Should i get a student bank account or a normal one?

callumalmost

So I'm 17 at the moment, in the last year of sixthform, i have condition offers from universities but for 2013/2014 year, I am taking a gap year, so can I open a student account at the moment or will I have to get a normal account, and what accounts would you recommend, I generally wont have large summs of money in there, but I've been told I need my own personal account to get payed for my job.
Thanks in advance

plunt

personally, if you can manage your money well i would go for the student account with the biggest overdraft. to qualify you should have your student loan payed into it (or some other large sum) about 3 times a year. you can do this by just moving money around between other banks.

I personally went for halifax and have now got 2.6k , 0% interest over draft facility. As well as another with hsbc (not really allowed but i do use it for banking and have set up standing orders to show activity on the account) this gives me about another 1k of interest free over draft facility. I have placed ALL this money in a savings account and have moved it around to high paying instant access accounts through my uni years. (keep in mind interest free overdrafts are repayable on demand from the bank, hence why i stuck to only instant access and ban my self from EVER using this cash other than fully protected savings). over the years i have saved at different rates and have received easily over 600 pounds in interest.

as you are 17 you wont be given an overdraft facility yet. however you can register with hsbc as an "early bird" and as soon as you turn 18 you can get the over draft. hsbc guarantees an over draft of 1.5k.

another thing to look at is the repayment of after you graduate uni. so make you pay it back after a year and some have ask for it to be paid back slowly over a few years.

the bank accounts are roughly the same each year and MSE have a nice description for them which can be found here:
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/students/Student-bank-account

notice that some allow you to have multiple student accounts. just remember its smart to transfer your over draft into a savings but never get in the habit or living in your over draft!

the issue i suppose is that you are taking a gap year. but i reckon with the conditional offer filled (after your results) and when you turn 18 i would try and open up a student account asap and start making some extra with your overdraft!

oh and remember if you arent working as a student be sure to fill in the forms for your savings account so they pay your interest without deducting tax!

PS: you can even open up a halifax reward account and transfer in 1k each month and transfer it back out and they give you 5 pound. not much but that equals 60 pounds a year! (of 75 pounds after filling out the right tax forms!)


-Plunt