Student bank account

[Linneasweet]

Hi all, my DD is starting uni next month and I read that she should amend her normal (nationwide) current account to a student one, could someone explain why? I heard that she would get a overdraft with a student one but tbh, neither of us are in favour of overdrafts!

One of the main benefits of a student account is generally toted to be the overdraft facility, however often banks will try and sell themselves to students with various offers.
I ended up with a free 3-year 16-25 railcard when I signed up (can't remember which bank it was now!)
Worth a look to see if there are any offers she would benefit from :)

Santander is the one with the free railcard. Don't automatically go with your own bank for the student account. Look around and see if any offer a benefit that you want. All offer the overdraft but my son's don't use that so the railcard was the thing that would save them money. You can only have one student account as well so if they say they are going to convert it and you don't want them to - tell them. I think for tsb we had to fill in a form to decline the conversion.

Most student bank account offer decent enticements - £100 from HSBC for example. She should shop around and start being savvy rather than sticking with what she's already got.

Look at Martin Lewis website for best deals

DS never bothered with it, although DD got £100 from HSBC a few years back.

Dc kept their regular Nationwide accounts.

You can update a Nationwde Account and get a £100 payment and access to an interest free overdraft. It's a good deal.

Yep, DD has opened that one for the free 100.
OP, it’s good to have an overdraft available and this one is interest free. It’s by far the easiest, safest and cheapest way of borrowing if that becomes necessary. Obviously I hope DD doesn’t need it but it’s there to use with zero interest to pay. You never know when a cash flow problem might pop up - student loan arriving late or an unexpected expense. If you don’t have an arranged overdraft facility you have to quickly find a way of borrowing.

I didn't mention the option to DS although I'm sure it's been discussed in the last year at uni. He did say quite early on in the year that he had applied for an AMEX which was declined at which point I told him he needs to be careful to not cause a negative effect on his credit rating by applying for things willy nilly. I would much rather he came to me if he needed money temporarily than using an overdraft and I think (hope) he knows that's an option.