Best banks to open a first/student account

nadsat

My twins have just turned 18 and I want to set them up with a proper bank account as they only have a prepaid debit card at present. They will hopefully be going to university next September. 

My wife and I have accounts with HSBC/First Direct and I think they offer an incentive as do some other big banks but there are strings. I'm thinking of maybe going for an online only bank first and then perhaps they can switch for an incentive later.

Any suggestions welcome. 

Ivrytwr3

Wait until they get their Uni placements confirmed and then open a student account:

No fee overdraft
Railcard
£100
Headspace account
Other stuff.

Depends who you go with. But you can't do anything until you get the reference numbers.

username

I'm surprised they don't have already have a bank account of sorts already - I know when I was under 18 I had a debit card on a U18s account with Lloyds (they were the bank I'd had a child's savings account with and also the branch was close by, so it was fairly easy to sort). I know when I had a part-time job in a supermarket at the time around that age I had my wages paid in directly.

Since they probably won't have an "proper" account to switch it discounts most of the incentives, so I would show them the options, and let them decide what they want since they're 18 and adults (in the eyes of the law).  Please don't take this the wrong way! HSBC are a solid bank so why not start there. What happens currently with their finances - do they have a job?

You can always review the options open to them as regards students account when they get to that stage - most banks don't open student accounts until you've had all of the confirmed paperwork through, and they often have various incentives which change from year to year. A year is a long time at that age and their plans may change.

xylophone

https://help.starlingbank.com/personal/topics/setting-up-an-account/who-is-eligible-for-a-starling-bank-account/

https://www.starlingbank.com/current-account/

Might be suitable - they could look into student accounts in due course.  Current academic year offers here

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/students/student-bank-account/