The Student Room Group

Natwest Vs HSBC

Poll

natwest or hsbc

Ok - which one do I choose? They both look around about the same :s

Ok,

Natwest

Pros:

There is a bank on campus
Interest free is £1250 (as opposed to £1000 HSBC)
5 year railcard (I already have an ipod)

Cons:

Apparently they leave you in the lurch after you're a student

HSBC

Pros:

I already have a bank account with them
My parents are them so can instantly put money in my account (if desperate)
Mp4 player could be useful

Cons:

Less interest
non on campus

anything to add - which one did you choose/would you?

EDIT: btw The one that is wrong on the pool - HSBC, should say wouldn't - its quite ov. where I went wrong, sorry!
Well I'm with HSBC at the moment, (ashamedly I've just dipped into my overdraft...silly me), however my mate has an HSBC student account AND a Natwest student account, so best of both worlds, which is what I intend to do as I could then put income from a job into the Natwest one; therefore having more control over what finances are coming and going. Hope that helps a bit! :smile: x
If you're studying away from home then I think it's Natwest no competition. I'm with Natwest but can't comment on how good the student account is... been with them on a regular current account for 2 years and they're pretty decent. Plus keep in mind the mp4 player is probably some cheap unbranded toy from what I've heard... though don't quote me on it.
retrocherryk
however my mate has an HSBC student account AND a Natwest student account


Sorry for the double post, but when you sign up for a NW student account you have to agree that it's your only student account, so I don't know how your mates got that setup!
Intelligentsia
Sorry for the double post, but when you sign up for a NW student account you have to agree that it's your only student account, so I don't know how your mates got that setup!


Hmmm that's odd then, unless he only set up a current account, i'll have to check. thanks for pointing that out though :smile:
retrocherryk
thanks for pointing that out though :smile:


Pleasure's all mine. lol sorry I just felt like saying that. :smile:
haha I'm glad you did otherwise I'd have felt a bit stupid when I got there to Natwest to open an account up. :p: do you happen to know the time period you have in which to pay an overdraft back? cheers
Reply 7
I went with HSBC because i have had an account with them. I also found that I have never had any trouble with them.

I did want a big overdraft, but decided that I don''t really need it. I also have a flexible saver account, which i can easily put my loan money into, to gain reasonable interest, while easily transferring funds into my main account as I need to go along.

I did think that the overdraft would be worth it, but I thought why bother because it just means you have got more money to pay.
I chose HSBC because i was with them already. I am not so sure that was the right deicison now after they repeatedly messed up my student account set up. Thankfully it is all done now, but i could have done without the hassle really. Other than that i am happy with what they offer i guess.
Reply 9
I've chosen Natwest for a number of reasons:

- the young persons rail card, its going to save me a fortune (1/3 on every trip)
- the nice sized overdraft
- the fact that i've been with them for the past 4 yrs, both current and savings account, and (touch wood) have not had any problems
- there's a mini Natwest bank on my campus
- their graduate account that they offer after uni is really good, especially as i plan on travelling for a yr, i can borrow up to £15 000, and not pay any interest/payments the year i am away

hope this helps
I have just set up an account with HSBC and am SO unbelievably unimpressed. First of all, i sign up online and they don't send me any paper work, secondly i sign up in a branch to speed things up- he tells me its all sorted, then i recieve a whole load of forms to sign that i have already signed with SOMEONE ELSE'S credit refusal at the back (breaking every data protection law ever!) and then i finally go into the branch again today and the man tells me my account was never actually set up in the first place.

The moral? DONT GO TO HSBC.
HSBC charge you MUCH less if you go over your overdraft - 15.9%. Natwest charge 25-28% or thereabouts. Something worth bearing in mind...

HSBC have been great for me so far, and I've been with them for 9 years.
rosieposy87
I have just set up an account with HSBC and am SO unbelievably unimpressed. First of all, i sign up online and they don't send me any paper work, secondly i sign up in a branch to speed things up- he tells me its all sorted, then i recieve a whole load of forms to sign that i have already signed with SOMEONE ELSE'S credit refusal at the back (breaking every data protection law ever!) and then i finally go into the branch again today and the man tells me my account was never actually set up in the first place.

The moral? DONT GO TO HSBC.


Yup, i had a similar experience. Filled in the forms online first but apparently that meant nothing, then tried to sort it at my local branch which still didn't work. I eventually had to go to a bigger branch out of town, and still had a few problems there. It took a while.
Reply 13
I was with HSBC but have switched to Natwest for a number of reasons,

The railcard was of more use to me than a low spec mp4 players or 10cds.

There is a natwest on my campus (lancaster) and not a hsbc.

Third.. I just wanted a change :biggrin:

+ HSBC have messed me about a bit recently, they closed the high street branch and set up a temporary one, where u could only do 50% of the things you would need to do, and the opening hours were rubbish. Just annoyed me a bit.
And the winner by way of knock out is.....
Reply 15
:eek::biggrin::wink:NATWESTTT !!!! xDDDD:colondollar::colondollar:

congrats!!!
HSBC is awful. It's the worst bank you could possibly use as a student or otherwise.
Reply 17
I'm with both, natwest are *****, their callcentres are so useless and they're all stuck up their own arse in the branch. Plus they try to use fancy wordplay on the phone to sell you stuff.

HSBC is so so much better, the service is always outstanding, the online banking is way better as well.

I went with natwest for a rail card but I only have student loan paid into it and use the overdraft. My current account with HSBC is miles better.