Alliance & Leicester Premier 21

rjl89

I currently have Natwest's student account heading into my final year at uni and have received the railcard so i was thinking i could switch now.

I could open an Alliance & Leicester Premier 21 account along with my Natwest account, and use both accounts with my loan going into Natwest and parent's allowance going to A&L.

Then i could get £50 cashback from topcashback for opening the A&L account, the 5% interest on up to £1000 in A&L (better than the 3.25% i get from my Natwest e-ISA), whilst keeping my 0% overdraft (extra £1400 in my ISA) and railcard from Natwest.

Any thoughts on this? Would my application for an account with A&L be accepted and would Natwest still allow me to have the overdraft if i open an account with A&L?

d61mts

Well your reasoning sounds good. There should be no issue in having both a Premier 21 and Natwest account (presuming your credit rating is reasonable). I too have a Natwest student account with overdraft, and opened a Premier 21 fine during my final year 10 months ago to get the high interest rate (at that time 10%). There should be no issue with Natwest removing your overdraft as long as you keep it active, putting some money in and out every so often. Its also worth keeping as you'll get the railcard for 5 years so will get more replacements in the years to come (unless you were on a long 5 yr course).

joeizz

Make sure you check the terms & conditions carefully. When i first went to uni i had a Natwest and a HSBC student account. For the HSBC account to be valid my loan needed to be paid directly into it. The Natwest account however had no such condition and neither bank had anything about having a 2nd student account in their terms and conditions.

Fire_Fox

You will probably need to use the Natwest student account as your main or only current account - which means funding it regularly. You must switch at least one Direct Debit to the A&L account to get the £50 and then you must fund it with £500 every month to avoid charges. This £500 must come from outside of A&L so you can't move money in and out of an instant access savings account. I have an A&L current account and a Co-op student account but I am very careful to keep within the terms and conditions of both.

rjl89

Fire_Fox wrote: »

You must switch at least one Direct Debit to the A&L account to get the £50 and then you must fund it with £500 every month to avoid charges. This £500 must come from outside of A&L so you can't move money in and out of an instant access savings account.

Hmm i don't actually have any direct debits... i have a couple of standing orders but thats all...

And i think it's not £500 for the Premier 21, just for the other ones they do. You can get a Premier 21 at 16 and expecting £500 a month from a 16yr old would be a bit steep.

d61mts

Assuming its similar to my application last year, A+L asked how much I would put in a month. I said £100 and they accepted it, so since then I've put it in and then straight out via faster payments system.

Fire_Fox

rjl89 wrote: »

Hmm i don't actually have any direct debits... i have a couple of standing orders but thats all...

And i think it's not £500 for the Premier 21, just for the other ones they do. You can get a Premier 21 at 16 and expecting £500 a month from a 16yr old would be a bit steep.

At least with the 'adult' current accounts you have to switch a DD using their switching service to get the £50. People have been refused the payout after switching a standing order. From the A&L website for Premier 21
"you will pay in your earnings (your wages, allowances or other money you receive regularly)"

so2006

rjl89 wrote: »

Hmm i don't actually have any direct debits... i have a couple of standing orders but thats all...

And i think it's not £500 for the Premier 21, just for the other ones they do. You can get a Premier 21 at 16 and expecting £500 a month from a 16yr old would be a bit steep.

I have been accepted for one and I can say at 16 I can pay in more than £500 a month

You do have to pay that much in, but they have a good interest rate.

I didn't know I could earn cashback

Just set up a DD for a trial magazine or something I am sure you could earn cashback too!

rjl89

well i've got the premier 21 account, topcashback have confirmed the cashback as £55 and it says payable at the end of this month. When i applied i said i'd pay in £100 a month and i've been doing more than that.

I keep the balance around £1000 to make use of the 5% interest up to £1000.

And I've stopped using my Natwest student account for anything except money coming in from work, student loan and parents. I just move the money straight across to A&L by faster payments. I still have my £1600 interest-free overdraft as well, which is basically just sitting in a savings account.

I've probably made about £80 by opening the account, with the cashback and extra interest.