Natwest Student account 2010/2011: We want your feedback

atypical

Richy23 wrote: »

However a friend of my Mum's said you don't get the railcard if you apply online? Is this correct?

No, it doesn't matter how you apply. Remember you must register for online banking and paperless statements by 30th November 2010 to get one.

If anything the opposite would be true as it's more expensive for NatWest to open an account in branch than online. In the past NatWest have given away free stuff (webcams, memory sticks) only to those who apply online.

chez69

went to see natwest today and found out y shes been decline cause ive made a few late payments if is a joke i feel so sorry for my daughter i could cry down to my lazyness
but been to to disassociate me with her but went of credit ref and it says she has a mortgage and c/c but its me she has the same intials as me need this sorting asap as the bank said they would give her one once shes disassociated from me but how long does it take we,ve contacted the credit agencies for her saturaiury report

zivilesi

I went to Natwest to open Student Account. The customer service rep was very polite but it took her a couple of calls to clarify re my status which was not an issue in other banks (I am EU national and don't hold UK passport but have been living & working in the UK for the past 6 years). Most upsetting was that they did not give me any overdraft at all. She was not sure whether it is to do that I do not have U passport but could not tell me any other reason. Currently I do have a current account with HSBC, debit card with cheque garantee facility, credit card (£5000 credit limit, yeaaah!). Natwest offered me a Student Account with £0 overdraft, debit card without cheque garantee facility and credit card (£500 limit). I could apply for overdraft limit review in 3-6 months. Still thinking whether it is worth (hmm, yes, I wanted a 5 year free railcard

motoko

Just a comment regarding the student credit card they offer on this account...

The maximum limit is £500, however if they offer you less than this for any reason, you will NOT be able to have it increased to £500 later, even after using the card with no problems for several months. Their policy is not to increase the credit limit on the card, no matter what. The only way to have it increased is to close the card, re-apply and see what they offer you this time. Bizarre huh?

Mobility151990

I've had a Natest Student account since 2008, also got their student credit card at same time (l have fab credit history due to capitalone credit card already in place before opening these accounts).

Got accepted for both straight away, £1300 OD for 1st year, £1400 2nd year and now £1500 for 3rd year, along with a £350 limit CC. Also had the free webcam + yearly credit card.

However l may leave them for Halifax or Co-Op if they offer me more than £1500 OD....

Regshoe

I've always had my current account with Natwest and a few years back (about 7 now I think about it, starting to feel old) I converted my account to a student account. At the time they were giving a cash incentive (£50 or £75 I think) and I was pleased (and surprised) that I could get that despite having an existing account.

Only bad point was that years later (after having had my student account changed to a graduate one) they started changing what portion of my overdraft was interest free. They drop it by £500 a year, which is fine, but it did annoy me that they didn't tell me when this would be, but assumed that I would remember from a piece of paperwork given to me 5 years earlier (in fact as I changed the status of the account rather than opened a new one I'm not even sure if I would have seen the correct paperwork). In the end it was only pence in interest, but it was the principal of them not even slipping in a reminder with my monthly statement.

On the credit card side - I never had a student card, but when I was 18 (2001 - before going to uni) I managed to get a regular card. As I recall I was initially given a limit of around £1500, despite only earning about £2-3k a year doing a part time job whilst still at school (those being the days when they would throw credit at anybody).

What amused me was the fact that whilst at uni they kept periodically upping my limit (without me asking), ending up at a whopping £5100! Baring in mind that for most of that time I either wasn't working or was doing very minimal part time work! I would think there are rules on what they do with personal data, but you would think that some simple communication between business units would indicate that maybe giving ever increasing credit to somebody not earning anything is perhaps a bad idea.

Sophie4120

atypical wrote: »

No, it doesn't matter how you apply. Remember you must register for online banking and paperless statements by 30th November 2010 to get one.

Unfortunately this is what I thought... but apparently the whole application process has to be completed by this date, otherwise you don't get one at all :mad:

I had issues with uploading photos - the first photo was unsuitable, so they sent me a letter to tell me so, with a form I could attach the new one onto. Sent the new one off - this was early November/late October - heard nothing back, so assumed all was good. Turns out this 2nd photo couldn't be used (because my head was turned slightly to the left?!) and they didn't let me know. Called them up when I realised I hadn't yet got my railcard, apparently the whole system closes down and they can't process them, they told me to try calling again in July/August when they begin the next lot. Called up a few weeks ago - after being put through to several departments who had no idea what I was on about - sorry, there is no possible way of backdating.

Gah.

organic_wanabe

My DS applied for a NatWest student account on 23rd August 2010. He didn't hear anything for ages and so 2 weeks later went into the branch where it was opened to complain. Paperwork then started to trickle through. He eventually got onto online banking on Friday 17th September 2010 and turned off his paper statements and then tried to apply for his railcard. However, he found he needed to enter a code which NatWest claimed had been e-mailed with a Welcome Pack on 9th September 2010 but it never arrived. They agreed to resend it and it arrived yesterday (but went into junk mail, so make sure you check your 'junk' folder carefully). He entered the code and scanned in a photo. He then heard nothing (despite the fact that they say they will contact you if the photo is not suitable) and so assumed everything was OK. Went online today to check the progress and saw that the photo had been 'declined'! He scanned another photo earlier and then re-checked his application a couple of hours later and it seems that this photo is OK. Hopefully he will receive his card within the 10 days stipulated. However, he starts University a week today! It looks that the whole process will have taken over 6 weeks from start to finish.

inaneswine

Their customer service is absolutely shocking. I do have good benefits with them - such as the free railcard and the £500 overdraft - but it's taken some wrestling to get there.

After applying for my account, I had heard nothing from them after two weeks. I got fed up, got in touch with them, and discovered that they had messed up my application, and forced me to reapply. Within two days of this, my account was open, and my debit card was on its way. However, it became clear that they hadn't cancelled my first application, and sent me another debit card for another account.

Furthermore, I'm not impressed with their service in-branch, as their pay-in machines have not worked for me since I joined them.

As I said before, the benefits are great, such as the overdraft and the railcard. Just ask yourself it's worth their dreadful service. For me, a student strongly concerned about money, I'm prepared to put up with their service if it means I get the benefits.

gfx_student

I was already a customer of Natwest with a current account. I upgraded to a student account which became active within a week if I remember correctly. I already had paperless billing too, so all I had to do was upload a photo and wait for my railcard, which took about 10 days. Amazing! I wasn't expecting to get the railcard as a mature student of 32. Really happy with Natwest (for once!)
I have been knocking down my overdraft and it is currently frozen at £105, I haven't requested it be bumped up to £500, is this usually automatic or do you have to request the overdraft? I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't increase the overdraft, so just a quick question really.