Student bank account advice please

[badhairmonth]

I have 17 yr old who may or may not be starting uni next year. In any case I think they need a bank account.

Can anyone recommend the best account for them? What should I be looking for ???

I hope someone out there knows more about it than I do !!!

I did a bit of research when my son was starting last term & it seemed overall as if Natwest was the most straightforward - plus they get a student rail-card thrown in, a long term one I think.

Other accounts claim to offer larger maximum overdrafts but it can be hard to actually get them.

moneysavingexpert is v helpful - have a look at all the related forums too

Also, I read in the NW bumf that you can open the account even if you'll be taking a gap year - I think you have to wait until after you have your A2 results & a confirmed place though.

DD has the NatWest Student account (purely for the railcard) - but as Ponders says, you have to have the UCAS acceptance before you can open these accounts.

DD also has an HSBC account (wages), Nationwide savings) and A&L (gives card for booking Ryan Air with no fee)

This keeps her options open for mortgages etc one day.....

Ryanair have started charging on electron cards, Milliways

I know - she is well upset. Only opened the account for that!

"To avoid payment fees with Ryanair, the prepaid card must be issued by Mastercard. The best is the FairFx* Anywhere card, where the only charge is 1.5% of the transaction amount each time you spend on it. If you use a debit card to top it up online or by the phone there's no charge.
There's no credit check carried out when you apply for most prepaid cards, though you have to wait 4-10 days for one to come through the post. Make sure you get the exact version specified."

The other budget airlines are not charging on electron cards yet

they're all much of a muchness. dare i suggest you should leave it to your son to choose which he wants? not being awful, i know you're wanting to be helpful but it's one of many things he's going to be choosing.

the only things really to consider are which account has the best freebie for him. so yes rail card from natwest is great, unless he'd be driving perhaps. others give cash or ipod or whatever. often the freebie isn't revealed until nearer freshers week, when all the banks will have a stand at freshers fair, touting for business. also, your son should consider which bank has a branch convenient for him (if that's important to him) as if he goes to a campus based uni there may only be one or two banks there, for others he'd need to go into town or whatever.

hth

They're all online accounts now, aren't they?

All their loans etc are paid in directly, & most parents can also do online transfers, they can withdraw cash from any ATM - he'd only need an actual branch if he wanted to pay cash in (the likelihood of which must be zero for 99.9% of students )

He'll be best to have his account sorted out before he goes anyway, so that he has details to give the Student Loan Company to pay his loan in (assuming they get their act together better next year )

yes all online. but some like to be able to go into to increase overdraft/pay in chqs etc. i used to manage a uni branch of natwest

I sent my nephew a cheque for his birthday in October & he still hasn't paid it in - not sure if that proves your point or not

good advice - thanks

yes!