going into the red briefly, what account?

pluto2010

Hi,

I am just about to start my second year at university, but this year i would like to have a laptop. Unfortunatly i dont have enough funds curently to be able to buy it.

I will need to borrow about £500-550 as i also have to get car tax and mot. I should be able to pay this back in about 3-4 months if i budget.

I need a bit of help choosing a bank acount and wondered if anyone could answer a couple of questions.

Is halifax going to be the best bank, i am currently with them but have not got a student account?
how long will i have to pay the money back before they start charging interest on the overdraft.
What evidence of being a student will i need to provide?

thanks in advance

Valley's_girl

Hi could you ask halifax to upgrade your account to a student one, my son has a student account with Natwest he finds Natwest great.

Someone will be along shortly who will be able to advise you more.
Best wishes
Ally x

melancholly

the best possible answer is to wait a little bit until you can afford the laptop..... it doesn't sound like you have a student account?! if you get one of them then at least you could use an interest free overdraft. i'd personally not go with halifax, but there is a new article from martin on the best student account here. this should answer most of your questions:
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/Student-bank-account

The_One_Who

See if you can get a student, that way you should get an interest free overdraft. Halifax are quite strict with giving student accounts although I have never had any problems with them.

EDIT: I agree with Melancholly that waiting until you can afford the laptop would be a better idea.

pluto2010

thanks, waiting would be best but having the laptop would help greatly when trying to get owrk done as i spend alot of time on trains and cars,

just read the student account discussion and it seems people are having problems with halifax and their overdraft limit, so the natwest looks good, cant get the railcard tho.

Can i just ask if HND courses at universitys are accepted for opening a bank account? also this is my last year on this course, when i apply for the full digree, if im acepted on the course will i have to notify them if my current course is accepted

also i am not taking out any loans, just the bursaries and grants, will i have to pay them into the student account

thanks again