[emilie18]

So I need to sort out a current account for when I go off to uni in September. Has anyone found a bank offering students a good deal?

Thanks in advance for any help

[neon]

They'll all offer flashy prizes like 'a railcard so you can travel all over the world' or some other thing. Not saying that isnt useful, but its not a deal-breaker. You should look at how the overdrafts work. You can tend to increase them year on year, so if you need the cash, get the ones with the biggest OD (and the lowest interest rates when you graduate). If you don't need the OD, go for the flashiest prize. I'm with natwest, and theyre ok. I know others with HSBC and thats ok. Not really much difference.

[officiallyTania]

i have heard Natwest and RBS are good

[Writer_Kitty]

Go on comparison websites and find the one with the biggest overdraft possible. HSBC offer one with a potential £3000. Then find yourself a savings account with a chunky interest rate (you need to look for around the 4% mark to make any kind of increase). Then chuck your entire balance from your overdraft into your savings account and watch the interest grow. You can easily live on that and make a profit, too.

Nice

P.s. I recommend checking out Santander for savings accounts right now, they have a couple of decent ones.

[pollypokit_x]

(Original post by Writer_Kitty)
Go on comparison websites and find the one with the biggest overdraft possible. HSBC offer one with a potential £3000. Then find yourself a savings account with a chunky interest rate (you need to look for around the 4% mark to make any kind of increase). Then chuck your entire balance from your overdraft into your savings account and watch the interest grow. You can easily live on that and make a profit, too.

Nice

P.s. I recommend checking out Santander for savings accounts right now, they have a couple of decent ones.

Nice idea lol, but what about paying off your overdraft as there are charges right?

[Writer_Kitty]

(Original post by pollypokit_x)
Nice idea lol, but what about paying off your overdraft as there are charges right?

Not if you do it properly. Student overdrafts are interest free, so there are no charges. So long as you put back all the money you took out of your overdraft by the time the interest free period ends (usually a year or so after you graduate) then there will be no charges and no cost to you at all.

All you are doing is taking their free money and putting it elsewhere to gather interest. Just make sure to leave some money lingering in the very bottom of your overdraft so that you never go over the limit of your overdraft. If you go OVER your limit you WILL get charged, and it will not be pretty.

Make sure you read all the terms and conditions carefully.

[Teabo]

RBS or Natwest are super useful as they're the bank the Student Loans Company use, which has meant in the past that I've received the money a few days before it's technically supposed to have been put in, which was very, very handy at times.

Other than that, they're all pretty similar, most will give you a £2000 overdraft by your last year (gotta keep calling them up each year and they'll increase it by £200 seems to be the general rule) and a few extra things.. the railcard from Natwest is super useful though.. especially if you're a regular train user.

[NewFolder]

HSBC are quite good. You get a credit card with a £500 limit, plus a £750 overdraft (its supposed to increase to about £3000, don't know what I have to do for that to happen though). You also get free travel insurance if you pay a certain amount in, I have no need for it though.

I don't really know about any of the other banks, I just used HSBC as I already had an account with them and it was easier to switch over. A lot of them probably have free stuff such as railcards, which it might be worth looking into if you'd use them.

Also, an overdraft should NEVER be seen as free money, it should be seen as an emergency reserve of cash that should never be used unless absolutely necessary. I wouldn't suggest that you get the highest overdraft as there isn't really much point - when would you need that much money? Also, as student loan payments tend to be less than £3000, if you get an overdraft that high you risk making it very difficult to get out of it if you do use all of it.

[callum9999]

(Original post by Writer_Kitty)
Go on comparison websites and find the one with the biggest overdraft possible. HSBC offer one with a potential £3000. Then find yourself a savings account with a chunky interest rate (you need to look for around the 4% mark to make any kind of increase). Then chuck your entire balance from your overdraft into your savings account and watch the interest grow. You can easily live on that and make a profit, too.

Nice

P.s. I recommend checking out Santander for savings accounts right now, they have a couple of decent ones.

Really? You can live off £120 for the year and still have money left over (and that is assuming you have £3k - which you most certainly won't have, not even close)? I find that rather hard to believe! It is still worth doing it though of course (though am not quite sure why 4% was chosen as the point where you make "any kind of increase"?).

(Original post by NewFolder)
HSBC are quite good. You get a credit card with a £500 limit, plus a £750 overdraft (its supposed to increase to about £3000, don't know what I have to do for that to happen though). You also get free travel insurance if you pay a certain amount in, I have no need for it though.

