Natwest Student account 2010/2011: We want your feedback

StudentFun

Although Natwest has been the bank of choice for students for quite a long time, I have never really liked their ways and much prefer some of the other banks in the market place. They also seemed to me to be bogged down with too much red tape. I haven't used them for quite a while so if this red tape has been cut down like the wheat-sheaves in the way of a combine harvester then I would gladly give them a try again.

Zack1

gfx_student wrote: »

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.

You need to request the overdrafts. I failed credit scoring for my latest one... Never mind, their loss... Halifax will give me £1,700 if I somehow end up needing to use it :rotfl:

kjones91

1. my sister applied for a student account with natwest a few years ago and never received the free railcard - they made her pay for her own railcard and she had to chase up for over a year for the money back
2. i have just started uni and applied for a student account several months ago mainly because of the free railcard...i didnt hear anything back from them so i phoned up - they have no record of me ever applying (even though i have a letter from them thanking me for my application). i went into my closest branch to ask them about this and was told they can't do anything about it, it's now too late to get a railcard and if i want to query it i have to go to the branch i opened the account in. So i went into the original branch who told me i will have to apply again for another account and once that is opened query my first account and rail card!!

3. my flat mate applied for a student account several months ago, she was then sent a 2 different pin numbers but no card. she questioned this and was then sent a card, when trying to use the card the pin number didnt work and on questioning this in branch was told that even though the card had her name on it it wasnt her account number and she had been sent the wrong card.


overall, stay well clear of a natwest student account - they are disorganised and frankly useless!

No_more_excuses

My son embarked on the tortuous process of opening a Natwest Student account in early September, a good month before he was due to start at uni. Having compared what was on offer the free railcard tipped him towards Natwest.
He finally gave up last Friday, six weeks after he started the process.
He's been bounced between online and branch and back several times.
The crux of the problem is that they have lost his certified id, although they insist it's "not lost, we just don't know where it is.." "the worst that can happen is that someone has found it and destroyed it !" That's the worst ? They don't seem bothered.

In the first week my son went to our local branch to speed up the application process, showed his id, which was all copied, certified and sent off (by them). That was five weeks ago.
It never reached its destination, the branch manager insists he is checking everyday on progress, what progress ? Branch blame online and vica versa. Hopeless. The only remedy seems to be to send duplicate forms. We now have three sets in addition to the original. He was told to fill it in again take his id to the branch again (!) then to post it (rather than trusting it to the banks "secure" mail system ?)

Bailed out by the taxpayer we have to sit through their "helpful banking" adverts on TV when this is what they are really like: hopeless.

mrs_scrooge

Railcard application needs to be complete by end November. My daughter applied for it before the cut off date but there was a problem with her photo quality, she tried to rectify in December but the system was closed. Local Natwest branch said they'd complain but when she chased up in Jan there was no record of that complaint. The end result is that she's been offered £78 which is less than the value of 5 years of railcards. The process needs to be made clearer.

She's just asked for and got £750 overdraft in her second term.

gujigurl22

i opened a student account in 2008 i should have graduated this year but i have taken a year out for placement but that did not go to plan as i only got to do 4 months instead of the whole year:'( anyway year 1 i got an overdraft of 1250 and i got the same in 2nd year or was it £1500?? will have to check that but i'm sure it was £1250 again for 2nd year, and this is my 3rd year which i have taken out for placement year,i was in 2 minds of getting a position for a placement as it was hard so thought i'd go back to uni for my final year so i increased my overdraft to £2000 my eligibilty had been declined for some reason but the advisor seemed to sort it out straight away. i received a letter stating i have been charged £12 for reaching the full amount. I am not on placement nor working therefore not receiving my student grant. I borrowed money off my dad so i can pay off my contract phone. What can i do if i want to get an overdraft again? would i tell them i am not in my final year as when i did ring up natwest and asked them the advisor said i had to pay back about £1400 because i am not in my final year and i have the full amount taken out.
I did show natwest all my paper work and i should have been graduating this year if i did not take a placement year but accordin to them i graduated last year???

can anyone help? what can i do

gujigurl22

by the way i go back for my final year in september

melancholly

go into branch showing a student card and speak to someone there. avoid the phone as you'll get much more useful help in a branch on campus that will have dealt with that before.

paulwellerfan

i thought nat west student account was great. ( in my day 2005)
i got all the full over drafts in year one, two, and three
then got the grad account
now back to current account.
one of the very few banks i have actually stuck with after uni.

ollie123

I have been with Natwest with a student account now for almost two years, and I have got so far:

– 2 years' free railcard (they send you a new custom printed one each year for up to 5 years)
– The full £1,250 overdraft (which was the agreement when I signed up, no problems getting it at all)
– Full access to online banking, a chequebook, Visa debit card

So far only one thing has gone wrong when I went over the agreed overdraft by about £10 for a few days, and initially they charged me a fee of I think £10 or £20, but after an apologetic phone call they refunded it to me as an act of good will.

Overall I'd rate them highly, though have to say I do prefer Lloyds TSB branches – they're really nice! – and their design etc.

However, I would strongly recommend AGAINST Santander - I had their 16-21 account and accidentally went over by £7.50. After 20 days of not being told about it I had apparently accumulated £120 of fees. I eventually negotiated this down to £60 but I still think it's outrageous and I would not ever touch them again with a barge pole. I also had trouble closing my account with them, and it took me a month of a lot of effort to try and put money into an ISA I had with them, now finally all closed down.