Which is the best Student Account to open? And what's the point in them?

Santander have an awful reputation for customer service and not screwing things up, if you don't know a lot about banking then Santander would be the last bank I would choose. They are only really worth while putting up with if you know what you are doing.

yeah, but i'll never use the rail card.. unless i can sell it on?

thanks for ur help. ill find out whether im covered on my parents policy, first.
come to think of it - i think i may be

so whats the best account for making interest? ISAs? (fixed rate)

Railcards have your name on them so you won't be able to sell it on (apart from to someone who looks like you and is willing to use your name, that is!). Railcards are actually very useful - they get you quite a significant discount.

what should i be weary of

-ve about savings account:

Northern Rock: You must maintain a balance of at least £1,000, otherwise you'll get just 0.1% interest.
Nationwide: Withdrawal restrictions: One free. After that you lose bonus and get 0.1% that month
Not sure about Alternative Santander:
and the others, I'd make far more on an ISA (i think )

sucks you cant sell it on thanks for the info on it

Martin Lewis reckons that the best way to handle student loan money is to put it in a high interest savings account and drip feed it into a current student account on a monthly basis. That way, your loan money is accumulating interest in a savings account so you can actually end up making a bit of money (which is always a bonus when you're a student).

Of course, an even better way to make money is to put it in shares.... However, that's also a great way to lose money if the markets crash so it's probably a bad idea if you can't risk losing your grant/loan money.

The benefits of a student current account tend to be things like 0% interest overdraft (although as soon as you're no longer a student, watch the interest rocket!); free gifts (I think Lloyds are giving out free radios or something at the moment); membership to the Youth Hostel Association; Student Mastercards etc.

Are they just used to hold the money you get from your loan? Can you not use an ISA account?

CAn someone please explain and which is the best?

thank you

Natwest for me. The reason is that they offer 1/3 off the Rail Card and their interest free overdraft is good enough for me. Also they have a branch in my uni, which can be helpful if problems occur.

Rubbish!
Natwest give you a further 3 years interest free to p[ay it off on your overdraft once you graduate

Good for Natwest. A lot of other banks don't.

Natwest for me. The reason is that they offer 1/3 off the Rail Card and their interest free overdraft is good enough for me. Also they have a branch in my uni, which can be helpful if problems occur.

and I know of none that charge interest immediately on graduation. Seeing as you claim they do perhaps you could enlighten us as to one that does.

They offer a free Rail Card, which gets you 1/3 off ticket prices, just to clear that up. :P

I know that the rail card will give you 1/3 off, but what I was told by NatWest was that you get 1/3 off the railcard itself, so instead of £26 you pay ~£16.

anyone know what this means:

All payments you make into your ISA count towards your ISA allowance. If you use up your allowance and then take money out of your ISA, you cannot pay that money back in until the start of a new tax year.

Its satanders flexible ISA, i thought that allowed me to take money out/put it in?

You can £5340 into an ISA between 6th April 2011 and 5th April 2012. If you put £5340 into the account then take £1000 out, you can't put £1000 back in again as you have already reached the limit of what can be paid in, even though you now only have £4340 in the account.

Same if you put £3000 then take £1000 out, you can only put an additional £2340 into the account in that year.

That applies to all ISAs not just Santanders