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Student accounts...can you have two?!

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
edited March 27 in Work & Study
I'm broke. Like really really broke. I'm at the end of my first year at uni, and really need some money for the summer...I have a job but I need to pay off my credit card and I'm over my overdraft limit. Yes, I know, I should have been more careful with my money and I have learned my lesson...I was just wondering if it's illegal to have 2 student accounts...I just want the interest free overdraft and once I've got myself sorted I'll cut up the card of the new account and pay the overdraft back after uni. I looked on the natwest website (I'm with Barclays) and I couldnt see anything saying I cant have two accounts. What do you think?
Post edited by JustV on

Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Re: Student accounts...can you have two?!
    Originally posted by PinkFeatherBoa
    once I've got myself sorted I'll cut up the card of the new account and pay the overdraft back after uni.
    You reckon?

    I left uni a year ago and I'm still overdrawn on one small overdraft!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    It's not illegal as far as I know. But a lot of banks have it in the contract that you should only have one. But i know people who do it. Be aware the main reason they love students is b'cos of the massive student loan gettin paid in by X million student all at the same time. So you might want to close it before Oct.

    Bopz
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Yup. Sign up for all of them, get all the free gifts and close them all :D
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by Kath2003
    Yup. Sign up for all of them, get all the free gifts and close them all :D

    When I tried to sign up for a new one at HSBC they told me that I'd first have to pay of the overdraft on my Natwest one :p
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by Faith
    When I tried to sign up for a new one at HSBC they told me that I'd first have to pay of the overdraft on my Natwest one :p

    HSBC are the only back that get shirty about you having more than one student account.

    RBS, NatWest etc are all really cool about it. And if you sign up for them all at the freshers squash, you shouldn't be using your overdraft that soon!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Barclays didn't like it when I got an account with them last year. Thet wanted me to close my natwest current account and it wasn't even a student account.

    Also you often wont get the freebies if you don't pay your loan cheque / get your loan money transfered to the banks student account.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Usually it's you have to have a certain amount of money in the the bank account to get the free gift. Just take it from the overdraft of the bank account you intend to keep. It's a bit of a bitch, writing cheques back and forth, but for £50 a go, it's worth it!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    From what I remember of being a student you're not actually allowed to have two of these accounts. However, few of the banks check up on this when you open the account (and if they do you don't mention the other one(s)). If you're account does not have any money paid into it after a certain amount of months however and you only use it for the overdraft then they start getting suspicious and send out snotty letter that they charge yo for. Usually you can get around this by pleading innocent/naive/stupid (delete as appropriate) and so yet go for it!!

    Warning though, I'm now a working lady and I'm still over my overdraft limit with two accounts and I have a graduate loan and the list just goes on ....
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Not illegal but not very wise. I've seen quite a few people end up in deep shit because they've got 2 student accounts and maxed up the O/D on both. Natwest and RBS won't be as strict about this as the other big banks since they are both part of RBS group. If you do go ahead, you should try and clear the extra overdraft over the next summer vacation rather than waiting till you finish uni. It can be done.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I'm trying to get another student account at the mo, too. I was told it was illegal to have more than one account, but I'm not sure if this is true. It's definitely not encouraged or allowed, however. And it's not the cleverest thing to do either, but of course you're going to do it anyway! Most of my friends have more than one, someone else I know has five.. yet someone ELSE i know has already been blacklisted, haha.

    Be careful about it though, as you're going to have to pay off those debts at some point. My sister got squillions of letters telling her she'd be taken to court if she didn't start paying off her debts when she finished uni, so she began with a couple of hundred then moved to France. After a while, they stopped contacting her and that was that. So basically, your recommended plan of action is to save up a couple of hundred and then run away to a far away land. Not that France is the furthest away of places. :p That, or don't spend all your overdrafts!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    They do not have to give you an overdraft, and any overdraft is discretionary, based on money being paid into the account.

    So if you don't pay any loan in, they cancel the OD, and you have to pay it back in full. Immediately.

    If you have no cash then you need to get in touch with your bank and talk about the overdraft you have with them. Your bank's advisors should be helpful.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    i'm with the Royal bank of Scotland and after i spent stupid amounts of money in first year i opened another student account but with HSBC. they didnt ask if i already had a student account and i showed them statements from an old current account. they have phoned me a couple of times asking why i havent had any money going into my account. i told them my loan was going into another one and i was never advised that i couldn't have 2 student accounts.

    so they've said that as long as i put a little bit of moeny in from time to time its ok.

    be careful though because a lad i know did the same but he ignored warning letters from HSBC and his overdraft got turned into a loan.
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