Help needed - PhD student accounts?

midd1etony

I've just started a PhD, and I need a new 'student' account. I currently have one at RBS, but I'm about to close that as they are complete muppets, well when it comes to dealing with my account they are. I'm not going to get in to it here, but I will say a 4 page complaint to the manager and they still haven't sorted it out.

Anyway, my stratergy is simple, I have a nice account with Lloyds TSB, where I'm getting around 4.5% interest, but I need to pay in 2K a month, so ideally I'd like a large overdraft facility, and no charges. Anyone got any suggestions?

Cheers, Justin

Robert_Sterling_3

Could you just precis the four pages down to about 3.14159 pages to gives us the jist of your complaint please.

midd1etony

I'd love to, but I can't measure pages in pi, perhaps if it were a loop that would work, but it's loose leaf so afraid not.

The main points were:

1. Not paying the £60 bonus on sign up

2. Forgetting to set up my overdraft and charging me when I tried to use it.

3. Charging me when they had set up my overdraft for using it.

4. Taking at least 4 trips to complain and 3 months to refund my account.

5. Telling me I'd graduated over a year before I had and changing my account without my permission.

6. Not returning my calls when they said they would on several occassions - basically just no communication to me or other branches.

There's a couple more, but that's just being pinickity I suppose, so we'll leave it at that for now. So any other banks with decent accounts I'd like to try, but I just need to get away from RBS or at least take a break and see other people.

MMMIARMW_II

Most student accounts let you have a free overdraft even if you're doing post-grad study. Just need proof from your uni. I've had a co-op student account/ although you could also apply for smile. They let you have £2000 overdraft over the course of your studies & then for a year afterwards. Although you need some money going in, perhaps evdience of the stipend.

You could alway then swap at that point for another account i.e. HSBC who would let you slowly bring down your overdraft over about 3 years interest free.

Tran

I have found that if you simply tell your bank that you are continuing to study (at postgrad level or whatever) then they will just extend the time they will allow you to have an overdraft. No proof needed from the university.

I graduated in 1991 and still have my (free) student overdraft of £2000. Every couple of years or so they write or ring to ask me if i have stopped studying and i tell them 'no' and they ask for an expected completion date of my studies. i usually tell them a date in a couple of years and then they leave me alone until that date. It doesn't appear to anyone at the bank that being a higher education student for 13years+ is highly unusual. I'd like to add however that i HAVE been studying during this time - but only the odd short continuing education course at my local uni and not in 'full time higher education' as stipulated in the T&C's of the overdraft.