are keen to buy up your debt for free to get you as a customer, but ive had my Halifax account pretty much forever so the hassle in moving it would probubly outweigh the benifits.

Id be happy if Halifax offered me a reduced 0% overdraft over the next couple of years, I just dont know if they do.
 
HangTime said:
Shifting debts to credit cards via balance transfer isn't anywhere near as effective as it used to be as the handling fee is now usually comparable to the best net interest rates on savings.

I'd see what your bank can do for you and if they lose the 0% od then definitely look at something like the A&L account mentioned above. £100 joining bonus is great although obviously switching bank accounts can be a bit of a faff depending on what things you have setup.

The most important thing is that you are being sensible and are just milking the free OD while stashing away enough savings to cover it.
Click to expand...

Agreed, with my ISA paying 0.5% im not going to cover any costs by sticking the balance from a card in savings.

I am happily saving between £250 and £500 a month at the moment, which means come September I will have enough to cover the whole overdraft. I just dont fancy handing the contents of my ISA to my bank, being left with flat nothing in my bank account and flat nothing in my ISA. Id like to keep the overdraft goign so that when I do pay it off, it will be from part of my savings, not all of them. If something happened like my car exploding or something come September, and ive given all my savings to the bank, id be screwed.
 
Yes, my overdraft is £2750 interest free, that I run to the limit while sticking £250 - £500 a month in savings. Better to have the money atleast earning 0.5% than sitting in my overdraft. Halifax now offer £3k to students I think...

Once you have the balance on a card, is transfering it to another card then just a standard balance transfer as oposed to a bank account transfer? i.e. I could transfer to Virgin as they offer transfers to bank accounts, then in 16 months I can move to any card that offers interest free on balance transfers... and so on?
 
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