student bank accounts - any recommendations or not?

[Ponders]

DS1 is with Natwest, but now they've stopped doing the 3-year railcard for new applicants they are just A N Other

DS2 is with Santander atm, & their student account includes what sounds like very useful insurance for electronic stuff etc, but a) I haven't looked at the T&Cs yet & b) Santander are renowned to have terrible customer service. Also they have punitive charges if you exceed your authorised overdraft.

I keep looking at moneysavingexpert & Which but can't get my head round all the different features

Somebody tell me what to do, please!

whatever Martin at Moneysaver says is my opinion, which means Coop for biggest guaranteed overdraft unless your current bank agrees to match their free overdraft offer

oh thanks, oldenough

see I couldn't even filter that information out from what he said

our nearest branch is 15 miles away though. is that likely to be a problem do you think? (after we've visited & set it up I mean)

The times clearing special published a table with all the main providers and called it best banking deals. I can't find it on their website now but its on pg 5 if you can get your hands on an old copy somewhere. I think we figured Santander but it depends on what sort of overdraft you want ie interest free or unauthorised overdraft with low %.

The entry for the co op reads like this

Credit interest - nil
Interest free overdraft Year 1 £1400 Year 2 £1700 year 3 £2000
Authorised overdraft Nil up to buffer amount then 9.9% EAR
Unauthorised overdraft rate 15.9%
Unauthorised overdraft fee £30
Incentives eg travel insurance, railcard etc - Nil

oh crikey I hadn't even considered this !
DS is with Barclays ,should we change ?
I stupidly thought all pretty much of a muchness .

thanks, eatyourveg - I expect it's on their website too, but behind the paywall of course...

they are alike in many ways, gingeroots - I think Barclays has one of the higher o/d limits too, so if you've been happy with Barclays you might as well stick (just switch the account he has now to a student account).

DS2 got a letter from UCAS this morning enclosing a flyer for Santander's student account - I don't think UCAS should be seen to be favouring any bank & I wonder why they've done this?

The unauthorised overdraft charges could be significant, esp for a student who hasn't got the hang of keeping track of all outgoings (esp any direct debits), which is likely to be DS2

Anyway he's off to Leeds in the morning so this can be shelved now until next week!

Thanks ponders - off to google "student account " .
They have different accounts for different people ?
Who knew ?
Wonder if they have a " doesn't have a clue /aged crone account.... "

I feel like Donal Rumsfeld - I know I don't know some things ..but it's the things I don't realise I don't know that worry me !

Friend of DS has an account with Santander, he was overdrawn for 5 days and has been charged >£100 interest, I don't know all the details but it has put me off Santander.

ah yes, those unknown unknowns - the worst kind!

exactly, jgb, they are rubbish at customer service in general & I can't imagine they'll be any nicer to financially illiterate students

Just asked DD who is 2nd yr student, she is with NatWest for the railcard but says they are fairly shit otherwise. She finds their internet banking impossible and finds her Halifax account easier to use.

i suspect you need to keep an eye on where they can withdraw cash for free now that some banks are starting to charge people from other banks to use their atm: i wouldn't think they will be going to a branch very much unless they plan to be paying in cash. Cheques can be paid in by post and most stuff is done by bacs transfer.

Santander entry in the Times clearing special best banking deals for students goes like this

Credit interest - 1% up to £500
Interest free overdraft Year 1 £1000 Year 2 £1250 year 3 £1500
Authorised overdraft Nil
Unauthorised overdraft rate Nil
Unauthorised overdraft fee £5 per day up to max of £50 a month
Incentives eg travel insurance, railcard etc - £240 worth of insurance cover each year for mobile phone laptop and gadgets

DD1 is with NatWest (for the railcard of course) but they are fairly terrible if you need to go into the branch for anything. She is on her year abroad in America at the moment and their suggestion for getting at her loan money was "come into the branch whenever you need to organise a transfer" err she'll be in America, how on earth can she do that?! We finally agreed that the best thing to do was to transfer it to us and we could transfer it on using online banking. Now they've written saying she's breached the terms of her student account and should have come into the branch to sort out the best way to access her money!

DD2 has gone with Barclays as they have a branch on campus. They are all as bad as each other I think though.