Ins@nity Complex

So I visit the local branch of my bank yesterday to try and get my lousy cash card changed into a debit card. To them my reasons involved my soon to be life at university, but the real reason was so I can finally buy shit online. >.>

Not without the lack of trying, they whole-heartedly rejected my request, claiming my credit history wasn't good enough for a debit card. Keep in mind by the way, that I've never been over drawn, I've never been in debt and I've not refused to repay something to the bank. Their whole basses of this claim was the lack of funds going into the account.

What the hell do you expect from an unemployed student? They even claimed that the university loan, grand and bursary counted for shit because it wasn’t in my account right this second, dispite me having papers to prove it.

So no go with the debit card right? Erm, no actually. Apparently if I opened a new account with them, I could have the card. So I had to sit down with some woman, who opened my name on the system are went through the process of opening the new account. So dispite this still being the same bank, on the same computer system, attached to the same name, I was allowed to open a new account as a debit card, but not upgrade my current one?

One of the best questions she asked while doing this was "are you bankrupt?" I actually wonder what she would have done if I said yes.

However, this isn't the shocking part of the story. The part that made me go "what the hell?" was when she offered me, the customer with "poor credit history" a credit card and £1000 overdraft on top of the debit card. ...I'm not complaining about the offer, but they really need to sort out their crap.

Either way, I kindly declined the offer (I'm in enough debt thanks to university as it is) and took the debit card.

Talking of university (I start in a week and a couple of days), I got a letter through telling me how much money I would be getting and when. This is how is works out:

Tuition Fee Loan:
6th February 2008: £1535
7th May 2008: £1535
Total: £3070

This is all money I never see. It goes straight from the government to the university. I do however have to pay it all back, plus interest, after completing the four-year course. This fee is only for the first year by the way…

Maintenance Loan:
24th September 2008: £764.61
7th January 2008: £764.61
31st March: 2008: £787.78
Total: £2317

This is another loan that I again have to pay back. On the plus side I actually get this money into my bank account.

Maintenance Grant:
24th September 2007: £922
7th January 2008: £922
31st March: 2008: £921
Total: £2765

This is where it gets more fun. The grant is FREE money to help me live.

Bursary:
10th January 2008: £510
1st May 2008: £510
Total: £1020

And finaly the bursary (that I wasn't aware I was getting till today). This looks like free money in that I don't have to pay it back, but what it actually is is the university has to pay back so much of the tuition fees if they decide to charge the maximum (which mine does). They only have to do this to low-income students, so effectively they make more money than if they charged a lower fee.

In other money news, I got a hand cramp today filling in damn job application forms. I'm currently applying for a Saturday games sales person position at Virgin Megastores (if I got the job, I'd be trying to convince people to buy their £50 ($100!) Wii games basically...), and a Christmas period position at both Woolworths and Argos. I'm not that hopeful, but it’s worth a go.