Student Bank Accounts

[Sharkaroo]

DD is starting uni in a few weeks. We are originally from the US currently living in Switzerland and are wondering what the best bank account would be for her. We know nothing about UK banking and while she does have some cash to get her started she will need a way to get money from us on a regular basis rather quickly. She will only need money for groceries, laundry and a bit of fun as she is in university housing this year and "rent" has been paid up front. Any advice would be most appreciated.

I’d recommend HSBC international accounts. So your DD sets up an HSBC account in Switzerland (home) and one in the U.K. You’d deposit money in her Swiss HSBC account and she can go online and transfer it to her U.K. HSBC account instantly and for free.
internationalservices.hsbc.com/study-abroad/

Why doesn’t she open a uk student account? I assume she’s able to do this. If not, pre load a payment card? Or use a card for a savings account. You really should just give her money on a monthly basis. Why would she need it quickly? We just paid over X£ every month even when DD studied at the University of Geneva! Just check if she meets the requirements for a student account but if not pre load a card or use a card from another account you can transfer money into.

Sorry I wasn't clear, she would need to open the account rather quickly and then we would put a set amount in once a month/quarter etc. I was hoping to get specific bank recommendations as banking in Switzerland is very different from the US.

DD had HSBC. Maybe they are the answer? We have cards attached to savings accounts. These work in other countries.

Oops just noticed HSBC don’t have branches in Switzerland. Very odd. There must be some other bank that has similar international banking process though.

This guide might help? www.savethestudent.org/international-students/top-international-bank-accounts-uk.html

Internet banking? Would that work with accounts?!

Starling or Monzo

Ohh thank you, this is a great start.

DS went with Lloyds on the basis there was a branch near campus - though in the end everything was easily organised on line. He'd previously spent several months fruitlessly trying to get a UK student account, but without three year residency in the UK this was impossible (the fact that DH and I and also his sister have British bank accounts with various banks made no difference). Lloyds speed and efficiency was a blessed relief - it's not a bank any of us had ever banked with before, but they have been brilliant.

Hello from Switzerland.

Here is our plan:

DS has a Postfinance account already and a prepay Matercard with that.
I have a Postfinance account and (being British) a British bank account that I have had since I was 18 myself.

DS will get a student account when he gets to UK in two weeks time. He has researched that himself based on the very useful moneysavingexpert website. I think he is currently going with a Santander student account on basis of the student railcard that comes with it (to visit his friends from Switzerland who will distributed throughout the UK). He is fortunate and not expecting to need the overdraft facilities so that was not a consideration in his choice.

It seems that you can set up the account even now, with a confirmation that you have a place at a university. There is a question about "are you currently residing in the UK" but I think once he has a confirmed address, it must be ok to say yes to that. So it might be possible to set it up now.

With the Postfinance accounts here it costs 2CHF a time to transfer money to the UK which, when I last looked was one of the cheaper options from Swiss accounts. I will probably transfer money monthly from me to his UK account but he could also transfer some of his savings from his own Postfinance account in the same way. He can load his prepay Mastercard from his Postfinance account so has that for emergencies (although paying from things from his CHF Mastercard is not to be recommended generally as it will work out more expensive than transferring a sum regularly between bank accounts).

I have been thinking about this (and all the other logistics A LOT). DS is also reseraching phone packages as well.

This is our general plan. Might not work that way for you because I know Swiss banks can be not very friendly towards US citizens.

But basically - Santander student account, with rail discount card.

Interesting to hear how he gets on @schoggiweggli. That was DS's plan last year on the basis that his sister had done exactly that pre-Brexit. He was also keen on the railcard offer. In the end it proved impossible because despite having a UK address once he moved into halls, Santander required proof of a British address for the three preceding years. Just for the record he is British, has lived in Britain, has an NI number, student loan, is classified as a home student and we have had bank accounts in the UK since our student days.

@LillianGish that’s good feedback. Thanks. I did wonder about that. Oh well, he will have to find something else then. I’ll let him try and see what happens Despite me saying I’ve been thinking about this a lot, I’ve been trying not to interfere too much in ds‘s planning, but just making sure I have all the backups sorted.

@Sharkaroo I think you should ignore my comments. They can’t be trusted.

Short term, look at a Monzo account. It worked for DS when he moved to the US and needed to purchase stuff before he could sort him US bank account. DD has one in addition to her UK student account which she needed when booking internal flights during a recent trip to the US.

Just to be clear, DS now has a Lloyds account for international students (as per @FAQs recommendations). No overdraft, no free gift (so no railcard unfortunately), but it has everything else he needs and easy for us to pay into from a euro account. Your DS may have more luck @schoggiweggli and may perhaps chance upon someone prepared to bend the rules - personally it seems a bit short-sighted to me for Santander to turn away new customers, but they obviously have their reasons. In fact sorting out bank account and phone contract was what caused DS the biggest stress when he started last year - most freshers already have these up and running before they arrive so it felt like an extra hassle for him (fortunately he immediately made a v good friend in his flat who let him use her phone number when he needed to give a UK number for admin - it was all a bit chicken and egg - can't get a UK phone contract without giving a UK number!). All good experience though and he sorted it all out himself.