I am soooooo confused about UK student bank options...I just had a meeting with a local bank to get information, and walked away thinking that as far as that one went, I am by far better off keeping my money in my US account, and continuing to make do with it. I realize OF COURSE that bank is highly regulated, now more than ever, and have no quarrel with that. I am just trying to understand what the different options are, and whether any of the ones I am eligible for are suitable.

The concepts of getting a statement only through an ATM, of no interest whatsoever paid on your balances, of having a cash only debit card that cannot be used in shops...just very different than the standard offerings at a US bank. Does any one have any recommendations on banks that offer student type accounts?

Any suggestions appreciated.

Hey olivia
Most banks offer student accounts, but not all are open to international students or even postgrads. I've heard LOTS of bad stories about NatWest, Barclays, and HSBC; but lots and lots of positives about the Co-op bank and Yorkshire (!?!) Bank

Here's a link, hope it helps!
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/Student-bank-account

This should help too...

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/1121700170,82362

Olivia, you will have to say which bank this is because I didn't know there were student accounts where they didn't send you statements and didn't give you a debit card.....

Interest rates for current accounts are crap either way.

Try the HSBC although their customer service is appalling, they offer good bank accounts. The Natwest do a similar services with much better customer services but is not an international bank like HSBC.

Okay- spooky 4 posts within 3 minutes!!!

http://www.wealth.barclays.com/BRC1/jsp/brccontrol?site=int&task=channelFWgroup&value=98&target=_self

Thanks, appreciate the posts! I will call round tomorrow to a few banks and get some more information. The student accounts, which may be all that I am eligible for, do not really have any features that are appealing--overdraft at cheap interest...errrmm....no. I don't need any overdraft features....well, I will see what I come up with tomorrow.

One question I asked the bank today seemed to confuse them, and that was whether the amounts in the account were guaranteed. After asking the question five ways, I got an answer that amounts were guaranteed up to £30,000. Does the UK have a government funded national deposit insurance scheme, is it done through each bank, or what? Reading about bank failures like Northern Rock scare me about the security of banking, and I just do not understand the different banking schemes well enough to sort out what is what...

Hi olivia, both me and my other half have graduate accounts with Natwest, you just need some proof of your undergraduate degree to open one up, so far we've had no problems and since you can ring the branch directly its easy to sort things out. Also internet banking is fantastic and well worth setting up as you can easily check your accounts and move money etc. Natwest also offer an online savings account which has a good interest rate for larger amounts of money. Good luck!

well in response to the previous poster, i tried to open a student account at natwest and they wouldn't let me because i haven't been resident in the uk before i came here to study (i do have citizenship but that doesn't count). so i tried to open a graduate account but they wouldn't let me because they do not accept graduates from non-english universities. so now i have a "step" account which doesn't give me any student extras (like the 5-year young persons railcard that you get with student accounts... nope, not for me). the "free" internet banking allows me to check my balance, that is all (since about 10 years i have paid all bills online. but if you want to be able to do that here, you have to pay for the priviledge of saving the bank some work...).

my partner (he is now lecturer) has an account at hsbc and got what you said, olivia - not even a debit card. but he went back recently and now that he has significant sums of money on the account they gave him a debit card without further ado (but still did decline his application for a credit card).

ah the english banking system. i'm swiss where they will double and triple check that your money is not from illegal sources, but don't care where you are from or where you have been living. they are happy to have your money and treat you like customers, not like here where you pay the banks for the priviledge of letting them have your money and they treat you like supplicants.

I have a student account with Barclays which I have had for a while now, and in general I don't get any problems with them. They keep upgrading my account without charging me the normal fee which is quite good! I also recently opened a student account with Natwest just to get the free student railcard and webcam although I must admit the interest free overdraft facilities have been a lifesaver too.
Best time to look into student accounts is over the summer when they do all the offers with freebies. Neither bank had problems with me being postgrad either.
However, that being said, I can't comment on what it's like opening accounts with these places for non-British citizens!:(

Oh, and natwest will only issue me a Maestro card not a Visa
I tried to join Halifax on a student account but they wouldn't let me because I was postgrad - Halifax are supposed to have really bad customer service too!

Hi Olivia - just regards the whole Northern Rock thing - I think I'm right in thinking that National Savings and Investments are the only people who can guarantee that if they go under and you have more than £30,000 in savings in there you will get all your money back. Again Money saving expert website has full info about how it works. But they are not a regular bank - just offer savings accounts. Like you said the others will guarantee up to £30,000 but again the website mentioned has full info about this under savings. Good luck