The Student Room Group

HSBC Student Bank Account

Has anyone here got it?
Would you recommend the HSBS student account as I am looking for a student account at the moment (I was with Barclays but I'm leaving them as I got annoyed with them too much)

What are the pro's and cons of the account?

Or if you have any other rival account could you please give any info on it.

I want an account with at least a good freebie for joining, good interest rates (with barclays i was getting a crap 1%) and generally good customer service.


p.s. I know HSBC do not give free railcards anymore but do you know what they give instead.
Reply 1
I have a barcays student account, its good.
Reply 2
i've got abbey national which seems ok. 2.6% interest when in credit but no free gifts for joining
I had a natwest student account for a yr (they were crap - I only signed up because they had the only cash machine on campus but they seemed to think that having a lot of cash machines makes it ok to have crappy customer service)

Then had an HSBC account for 3 yrs and an HSBC graduate account for getting on for 4 yrs now - got an HSBC graduate mortgage too.

I had absolutely no problems with them - they've always been happy to help me arrange my money to suit me (unlike barclays - I had a friend who was with them and they wouldn't even consider giving him an extension on his overdraft to help cover the downpayment on the rent until his student loan came through :rolleyes: ).
Reply 4
I have an HSBC gap year account if that's of any use. They were very good with setting up my account, Smile were a right pain to set up and i didn't it up after wasting a month with them. HSBC provide a good fast service although i don't really go in store often - so i can't really comment too much about their service in store.
Reply 5
I have an HSBC student account. There isn't much difference between each company % wise but HSBC has by far the nicest customer service people and will talk to you personally rather than saying "oh the book says I can/can't do that". I got a 5 year young persons rail card which has come in very handy. You could have had £50 instead but I have saved £50 already (wise old me :wink:j/k)

Lloyds are the WORST!
Reply 6
I have one... but i on;y have £1 in there so i don't know much about it! My moneys with Halifax
Reply 7
Abbey National are a very very very bad company. When my boyfriend's mum died it took over 4 months for them to release information to the solicitor's and this information was necessary for probate. ars*h*les!
Reply 8
Would everyone say HSBC is the place to have a student account then?
Reply 9
i have natwest - the branch people are really nice, and they're good at dealing with students. I think it depends partly on teh staff at a particular branch though, because the natwest at home is awful. There was a £55 cash reward for opening an account, and the overdraft they offer is good (£1250 interest free, rising by about £100 for every year of your degree). I have no idea about interest rates, but then I am never in enough credit to worry about that anyway.
Reply 10
Take a look at the Royal Bank of Scotland R-21 account. That's what I have. You might like it.
grey faerie
i have natwest - the branch people are really nice, and they're good at dealing with students. I think it depends partly on teh staff at a particular branch though, because the natwest at home is awful. There was a £55 cash reward for opening an account, and the overdraft they offer is good (£1250 interest free, rising by about £100 for every year of your degree). I have no idea about interest rates, but then I am never in enough credit to worry about that anyway.

Yup Natwest have improved a lot over the last few years - when I was with them I had to argue to get a £100 overdraft - and they charged me interest on it :mad: . They started with the automatic interest free overdraft a couple of yrs later when they started losing customers to HSBC. They offer an extra £5 in free money when you sign up the account than HSBC but because of this they tend to have more students with accounts - and so the university branches are usually the busiest out of all the banks...especially at lunch time.
Reply 12
HSBC are always helpful and great to me. I have a Lloyds bank account too and they never help they are normally useless for instance when I went to Canada they gave me the wrong travellers cheques and I couldnt change them until I went to a big bank in Edmonton which meant I had to borrow money from friends for a week.
hsbc is good. aside from the fact my mum works for them, they have a pretty unbeatable network of branches plus the internet and telephone backing are always reliable.
Reply 14
ZJuwelH
Would everyone say HSBC is the place to have a student account then?


Barclays.

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