Top Student Accounts 2010/11 MSE Guide discussion area

avecmon

I personally think Santander should have been one of the top picks in terms of freebies (i.e they offer £240 worth of insurance). Seems quite good as I can insure my iPhone, laptop and two other things. Or am I missing something here?

MrTomato

rev_henry wrote: »

If you don't mind my asking, who turned you down and do you know why?

co-op twice. but so did santander and halifax. i've also had my HSBC account converted so it currently has a £500 overdraft and their max for year one is £1000.

Not bad as I currently already have £1900 available credit before any student accounts.

MrTomato

avecmon wrote: »

I personally think Santander should have been one of the top picks in terms of freebies (i.e they offer £240 worth of insurance). Seems quite good as I can insure my iPhone, laptop and two other things. Or am I missing something here?

they have crap customer service. and they probably have some crappy excess on the insurance or something they can use to avoid paying out.

avecmon

MrTomato wrote: »

they have crap customer service. and they probably have some crappy excess on the insurance or something they can use to avoid paying out.

Excess is only £35 which is a lot less than the O2 iPhone insure (£100) and Cover4Students (£100). I've read the policy document, and eveything seems okay.

Also, I've recently heard about this customer service issue. Surely a large proportion of this is down to the fact that Santander now own B&B and A&L, so there must have been initial issues during this transition period. Then again, I could be wrong about this fact.

I just personally think that Santander offer a good student account. They give a £1000 overdraft as soon as you deposit £500.

Also, the 'Guide to student bank account' comparison feature shows that Natwest and Santander don't outlaw you having other student bank accounts, as long as you deposit £500 per term in the Santander account and have 3 debits/1 credit per month from the Natwest account. Both banks interest me in different ways, so I plan to upgrade my accounts with both. That is as long as there isn't some catch which someone points out to me

Hoodo

Just opened a Natwest account, a far from pleasant experience.

Was made to feel as if it was an interrogation, constantly misspelt my name without my knowledge until the very end! Which meant we had to re-do it. Contested the idea that my course is in fact 5 years as opposed to the Scottish usual of 4.

Rail-card only for 3 years though as well?!

Initial overdraft of £500 is absolutely fine though, especially as I have a Halifax account as well, which I can try and plunder the OD for a savings account.

However if they start to get uppity, I'll have no qualms in taking my money out, putting it into my other accounts and closing it down. Left with a sour taste in my mouth.

The reason people may not be getting confirmation e-mails etc, is because they don't open the account there and then apparently, they wait until the end of the day to do it?! Strange.

benbot80

MrTomato wrote: »

co-op twice. but so did santander and halifax. i've also had my HSBC account converted so it currently has a £500 overdraft and their max for year one is £1000.

Not bad as I currently already have £1900 available credit before any student accounts.

Did you just get rejected from co-op twice then re-apply in the same way? I just got rejected from them today which is pretty annoying as I need it set up ASAP and really wanted an account with them.

callum9999

benbot80 wrote: »

Did you just get rejected from co-op twice then re-apply in the same way? I just got rejected from them today which is pretty annoying as I need it set up ASAP and really wanted an account with them.

If they reject you once they will just reject you again. They probably have an address you can right into to appeal the decision if you think you can make a decent case for you having it though.

avecmon

What are the reasons for rejection?

aj14

in most cases i believe it is a low/poor credit rating, or lack of one

benbot80

aj14 wrote: »

in most cases i believe it is a low/poor credit rating, or lack of one

It's a student account though. They can't expect students to have a credit rating already.

Also, I'm already with Lloyds TSB and they've offered to upgrade my account to a student one. After having been rejected from Co-op, their interest-free overdrafts seem pretty high and they are guaranteed like with co-op. Should I just stick with Lloyds then?