student account reviews

HSBC Student Bank Accounts

Almost every bank on the earth provides student banking facility. HSBC Student Bank Accounts are no different in this regard. The student banking facilities they provide have a number of good reasons to attract someone for opening a student account. They are there to help students to make the most of their money. This has been constant aim of their organization. It offers student a flexible banking account that will give them the support that they need to enjoy their time as a student. It also allows the student with access to their money whenever they need. They are known to provide service round the clock. But that is something that is provided by almost all banks. You may wonder why you should opt for HSBC student account.

The benefits that they are providing the students may differ from country to country but generally they provide the following facilities to the students:

● Banking: They are providing interest free overdraft of up to £2,000, with no overdraft fees and overdraft limit alerts at the banks cash machine. They are also paying 2% AER Variable Credit interest on the first £1000 that will be there in the student bank account during his first year at university.

● Traveling and Holidays: They are providing two years free world wide travel insurance along with the facility of accessing cash wherever the student may be. They also offer the facility to get local currency at over a million cash machines worldwide.

• Managing money in account: Managing money has never been much easier before. Along with 24 hours access to one’s account, the bank is also providing a free SIM card in select circle that comes with £5 preloaded credit and free calls to HSBC telephonic banking. Now you can manage your money on the move, whenever needed. Mobile banking is also possible straight from one’s mobile phone.

Confused about what to do? They also have In-Branch Student Advisor who is there to help you in case you need help and suggestions. You can ask them anything that would resolve your doubts.

What about discounts? The bank provides great discounts at their different associated outlets located at different parts of the country. If some one is planning to travel overseas, then he can receive a 25% discount off Lonely Planet travel guides with an option to choose from over 500 titles that covers every corner of the planet. This offer is only redeemable through online shopping at lonely planet. Other benefits are from CDWOW. One can get a chart CDs from £7.49. The international students can apply for their HSBC Passports. They are providing banking for students from the age of seventeen so that one may avoid the hassles of applying for a student loan.

There are also additional benefits for applying while one is seventeen. Once one is 18+ he will be entitled to have the additional features namely:-

● Unlimited access to your account.

● Access to your cash wherever you are – get local currency at over a million cash machines worldwide

● Mobile Banking straight from your mobile phone.

● Mobile top-ups at HSBC cash machines

● Talking Money student micro site.

● Online budgeting calculator

● In-branch Student Advisors.

Another option for those who already have an HSBC account or those who are going to have a new one is that they can go green.  This is to say that they can avoid unnecessary paper in their everyday banking. This also means there would be no paper statements, all statements to be delivered electronically via internet banking. There would be no more letters from the bank. All the transactions will be via a phone call or email service. There wouldn’t be check book payments for one’s current account and also no paper marketing as well.

Eligibility criteria for opening an HSBC Student Banks Accounts: -

There are two most general criteria for opening an account. First is that one has to be more than 17 and the other is that the student should not hold any student accounts elsewhere. Also one should have applied for a two years full time course in a recognized university or a part time with Disability Student Allowance. But before everything, one should always study the terms and conditions to do so from an HSBC branch.

Cooperative Bank Student Account

Cooperative bank student account brings much relief to the students. Kids, who are moving to college, can now efficiently manage their funds with the help of Cooperative bank. The unique features that it offers in its student bank account are making it the most popular bank among the growing teenagers.

When kids move from high school to college, they need to either move out of their house for a better opportunity. Even if they stay with their parents, their need to work on a part time basis increases in order to earn their living. Most of the kids prefer working, and even parents encourage this activity. In this way, the budding professionals get the taste of work life, while studying and can chalk out their life’s plan. With income, comes the question of managing funds. Hence specialized bank accounts are made available to the students by different banks. The bank sees to it, that they cater to the needs of their young customers, so that when they grow as professionals, they continue using their other facilities. Selection of the correct type of bank account for student requires a lot of considerations.

The Cooperative bank student account emphasizes the importance of earth’s natural resources and hence puts pressure on being eco – friendly. This helps your growing kid to be aware of the environment too. The best feature that makes Cooperative bank more popular is the interest free overdraft facility. This surely takes away worries of most of the young customer. At young age, expenses incurred tend to be more than the funds they have. Thus if they are able to take an overdraft without paying interest, then it is a good news not only for the students but also for the parents, who need to support their children. Moreover the overdraft limit increases every year. This helps to take the pressure off the young minds. So they just need to study and enjoy their life, and the rest will be taken care by the Cooperative bank, itself.

