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Banks in Oxford

Hi,

Tryign to sort out my student accounts and was wondering which bacnk to open a student account with and which one has the most cash machines etc for convenience in a central location or close to LMH...also, the college case machines...are they universal, or do they work for certain debit cards, and if so, which ones?

thanks for your advice..

also, i have an Abbey...just want to open another one to slpit my rent and college fees from my expendable income.

cheers

PK

Reply 1

Cirsium

19

Most banks will allow you to take out money from another bank so convenience is pretty irrelevant tbh

In terms of benefits... HSBC will give you ten free CDs or a mp3 player
Natwest will give you a student rail card for 5 years - I know how much I use my railcard now and it's £20 a year to keep it so I went for Natwest

Reply 2

oriel historian

2

Natwest are pretty good to be honest, free Railcard certainly cheapens travel a lot as for numbers of machines, forget how many but there's two branches: High & George Steet so at least 6. To be honest I think each bank has the equivalent numbers of machines and since you can use any of them now then it's almost irrelevant. Just look at the offers you get with them.

Reply 3

Font

OP

offers? i'll be travelling from London to Oxford...not exactly mileage...and will probably use the coach service....would i save much on the £16 (return) on train fares that i might use to get from london to Oxford, and back? I don't really know. What i was looking at was something that allows me to pay for books, food and pay the bill at restaurants...are all debit cards accepted freely at all these places...i'm, just a bit unsure as to whether any are not acceepted and which one, bar abbey, is accepted readily.

cheers

PK

btw..i'll not be needing an overdraft, so is it recommended that i get a normal account with higher interest rates?

Reply 4

Cirsium

19

You save a third on all travel apart from during rush hour

Reply 5

Font

OP

Bekaboo

You save a third on all travel apart from during rush hour

is that inc. of travel within london?I.e. i get a third off a typical adult fare?

Reply 6

fleur-de-lis

1

Phil23

Hi,

Tryign to sort out my student accounts and was wondering which bacnk to open a student account with and which one has the most cash machines etc for convenience in a central location or close to LMH...also, the college case machines...are they universal, or do they work for certain debit cards, and if so, which ones?

PK

I think that the nearest bank to LMH is on St Giles' (I think it is Barclay's).
The nearest cash machines which I have noticed are on George St & Cornmarket.
The nearest bank after the St Giles' one would be Natwest.

Reply 7

F. Poste

You might mean Bank of Scotland, Fleur.. I don't recall a Barclays but then again I'm not famed for my powers of observation :redface:

Reply 8

fleur-de-lis

1

I am not famed for that either (at least not on non-living objects) :p:

I think that F.Poste is right, though. There are some ATMs in Walton St too.

Reply 9

F. Poste

And on Little Clarendon.. they were my local ATMs in the days when I could almost smell the cocktails and ice cream from my room :biggrin:

Reply 10

Amrad

1

With student accounts the best thing to do is ignore the freebies and candy they offer you but to look at the biggest interest free overdraft. It's what will be most important to you, and if its not always in use max it out and stick it in a high-interest account.

Biggest overdraft is from Halifax, followed by Natwest and Bank of Scotland whose free gifts (railcard, £55 respectively) may be enough of an incentive to beat the whopping overdraft at HBOS.

Reply 11

fleur-de-lis

1

Ouch! I was supposed to meet someone at the Duke of Cambridge this evening at 1800!
I haven't noticed the ATMs there... it's quite an odd street with those expensive shops but yet quite unsafe at night.

Reply 12

Font

OP

i am thinking of opening either a nationwide or natwest....are there cash machines dotted around the place in oxford, and which one is more numerous. Also, which cash machines are there at the local supermarkets, if there are any^o)....finally, what is HSBC like.

