Student bank account for mature student?

Luckygems

Hiya everyone,
Newbie here! Been a bit of a lurker for a while though so have already read some great advice here!

I'm due to become a mature student in September, and was wondering if its worth opening a student bank account? I know many students benefit from the overdraft they provide but I'm really good at budgeting and wouldn't be looking to touch the overdraft. So I was wondering if there is any point in opening one or should I just stick with my main account?

Sorry if this has already been asked somewhere, I did search and couldn't find anything. Hopefully there is someone here who could give me some good advice!

Thank you!:)

Kite86

Even if you don't want to use the overdraft it's still worth having, as you can take the money out and put it in another account where it can earn interest.

Also it might be worth looking around at what benefits are offered by different student accounts and find one that would be useful for you. I'm not sure what's around at the moment, but when I opened a student account there were accounts with free railcards, travel insurance, etc.

Good luck for September!

jaxjax123

I am a mature student and when I looked 2 years ago there was nothing that really appealed to me.

It really depends on how mature you are.
The rail card that was on offer was for up to age 26 I believe. I ended up just sticking with my regular bank account.

Luckygems

Thank you both for your replies, I'm 29 so perhaps the railcard offer won't be available to me but I will look into any other offers around.

Didn't think about earning interest on the overdraft money Kite86, thanks for the idea.

Thank you both again!

Kite86

The railcard usually offered is a 'Young Persons' Railcard, which used to only be for people aged up to 26, but it changed a few years ago and you can now get one at any age if you are a full-time student.

Luckygems

Well that will save me lots of money! Thank you for letting me know!
Think I will have to look into getting a student account now!

lynsey85

something worth noting is that the railcard can't be used at peak hours, from the website "Please remember that for all journeys made at or between 4.30am and 10am Monday to Friday, a £12 minimum fare applies. This means that the Railcard is not suitable for most daily commutes to work or places of study. Don’t forget that if you travel regularly between 4.30am and 10am Monday to Friday then a weekly or monthly season ticket is likely to be the best way for you to save money. Railcards do not give discounts on season tickets."
website here
if you were to be using it to travel at weekends etc then it would probably be worth having, but if it were to get to uni, migth not be worth it. hth

notre_bulle

I am also confused regarding student accounts as a mature student. I am already £2500 into my overdraft in my normal account, could I transfer this debt to an interest free student account? Some advice would be greatly appreciated :-)

trcy1066

I'm a mature student (47) starting next week. I've looked into the deal with Santander but it doesn't allow for mature students. The 16-25 railcard does allow for mature students but on a yearly basis.

I will be travelling from Lincoln to Sheffield on a regular basis so the 16-25 railcard will save me £3.90 on a day-to-day basis. Until I get my timetable, I don't know what it will save in the long-run. If I have to go in 5 days a week, it will be cheaper to get a monthly ticket instead but feel quite sure I won't have to go quite that often.

~Chameleon~

Lloyds offers the best student account in my opinion. Free NUS card for 3 years too which would probably be more useful than a rail card.

http://www.lloydstsb.com/current-accounts/student-account.asp

Luckygems

Thank you all for your advice, have already applied for the santander one before I saw the advice about the Lloyds account, but thank you all for your help!