I don't really know about any of the other banks, I just used HSBC as I already had an account with them and it was easier to switch over. A lot of them probably have free stuff such as railcards, which it might be worth looking into if you'd use them.

Also, an overdraft should NEVER be seen as free money, it should be seen as an emergency reserve of cash that should never be used unless absolutely necessary. I wouldn't suggest that you get the highest overdraft as there isn't really much point - when would you need that much money? Also, as student loan payments tend to be less than £3000, if you get an overdraft that high you risk making it very difficult to get out of it if you do use all of it.

If you are financially illiterate with no self control then yes, it should only be for emergencies.

If you have a scrap of common sense, then it can be used to make a profit - as described above.

[Singularity]

I'm with Natwest. You get an interest free overdraft which lasts while you're a student and for one year after you've graduated. Their online banking is also really easy. I got a free railcard when I signed up which has been massively useful, but I don't know if they still do that.

[NewFolder]

(Original post by callum9999)
If you are financially illiterate with no self control then yes, it should only be for emergencies.

If you have a scrap of common sense, then it can be used to make a profit - as described above.

Honestly didn't think of putting it all in a high-interest savings account, that is a really good idea.

I just thought that people were suggesting the OP to get a £3000 overdraft and use that to pay for everything, and then possibly create a situation where they get into an overdraft and be unable to get out of it, that was all.

[Juanitor]

(Original post by Writer_Kitty)
Go on comparison websites and find the one with the biggest overdraft possible. HSBC offer one with a potential £3000. Then find yourself a savings account with a chunky interest rate (you need to look for around the 4% mark to make any kind of increase). Then chuck your entire balance from your overdraft into your savings account and watch the interest grow. You can easily live on that and make a profit, too.

Nice

P.s. I recommend checking out Santander for savings accounts right now, they have a couple of decent ones.

Is that really legit, though? It just seems like it could somehow be construed as misusing your overdraft... still, interesting :3

[Writer_Kitty]

(Original post by Juanitor)
Is that really legit, though? It just seems like it could somehow be construed as misusing your overdraft... still, interesting :3

Totally legit! Nothing wrong with it. Probably not how the bank wants you to use it, they want you to overspend so they can whack you with loads of charges and make money off you. You have to be careful that doesn't happen, but I've got myself a lovely instant access saver from santander and all my student money is going in there, plus any overdraft I can get from my bank.

It's called being proactive with your cash. Trust me, after graduating, you're going to need a couple of quid hanging around.

[Writer_Kitty]

(Original post by callum9999)
Really? You can live off £120 for the year and still have money left over (and that is assuming you have £3k - which you most certainly won't have, not even close)? I find that rather hard to believe! It is still worth doing it though of course (though am not quite sure why 4% was chosen as the point where you make "any kind of increase"?).



If you are financially illiterate with no self control then yes, it should only be for emergencies.

If you have a scrap of common sense, then it can be used to make a profit - as described above.

I chose 4% because typically at the moment you won't be able to find a flexible savings account with a higher interest rate than this. If you can manage to not withdraw any of your cash for 1 or 2 years then you might be able to find a higher rate, but I was simply giving you an idea of the kind of percentage you should be looking for compared to what's currently available.

[TheWalkinDude]

The Cooperative has a guaranteed interest free overdraft of £1,400 in the first year, rising to £2,000 in the third.

http://www.co-operativebank.co.uk/se...urrentAccounts

[Tackla]

HSBC

[Jack_XII]

The Co-operative comes out top of all the comparison sites due to the guaranteed overdraft, however to be approved for the account you'll most likely need to have at least a respectable credit rating. I don't and was declined.

So does anyone have any recommendations as to an account I might be able to open as a 'mature' student with bad credit rating?

[Tactical Nuclear Penguin]

Santander; great overdraft which is managed down to zero in the four years after graduation. Also got £50 when I signed up and preferential interest rates as Loughborough is a 'Santander University'

[callum9999]

(Original post by Writer_Kitty)
I chose 4% because typically at the moment you won't be able to find a flexible savings account with a higher interest rate than this. If you can manage to not withdraw any of your cash for 1 or 2 years then you might be able to find a higher rate, but I was simply giving you an idea of the kind of percentage you should be looking for compared to what's currently available.

I just meant 4% seems a random threshold between making significant money and not making significant money! 3.2% seems to be the highest I can find now anyway, which assuming you get a £1000 overdraft for the first year - you would get a grand total of £32. Worth doing yes, but not really an amount I'd say you could "easily live off and make a profit on"!

[Sheep]

I just went with barclays because I have one near to my house at home and I have one on campus here at uni

it gives standard overdraft facilities too not that Ive needed it