Top Student Accounts 2007/08 Article Discussion

ashy_mashy

I am going into my third year at a university in London. I currently have a student account with HSBC. Apart from the MP3 player I got in the first year and the £1250 overdraft they haven't offered anything else. So I am looking for other options.

What is the best option for me? Here are the options I can think of:

1)Open an account with HBOS without telling them I have another student account with HSBC. I can get my loan paid into my HBOS account as I do not think HSBC require this in their terms. This way I can get both the HSBC overdraft and the HBOS overdraft.

2)Go and talk to HBOS and get them to transfer my student account from HSBC to HBOS. This way HBOS are likely to give me the £2750 overdraft straight away however I will lose the overdraft from HSBC.


What shall I do? Any better options for a person in my position?

Thanks in advance!

cfcrules

Whenever I apply for an account with the Halifax, they always turn me down, what could the problem be, they used to say my credit rating was poor, but now say I should open up an easysaver account.

Thanks

jcwilson

What do you do if you are not 18 when you start uni? Halifax BOS will not let you open a student account!

gdring

Firkin wrote: »

I was a little surprised not to see the Co op Student Bank Account mentioned in the article. As soon as the account is credited with £300 it automatically generates an overdraft facility of £1400 in year one, rising (on request) to £1700 in year two and £2000 in year three, with a further 12 months interest free on graduation. No up to x amount with this one - they appear to be guaranteed amounts. Add to that Post Office paying in and out it seems a winner to me. HBOS wouldn't even give my son a student account (claiming he was not credit worthy - despite meeting all the criteria) - I'd certainly give them a wide berth.

I couldn't agree more about HBOS. My daughter was refused a student account because she has no debt! Because her credit reference came back blank they woudn't give her an account. When I asked them why they refused an account they were most unhelpful saying 'the rules are the rules'. How are some young people supposed to open accounts when they are too young to demonstrate credit worthiness?

gdring

You probably have had a 'blank' credit search returned to HBOS from Experian etc. This bank decline punters with no credit history - even though you may manage your money well! Its a 'catch 22' situation. HBOS are most unhelpful when you challenge them.

mb667584

I thought the older article was better, it had a table listing all the currently available accounts at the time with various info such as 0% overdraft limit & especially if the t&c said you can have multiple accounts.

This way it was easy to compare limits & see if you could have several accounts open at once, even if a bank only gives you £1000 at 0% it would surely be better (if you wanted to do this) to open several of these accounts in addition to one you'd use as a main account and have maybe £4000 in savings accounts for 3-4 years and pocket the interest?

Accounts that said you can have other students accoutns but theirs had to be the main one just said that basically all you had to do was have regular activity on the account so as long as you made regualr deposits & withdrawls (read move the same sum of money in & out of all accounts in a chain) then you could take all their interest & screw the banks for a change.

This article on mentions details of HBOS, RBS & NatWest.

Bamboozled

i have a student account with hsbc and my overdraft is current £1000, but have option to increase to £1500 which will do in next few days. just wondering if anyone knows whether or not i would be able to open a natwest student account + overdraft and use them both at the same time?

hogshead

Who is offering the best 'deal' when it comes to student accounts.
Son has his own bank acct but we have been informed that a student account is the way to go so we are cutting it fine to say the least.

thanks

stphnstevey

Do you have to be a Uni student to get these accounts - I am a college student, does that count?

regularsaver1

University - have to provide UCAS proof or uni acceptance letter

although if it was degree level or similar at a college that would be different