One student account rule?

lindos90

Are students only allowed one 'student' bank account?

My son 'upgraded' his longstanding Lloyds current account to a student account before leaving for Uni, it's an account he has had for years and he is familiar with the online banking etc and is reluctant to close it.

On campus they have a santander branch. He thought about opening a student account there, so he could have one account for day to day living expenses and reserve the rest of his money in the second student account for bills etc to help him budget. Having realised the cost of the train fare home, he thought the rail card would be a great bonus too!

He went in to inquire, they questioned him and they said he was not allowed (by law?) to have two student bank accounts and he would 'have to' use their switching service to close his Lloyds account. When googling I can't fine this 'law' and looking on their website I have not been able to find a 'rule' or 'policy' of the company stating this either.

He realises it would be foolish of him to get multiple accounts, with the intention of running up debts through using overdrafts, and only wishes to be savvy (like his Mum;) ) with his budgeting and the railcard.

Has anyone else heard of this 'only allowed to own one student account' as a law, rule or bank policy? Or could it be that the bank are being selective with what they are telling him? Is it perhaps at the discretion of the branch or manager?

Hope someone can advise

[Deleted User]

It's bank policy that you must pay in your student finance, grants etc into the student account. As you can only do this with one account you can't have multiple accounts.

maxheadroom

Just a suggestion, but try again in a 'non university' town branch, I did this (albeit nearly 20yrs ago when mobiles were expensive to get the free Cellnet Phillips DIGA PAYG Mobile - 50p/min call charge:eek:) and my local small branch were just grateful to have opened a new current account towards their targets they ignored policy, happy with my mum paying in some money towards accomodation. (loan went into existing account). May well be stricter now though?

sheramber

LLoyds state that you cannot have a student account with another provider so he would have to close his lloyds account if Santander did allow him have two student accounts.

Cate1976

There's an easy solution to this. Change Lloyds account back to normal current account then open student account with Santander to get the railcard. They will be able to switch the direct debits without closing the Lloyds account. There's nothing in Santander rules against having bank account elsewhere for everyday spending.