Oxford 2011 Freshers Chat Thread

Is there any point opening a student account now though? I've also noticed HSBC do a Gap Year student account, do you know much about that?

You're an Unconditional offer holder as well aren't you?
Well, now I know I definitely have a place and where I'm going, I want to get my Student Finance application out of the way, and when applying, you have to state the account you wish all funds to be paid into, so it would make sense for me to do it sooner rather than later, so that I know on the first day of term, I have money in my account (although, it's not really necessary as I have a job.)

I've read a little about the HSBC Gap Year Account, but it seems to only be good if you're going travelling and have some means of paying back the overdraft (not sure if it's 0%) before uni starts (i.e. either lovely parents or working whilst abroad.) They also offer a credit card with the account (at 16.9 APR) which may be quite good if you want to start accumulating a credit history early, but could be disastrous if you're not strict with your finances. Best thing about the account would be the commission free currency and travellers cheques, but is only really worthwhile if you a) intend on going abroad in the gap year, and b) if you intend on staying there for an extended period of time.

That would be my thinking on the matter anyway

Yeah I've got an unconditional offer. Student Finance opens on the 14th February, so do you think it's worth getting a student account sorted out before then?

Surely if you can open a HSBC Student Account, the HSBC Gap Year Account is rendered pretty useless?

I might just upgrade my Natwest account to their student one, you seem to have read about this in much more detail, what's the best one to go for?

I don't think the overdraft part kicks in until you've actually started uni

Well, it depends entirely what you'd like more.

I too have a Natwest Account, and I'm torn between upgrading, and going for the Halifax/RBS £3,000 0% overdraft that only starts accumulating interest one year after you've graduated.

If you want a big overdraft, Halifax/RBS definitely (should note, it's up to £3,000 and you'd have to request for it to be raised.)
If you want a guaranteed large overdraft, the Co-op actually has the best deal.

Natwest would be the easiest for us both, as we can both upgrade now, online, and that 1/3 rail card looks pretty tempting, although, it's £30, and thus, I'm going for either Halifax or Co-op.

I highly recommend: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/Student-bank-account

And lastly, defintely shop around, some banks have odd little offers that wouldn't appeal to some people, but would be brilliant for others (e.g. if you intend on driving down to Oxford and having your car there and are an extreme snowboarder, HSBC would be good with their free winter sport insurance and 25% off AA insurance.)

Actually, it appears that the moment you open a Halifax account you get £500 overdraft, not bad.

(With regard to the "is it worth it?" portion, I would think so, it means we'll be at the front of the queue for getting our SF sorted. I just hope now that actually, you can open an account this early )

Call me ignorant, but I don't know much about bank accounts etc. Is there anything to stop someone from opening several student bank accounts and getting the perks that come with all of them, and then only really using one of them?

Yeah, I did look at MSE's website the other day, and saw Halifax/Co-op being plugged as the two best. Yeah, to get the Co-op's overdraft you have to credit the account with £300, so the Halifax's account does look quite enticing if you can get an overdraft now. So, if you were to get the Halifax account, and use the overdraft already... exactly when would you need to start paying back the overdraft to not incur charges/interest?

Also, didn't realise you had to pay for the Natwest student account, I'm not that interested in the rail-card.

But, you'll have less hassle with the Natwest account, being able to increase the overdraft online if it retains the facility it had last year. But I agree, I'm not going for Natwest either.

With regard to the question of when you'd have to pay the overdraft back, it says on their website, it's at 0% for up to 5 years PLUS one extra year after you graduate (so that would cover a masters I think, but I would definitely ask when opening the account/ go ask in branch.)

The rail card won't be that useful for many people, especially as we have to completely gut our rooms each term which will require parental assistance in the form of transport, so oddly, the only people it will really benefit are people who live quite close to Oxford (because I don't think I'll be taking a 3/4 hour journey back home to see my family all too often.)

I'm fairly sure I'll go for the Halifax account then, although I have a feeling we won't be able to open it now, because that'd mean we'd get quite a bit more time with the 0% overdraft.

I'm not so sure we wouldn't be able to open it now, but have it capped at £500 maximum.

I'll call my local branch the next opportunity I have and find out, relay what they say back.

Do you need an Unconditional to do this?

hi, are my GCSEs good enough...? (i didn't work at GCSE)
Maths - A
Additional Science - A
Science B - B
I.C.T - B
English - C
Citizenship - C
DT Graphics - C
English Lit. - D
Business Studies - D
French - D
History - F

BTW i'm currently studying 5 AS-levels solidly...
Further Maths
Physics
Chemistry
Economics
Maths

Wanna do physics at Oxford, wht shud i do? any advise

hi, are my GCSEs good enough...? (i didn't work at GCSE)
Maths - A
Additional Science - A
Science B - B
I.C.T - B
English - C
Citizenship - C
DT Graphics - C
English Lit. - D
Business Studies - D
French - D
History - F

BTW i'm currently studying 5 AS-levels solidly...
Further Maths
Physics
Chemistry
Economics
Maths

Wanna do physics at Oxford, wht shud i do? any advise

hi, are my GCSEs good enough...? (i didn't work at GCSE)
Maths - A
Additional Science - A
Science B - B
I.C.T - B
English - C
Citizenship - C
DT Graphics - C
English Lit. - D
Business Studies - D
French - D
History - F

BTW i'm currently studying 5 AS-levels solidly...
Further Maths
Physics
Chemistry
Economics
Maths

Wanna do physics at Oxford, wht shud i do? any advise

Do you need an Unconditional to do this?

Yeah, I did look at MSE's website the other day, and saw Halifax/Co-op being plugged as the two best.

I'm fairly sure I'll go for the Halifax account then, although I have a feeling we won't be able to open it now, because that'd mean we'd get quite a bit more time with the 0% overdraft.

I was going to go with Co-op cause I figured I couldn't be bothered to negotiate a higher one if it came to it (I pretty much made all my choices off MSE and all ). Is it right to assume they're both going to have branches in the high street/ there's no advantage in convenience to one or the other?

I guess I should look up how good they are for internet banking and everything as well.

I got put off by the Co-Op one because of the branches. The closest one to me is in the high street, which is a real pain for parking, and in Oxford it's relatively close to the train station, which while only 1 mile from my college, it's quite far in Oxford terms

I posted this on another thread a few minutes ago (will turn up in my inventory of posts in about a half hour I'd suppose), but anyway, there's something I thought I should tell you lot as it might interest you. A girl in my Spanish class who is insanely good at English and applied for English (not going to tell at which college because she could end up reading this very page ) had the same process as everyone else, got the AAA offer in the week leading up to Christmas and was, of course, delighted but here comes the interesting part. They posted a letter to the head of the English department at my college on Wednesday and changed the offer to nothing other than an unconditional. She is now free to do however and whatever she likes in all the exams this year. So watch out you guys, although this is exceptionally rare, it could happen to you

... and yes, I'm very chuffed for her.