Student Bank Account

lambo28

Hi
When is the best time to open a student bank account? which student account is the best? Thanks...have to fill in my student finance form.....

tenof26

ITs one of those stupid things

The best time to open them is in August Septemeber, as thats when all the places will normally offer their offers,

RBS is £50 free
Natwest or HSBC is a five years free rail card (1./3 off rail fair)

(dont quote me on them)

Either way, the student loan forms want the information now, but you cant get a student bank account, to get the information untill you've been accepted, so your sort of stuck :-/

Perhaps go into a bank, and ask nicely if you can sign up to a provisional student bank account, and get the deal when it happens, or sign up, then convert when it happens.

A few other things to note, some banks, will only give you their special offer if the account recieves 250 £ into it in the first month (i.e. they think your going to use them to get your loan in it, and thus they have the custom)

So read the small print,

AFAIK, your only meant to have 1 student bank account, but ... well, if the banks don't know about each other, then you can try and get away with two.

Dangerous though, as two overdrafts = tempted to get twice as much into debt.


Either way, in short, i dont know to your answers, but i hope some of this information is useful :-)

lazymoezy

I've had a young persons account and today I got a new student accoutn (Ithink!). Basically, I get no interest which I DONT want, please dont ask, its to do with religion. Also, I can use a cheque book which I WANT, however, I didnt get a gift or anything.

I know the £50 offers or mp3 player are available but they are NOT worth it, rather get a free rail card, worth much much more in the longer run.

Im currently 16, turning 17 JULY, would I be able to get the rail card? or is for UNI students only?

Thanks,

-MoE-

lambo28

Which bank offers the Free Rail Card?

jennybear

I signed up for a HSBC bank student account (which has a 1000£ interest free overdraft in first year, increasing to 1250) and I was offered the choice of £50 or a free 5 Year rail card. I signed up for it once I had my confirmation of acceptance letter from the university (you need to provide proof that you will be going on a full time further education course), which was in the August before I started uni.

jennybear

Oh and if you were worried about putting down account details for your finance form and then changing accounts, dont. I put down my old bank account details and once Id changed banks, I rung them up to give them the new details. They sent me a letter confirming those details just before I started uni. And from what I remember as well, I had to go and pick up my first loan payment in the form of a cheque from the cash office of my uni - they didnt pay into my account until the next payment, so plenty of time to change it!

lambo28

is the rail card completly free or discount when travalling?

Chadsman

lambo28 wrote:

is the rail card completly free or discount when travalling?

The railcard entitles you to around 1/3 off the normal fare but with the proviso the fare is not lower than a certain amout (£5???) if you travel beore 10am.
Personally I would ignore the freebies (with the possible exception of the railcard) and get an account with who ever is offering the largest interest free overdraft.
:beer:

Savvy_Sue

I believe that only one bank each year offers the railcard, and in the 'current' year it's NatWest. But I don't think you can get a 'proper' student account complete with railcard until you are off to Uni. The account details which you give for your student loan application can easily be changed: it doesn't have to be a student account either (although some banks ask you to say your student loan will go into 'their' student account).

The 'offers' available on student accounts change from year to year and don't usually appear until the summer, at which point I'm sure Martin will do an article ... he did last year!