Student Bank Accounts

[yambabe]

Students, can you tell me about who you bank with and what benefits, overdraft limits etc and charges you have? Are you happy with your bank? Why? (Or why not?)

My son is going to Uni next month and the RBS have totally fucked up converting his current Route21 account to a student account with overdraft, then fobbed him off and not got back to him on several occasions when he has tried to find out what is happening.

I also discovered today that they have been charging him fees and interest on the account for the last 6 months because it went about £2 in the red around the time he left his last job and basically stopped using it. The unauthorised overdraft now stands at £52, £50 of which is fees they have applied to an incative account.... This is why they are now dragging ther heels about giving him an overdraft, apparently he is a potential credit risk and the account has had to be referred to their Lender Centre.

Unfortunately for them I am not so easily fobbed off with their pathetic excuses and I have already been in today and told them what I think, but basically I need to know who else does a good deal for students as I have told them if they don't sort it out within 24 hours he will be closing the account and looking elsewhere.

I'm looking forward to them trying to sue us for their £52, being as he was a minor when he signed the contract agreement and therefore any of its terms, including these charges, are unenforceable........
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Sod falling in love, I wanna fall in chocolate.

[stinkwheel]

Well, that just goes to show hat it can be as much the branch you are with as the bank as a whole.

I've been with the RBS for years (since before I was a student) and was just going to recommend them 'till I read your post.

I even had 'phone calls off them when I was at college saying "You wrote a cheque that'll bounce, I can delay it 24h if there is money coming in or we can put another £50 on your overdraught". Most banks would have just bounced it and charged me.

That's a local branch from back home though. They know who I am, I also know I can just phone them up and speak to them if I have a problem (not many banks these days have your branches direct dial number at the top of their statements).

So. I reckon you would be better getting someone to recommend a particular BANCH of bank rather than a bank in and of itself.

[cqueen]

You're only allowed 1 student account per person, i.e. you cannot have one with natwest AND one with Lloyds

... (unless you do what my mate did and opened 2 on the same day )

[carvell]

Go with Natwest, purely because they are offering a 5 year railcard.

I got a 5 year railcard with HSBC 2 years ago, and it's fantastic, a third off any rail travel for 5 years.

I wouldn't stray from the big student players, Natwest and HSBC. Most Uni campus' have either a Natwest or HSBC on site too, which is very handy indeed!
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Yamaha TDM 850

[cagiva gezzer]

Barclays was ok for me. Nothing special, nothing free worth remembering...

The main thing that matters is a UBER overdraft that they won't revoke the day you graduate.
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"because one stroke isnt enough and four strokes waste two"

[EuropeanNC30R...]

I was with Barclays, but I wouldn't go with them again. Nothing too bad, but as cagiva said nothing special either. You get a free national express coachcard, (must've used that about once) and HMV vouchers iirc. Only I had to ring repeatedly to get them to send my vouchers, of which they never sent the full amount anyway.

The graduate account sucks imo aswell, to retain the 0% overdraft you have to pay £5 a month while other banks don't charge. I'm currently looking at opening a graduate account elsewhere.

I would go with the people offering the railcard and preferably some cold hard cash.

[JonB]

I'm unsure of what to do because at present I have a Nationwide flexaccount open with a £250 overdraft, with my overdraft up for review in November.

However my girlfriend is with HSBC and gets £1,250 overdraft.

The only reason I am with Nationwide is because their branch is so good too me, like RBS is to Stinkwheel and I do prefer having a building society, even if my Flexaccount is a current account, I got a nice little ISA with them too.
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Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it?s worth.

[scott666]

I'm with barclays. Pretty good they even increased my overdraft on my student account to £2000 knowing i was going to use it to buy my bike, how kind of them. They don't give a lot away free but find them very helpful.

[numark1]

I am going with RBS as im going to uni in scotland, also their overdraft seems one of the smallest which is good.

Also they give you £100 for opening an account. HSBC give you an mp4 player and natwest (i think) give you an ipod nano.

[paulthewitt]

[paulthewitt]

[syl]

They're all much the same. There will be good stories and horror stories for all the major banks. I used Natwest, and they were great. I left university with approximately £15,000 debt (in 1993) - overdraft, loans (that didn't have to be repaid until after graduation) and credit card. I never got any hassle. This was changed to a graduate account and then to a personal banking account. My student manager seemed to get promoted at roughly the same time as my account did, so I knew her very well until she left due to ill health five years ago. I've previously had phone calls from the bank asking if I really meant to pay a cheque out of account A (I hadn't) and they just tell me that they will sort it all out and move money from my other accounts. They even extended my overdraft over the telephone to 30k, to cover a deposit I needed to make when I bought a house (prior to the completion date).

Go with the bank that is situated well on campus and gives the best freebie at the time.
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Current bike: Kawasaki Z750S

[Clanger]

I was with Lloyds all the way through my student years, and because I always kept them informed of what was happening, on the occasional time I went over on my overdraft or whatever - they never charged me! I was with this bank from the age of 17...and had a good relationship with them.

My branch has now gone, and they merged me into a new area - and I didnt get the same value or commitment from them - so I now have Halifax accounts instead (but Im not a student anymore).
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Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter won't mind - Dr. Seuss

[Ste]

[syl]

[Ste]

I just find it strange that people are being encouraged to decide who to bank with based on some free gift rather than the more important aspects of bank accounts especially considering quite how many people have been posting in the 'reclaim bank charges' threads with stories of thousands of pounds of bank charges. The banks are looking at the bigger picture by going for the customers who don't see further than "FREE iPOD!!!" and so are ignoring the bigger picture.

If you choose what bank to go with on the basis of what free gift they're giving new customers, then you deserve everything you get which be higher banking costs.

[EuropeanNC30R...]

You should not be paying anything for an overdraft on a student account, it's the main benefit. There's usually a tier system where you're allowed up to 1k in the first year, 2k next year etc.

Though some banks (such as Barclays) can refuse to extend it to your limit if you get an arsey personal banker and they think you don't need it. If they do, think of a good bullshit reason and try shortly after with a different banker, usually works.