Student finance questions

Was advised to move some of my questions from the student finance forum to here instead.

My situation and costs
I'm going to study Business Information Technology at BU. Three terms at £9000, one placement at £790. So approx £27,790 for four years. That's tuition fees.Maintenance loans are initially available to all at around £3,500 approx though I can apply for the higher maintenance loan. This higher loan is around £8,000 and I have applied for it. An eight grand loan each year comes to around 50k approx total.


My questions

1. What happens if I don't even use all my maintenance loan all of the time? Obviously I'm repaying it all the time as soon as I leave uni and I'm also gathering interest, but surely I can just use that money for whatever else I need? Like driving lessons. What if I don't manage to spend it all during uni? Is there a disadvantage to not spending it all or the inverse?

2. What sort of bank account should I put a student maintenance loan into? Is this important?

3. Currently have some average current accounts with Santander and lloyds respectively. Can anyone vouch for the best student banks out there? What sort of benefits do you get with them?

As soon as the maintenance loan is paid, it becomes your money. So you can spend it however you like. Some people find it isn't enough to cover their living costs so you might not have as much left over as you think.

You can put it into any account you like. Most students will get a student account as these come with an interest free overdraft - which is a helpful topup to the maintenance loan.

Student account benefits change each year. The banks haven't announced what they will be offering yet.

Okay thank you. Generally, when do banks announce this?