Here is my situation...i'll bet like 5k in the first year...so cant open an ISA, and dont want a student one because i will not use an overdraft (only what i have). a friedn said that nationwide have good interst of 5% (on a flexible). freebies are not going to influence me...which one is the most accessible account in terms of withdrawing money and paying for stuff online with a debit card? That is what i am looking for....a bank where my money is accessible and can use debit card in restaurants, etc...there are many shops that have restrictions...Abbey is fine...and am looking for something like it...any advice woudl greatly be appreciated.

cheers

PK

Reply 13

fleur-de-lis

1

Are there cash machines in the supermarkets? I haven't seen any except at the till where you can get cash back. *thinks very hard* Nope, I haven't seen any ATMs near Westgate Centre except in front of Halifax (which is outside Westgate Centre in Queens St). No others on Queens Street either. Don't remember about Tesco.

Reply 14

Font

OP

fleur-de-lis

Are there cash machines in the supermarkets? I haven't seen any except at the till where you can get cash back. *thinks very hard* Nope, I haven't seen any ATMs near Westgate Centre except in front of Halifax (which is outside Westgate Centre in Queens St). No others on Queens Street either. Don't remember about Tesco.

tehre are loads of them in London...I use the one at my local Morrisons every week :smile:

they have HSBC, Abbey and Nationwide.

Reply 15

fleur-de-lis

1

As you can see, my powers of observation when it comes to ATMs, are quite limited. I don't whether the other Oxonians are- probably doing the same thing which they do during term time- waking up late :p:

Reply 16

bikerx23

1

Those sound like large supermarkets, and you only get the smaller ones within walking distance in ox...
Debit cards are the best way to go - they are accepted almost universally (there is not service charge unlike credit cards), and also you have the joy of cashback - meaning you dont have to go to the cash points either (you basically buy something then ask for cashback and they give you cash and add it on your bill - not everywhere does it, but still useful...)
There are plenty of ATM's scattered around central oxford, but up near LMH they're a bit more scarce...from memory there is one, i think, on little clarendon street, or in that general area, so tis not too bad.
Also...you might aswell get a student account, since the overdraft is still there even if you dont use it.
to get a good rate of interest on a current account you need to pay in a significant salary, which you wont be doing as a student!

Reply 17

Amrad

1

Phil23

i am thinking of opening either a nationwide or natwest....are there cash machines dotted around the place in oxford, and which one is more numerous. Also, which cash machines are there at the local supermarkets, if there are any^o)....finally, what is HSBC like.

Here is my situation...i'll bet like 5k in the first year...so cant open an ISA, and dont want a student one because i will not use an overdraft (only what i have). a friedn said that nationwide have good interst of 5% (on a flexible). freebies are not going to influence me...which one is the most accessible account in terms of withdrawing money and paying for stuff online with a debit card? That is what i am looking for....a bank where my money is accessible and can use debit card in restaurants, etc...there are many shops that have restrictions...Abbey is fine...and am looking for something like it...any advice woudl greatly be appreciated.

cheers

PK

You are never going to find a current account which will pay you 5%. What you want is a student account and a high interest e-savings account. You definitely want a student account because they are better than all current accounts and will give you a massive overdraft. Like I said before, even if you don't need the overdraft, you max it out and put it in your savings account, which will pay you over 5% interest. With an e-savings account you can transfer money online to your student account quickly.

Reply 18

dklon985

Amrad

You are never going to find a current account which will pay you 5%. What you want is a student account and a high interest e-savings account. You definitely want a student account because they are better than all current accounts and will give you a massive overdraft. Like I said before, even if you don't need the overdraft, you max it out and put it in your savings account, which will pay you over 5% interest. With an e-savings account you can transfer money online to your student account quickly.

Exactly what I did with my HSBC/Nationwide combination. I wouldn't recommended completely maxing out your overdraft though. If you don't deposit any money in they don't like it and start sending you letters and calling you. That's my experience. :rolleyes:

Reply 19

Font

OP

dklon985

Exactly what I did with my HSBC/Nationwide combination. I wouldn't recommended completely maxing out your overdraft though. If you don't deposit any money in they don't like it and start sending you letters and calling you. That's my experience. :rolleyes:

i opened a current account at nationwide with e-saving, which has interest rate of 5% :biggrin:

so i'm going to put my extra (spending money) in there, and put uni fees/food money in my abbey one :smile:

Banks in Oxford

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