RBS Student Account 2009/10: We Want Your Feedback

5A50

I have been an RBS customer for almost 30 years and have subscribed to their top Royalties services for around the last 12-15years, paying top whack for the privilege. I recently returned to full time study and applied online to regrade my account to a Student Royalties account to take advantage of the rewards as well as the freebies such as the 3 year railcard and USB etc in September 2009.

I use the Royalties services mostly for the 25% discount on gig tickets but when I tried to use the service following the online regrade application was told the account had no Royalties status so I couldn't use the service.

Long story short, after several visits to various branches, a hard copy application that has also failed and numerous letters of complaint, my account remains without Student or Royalties status and I have been informed I can't now get the incentives that were supposed to come with the Student account as they apparently no longer do them. I have lost out massively on the ticket discounts as I go to lots of concerts and theatre events. I also live some distance from my university and it costs me £13 per trip for rail tickets so the railcard would have been a boon (I have since bought one myself).

The bank refuses to compensate me, have on the whole been unhelpful and rude (particularly Castle Street and George Street, Edinburgh branches) and I have an appointment tomorrow with Bank of Scotland to switch my accounts to them, one of which has over £20k in it. :mad:

Having spoken to a few of my student colleagues, they reported having similar problems registering or switching online.

Bryando

Why can't part time students get a 'Student Account'? Yet I probably get more than a Bursary etc?

kirstiem

i got the account with a limit of £1000 and they refused to increase in 2nd semester

Emma1988

Ive just finished 2nd year, and i went in a few months ago and put my account up to 1400, due to me moving to a bigger flat with my other half! Havent gone anywhere near the limit, but its just handy to have it... going to go and in soon and see if they will give me the 3rd year limit early.... got a job but it wont pay enough to last over summer! Plus... do you think its too late to ask where the heck is my rail card!?!?! I have a bit of money in an ISA... so i done know if this will go for our against me getting a bigger overdraft.... BTW dont go for the RBS credit card, they offered it me and i didnt take it, its not a good deal! Instead i went to tesco, who offered who gave me 2000 limit, 0% for a year and those all important points!

Martini

Looking to open a student account for my son whose finishing his first year.
He's actually got some money so looking also at accounts that pay interest.
RBS don't currently give a railcard and I didn't see any mention of a free USB stick either so the website article requires an update!

I thought I would give them a call anyway to see if they were discriminating against English students. The article (as it stands today) seems to imply that if you are Scottish or are attending a Scottish university then you get one and if you're English you won't! I'd like to test that in Law! Be careful RBS!

I'm getting fed up with hearing that Wales and Scotland have free "this and that" but the English don't. Especially when we subsidise it. I'm not complaining that they get these things free only that if this is to be done it is purely off their own back (taxes)!

Masomnia

Martini wrote: »

Looking to open a student account for my son whose finishing his first year.
He's actually got some money so looking also at accounts that pay interest.
RBS don't currently give a railcard and I didn't see any mention of a free USB stick either so the website article requires an update!

I thought I would give them a call anyway to see if they were discriminating against English students. The article (as it stands today) seems to imply that if you are Scottish or are attending a Scottish university then you get one and if you're English you won't! I'd like to test that in Law! Be careful RBS!

I'm getting fed up with hearing that Wales and Scotland have free "this and that" but the English don't. Especially when we subsidise it. I'm not complaining that they get these things free only that if this is to be done it is purely off their own back (taxes)!

I wouldn't choose the current account provider based on the interest rate, as you're much better shopping around and will probably have to change to get a better rate after a year of opening one. Especially if you bank online it's so easy to transfer money around there's no reason to stick with one bank for everything.

With that in mind, I'd go for the most convenient bank for your needs. I've stuck with RBS because I've never had to queue in the branches, the overdraft sees me right, and there's a branch near where I live. So I wouldn't choose a bank just for perks but for the convenience.

Masomnia

Emma1988 wrote: »

Ive just finished 2nd year, and i went in a few months ago and put my account up to 1400, due to me moving to a bigger flat with my other half! Havent gone anywhere near the limit, but its just handy to have it... going to go and in soon and see if they will give me the 3rd year limit early.... got a job but it wont pay enough to last over summer! Plus... do you think its too late to ask where the heck is my rail card!?!?! I have a bit of money in an ISA... so i done know if this will go for our against me getting a bigger overdraft.... BTW dont go for the RBS credit card, they offered it me and i didnt take it, its not a good deal! Instead i went to tesco, who offered who gave me 2000 limit, 0% for a year and those all important points!

I used to have my overdraft in a savings account, and they never batted an eyelid about giving me the £1,600 in 3rd year. So you should be fine.

Don't know about whether they'll give you the third year level early though, may just depend on how politely you ask them

maliseh

I'm just going into my 2nd Uni year, but it;s the 1st year of my degreee asI've just cimpleted a Foundation Year as I'd been out of study for a decade!
Decided I wanted a student account this year. I've been using 2 normal debit card accounts, one for all my student stuff to go in and bills to come out, and another for the rest. So, I decided to turn the student/bills one into a student account.

Did my application online and took it into branch to be completed - the internet and branch seem to be unconnected so the lady had to fill a new application, but it only took 10 minutes, and I was handed a £1,250 overdraft and my new account details immediately, my old account will be closed and transferred and I'll be all set up by the time I get back from holiday in a week and a half
The card is also a cheque guarantee card, which is cool, and I like the in-credit interest because I should mostly be in credit, so yeah, I'm actually pretty happy here I think anything I need my branch will be able to sort me out without too much problem.

Thumbs-up from me

eileenann59

Good old RBS has a great account, but for university students only! So if you are planning to study at college, you'll have to look elsewhere.

What does that say about RBS's attitudes to young people who decide on a less elitist route! :mad:

littlepinkstars44

eileenann59 wrote: »

Good old RBS has a great account, but for university students only! So if you are planning to study at college, you'll have to look elsewhere.

What does that say about RBS's attitudes to young people who decide on a less elitist route! :mad:

I had my RBS account for 2 years while at college, got £1200 in my first year and £1400 in my second year, then went straight into 3rd year at uni.
All with the same account, they never had any problems with me being at college.

Infact, my account was almost turned into a graduate account when i finished college, as i hadn't planned to go to uni (i didn't know i could at the time) So i phoned them and they sorted it right away.