Student Account 0% interest charge taken away

[Mature_Student]

I'm a mature student in my second year. When I started uni I opened a student account with the Co-operative Bank which allowed for a 0% interest overdraft. Short of cash right from the start, I had my student loan paid into another account (with HSBC) to get me out of that debt and I maxed out on my Co-op overdraft but never went over.

 

I then discovered some months in that Co-op was charging me interest. When I queried this they said that my "student privileges" had been removed because no money had been paid into the account (this was NOT a mandatory requirement when I opened the account). I was advised that if I paid in a small amount each month then I would get my 0% interest back.

 

This all happened round about Christmas time so although I paid some money into the account in November, the next two months I wasn't able to pay anything. However I resumed my payments in February then when my next statement arrived STILL charging me interest I rang them up to query this.

 

I was told that I hadn't been consistenty paying into the account and that I had been told to ring them before a certain date in February to activate the 0% interest (I do not recall being told this). I was then told I must continue to pay money into my account every month (which I have been doing for the past three) and to ring back in September to discuss getting my 0% interest rate back.

 

However September is a long way away and I'm having to pay around £20 a month in interest charges in the meantime! I set up this account thinking I wouldn't get any charges, it was not stipulated that I MUST use this account for my student loan payments yet because I didn't do what the bank would have "prefered" me to do I'm being punished - something which I can't afford!

 

Can anyone advise me on how I can reclaim these insane interest charges? Thanks.

[Conniff]

What they are claiming is how the account works, is it in the printed Terms & Conditions they sent you?

[Mature_Student]

What they are claiming is how the account works, is it in the printed Terms & Conditions they sent you?

 

I can't find the printed Terms and Conditions. Ironic that I took advantage of the overdraft to move house to be closer to uni, then find the Terms and Conditions have been lost in the move!

[Conniff]

Ask them for a copy, give them a ring or even send an SAR (£10) and get a copy of everything they have on you.

[Mature_Student]

Okay. Thanks for your help