Former student not entitled to special interest rate

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Former student not entitled to special interest rate

Categories:

Overdrafts,

Summary:

Ali took out a student package with his bank when he went to university. It gave him an interest-free overdraft while studying and for two years afterwards. At that point, his student account became a standard account with standard fees, including standard interest rates on his overdraft.

Published:

June 2016

Several years after completing his studies, Ali became unwell and was on a sickness benefit. He complained to the bank that it was unfair he should have to pay the same interest as people in full-time employment. He wanted the bank to stop charging interest on his overdraft. The bank replied that it didn’t offer beneficiary packages and the interest charges were correct.

Our investigation

We found that the bank was entitled to transfer his account to a standard account, as detailed in the student package terms and conditions. We checked the interest charges and found they were correct. We could identify no obligation on the bank to offer Ali discounted interest rates.