Apart from the unique overdraft facility, Cooperative bank allows 24/7 access to your account. You can access your student account via internet or over telephone. This connectivity can be provided because of the large network of the bank and the stupendous amount of call centers across the country. They have reported to be able to provide maximum satisfaction to their young customers. These features are present in every type of account offered by the bank, but become an essential for the students account. This is because they are new to the corporate world and learn a whole lot of things about the banking industry. If they have access to their account online, then they can be alert of the changes in the offers or any new introductions.

Other beneficial features of the Cooperative bank account include the availability of debit cards, credit cards and specialized student accounts. The modern times are the times of fast cash and quick withdrawals. The ATM facilities are facilitating lives of everyone and not just the students. This gives you the freedom from carrying cash at everywhere you go. Also if you need money urgently somewhere, you need not worry and go back to your banks to bring money. You can even withdraw cash at night time too, through ATM. The wide network of the bank’s ATM allows you to find a suitable one for you’re nearest to any location that you go. The biggest advantage of ATM is realized when you go outside town on an excursion trip from your college or simply for vacation. You can take money from the ATM across the country. The Cooperative bank also gives you cheque book, which empowers you to write cheque of your own. Also the competitive interest rates that the bank offers, rescues you at the time when you are in credit. This feature helps the student in spending low and save more.

The regular banking features are also made available to the students. These services include regular statements, secure online banking and in – branch banking. There is a subtle fact that you need to take care of, while choosing the suitable bank. It is the location of the branch that you will be visiting regularly for your daily banking activities.

Compare Student Bank Accounts

Any student entering the college life must compare student bank accounts at different banks, before opening a student account for oneself. It is generally a common belief of a student, that all the bank accounts that are available to them, are basically same. But however this is not the case. Student bank accounts vary from one bank to another and are never the same anywhere. Given below are few things that students must take into consideration before opening a bank account.

Almost every bank offers online access as well as free ATM withdrawals. So it hardly matters for a student that which branch is nearest for an able-bodied student. Hence the number of branches should not be a point for selecting a bank. What one should really check is the facilities offered to him? For a good beginning, always go for the biggest overdraft. Various banks provides many freebies along with opening an account but what really matters is a bank that offers you the biggest and longest 0% overdraft facility. Hence freebies should not be made a point in choosing to open a bank account. What really matters is the overdraft. Again all student accounts offer overdrafts thus enabling you to withdraw more money than you have deposited there. Generally a year’s average student is likely to graduate with them owing more than £20,000. So it is very important to find the cheapest way to borrow.

The best solution for this is to go for the lowest interest rate available. It is so because the lower the rate is, the less is the debt that is going to cost you. The best thing that is offered by a student account is that you can borrow an amount interest free provided that the amount is within a limit. This is much better than any short term freebies offered to you by various banks. Overdrafts are very good only if you follow the following points. Never ever exceed the agreed limit without proper prior permission. If you do so, then the cost will skyrocket along with huge amount of interests and penalties. In these cases always talk to the bank first to be on the safe side. If you get it wrong, then you will face huge credit rating problems that would not leave you for years to come. There is also Bank charges reclaiming method that you need to watch out for. Hence it is better to remain on a safer side.

Do not ever borrow more than what you need. It is fine that you do not have to pay interests but still you have a debt on hand. So never borrow unnecessarily, unless and until it is required urgently. You should always keep in mind that once you graduate you are entitled to pay these debts; hence borrow wisely. So always prepare a budget before hand and never spend more than what is absolutely necessary. Though borrowing is fine without interests but please do read Student Finance and interest rates guide before borrowing any amount. Keep in mind that you will be credit scored. So whenever you take a loan, apply accordingly. For any debt product including a bank account with an overdraft from any lender he will give you a credit score. This will decide how desirable a customer you are. It is also based on behavioral predictions from all your prior financial data. Still for a student it’s likely that there will be very limited data on you, which will make credit scoring difficult. This can leave students rejected on grounds of ridiculous anomalies which may have no reason or any solution to it. But what will you do if the values of overdraft are more or less same with all the banks?

In this case the freebies, gimmicks and even cash bribes score over the huge interest free overdrafts. But one should always keep in mind the reason for a bank to give freebies. Banks know most of the customers never switch, so they hope a £50 freebie buys your business for life. And that is quite true. However savvy students can take this advantage if they choose the right student bank account and maximize their gain from it. So, don’t   allow their short term bribe and free overdraft buying you for life. Though these 0% overdrafts are quite useful and help a student with cash flow issues. One should ever think that that this is his money, because after a year or so after graduating, this 0% overdraft switches to expensive high street rates. So before this happens one should immediately switch to Graduate Accounts that the big banks provide. With that they also provide 0% overdrafts of decreasing sizes for few years just after graduation. So these are some of the facts that one should see to compare student bank accounts.