Student Bank Account Package - Find out what is available to you

Shopping around for a student bank account package

Knowing how much you can afford to borrow and for how long, will make looking for a student bank account package easier. There are so many banks offering student deals it can seem difficult to know where to start, stay focused on what you know can afford.

The safest approach, to maximise the amount of support you will get with your student banking is to try and build a personal relationship with a trained student advisor at one of the high street banks.

Ask your University or College which high street banks have branches on or nearby campus, this will make managing your banking a lot easier.

If there are several banks close by, it is still important to shop around and compare packages to make sure you get the best products for your needs. The following resources can provide a good place to start:

High street advertising
Student magazines
Newspapers
University or College websites

Check out each Bank's costs, fees and interest rates as they may differ, for example a current account alone can have the following fees and charges associated with it:

Type of charge	Description	Sample Costs
Account Charges	A monthly account fee for using the account	Up to £15.00
Service charges	Charges for services like: Cheque clearance Money transfers Banker's draft Stopped cheque Copy statements (per request) Replacement/additional PINs A charge is made each time a service is used.	Costs can range from £5 for a copy statement to £25 for money transfers.
Personal Overdraft Rates	The monthly and annual interest rates that will apply to your agreed overdraft and any unauthorised overdraft amounts.	See example below
Personal Overdraft Charges	A charge may apply to set up the overdraft on your account. You can also be charged penalty fees if you go over your agreed overdraft limit.	See example below
Debit card rates and fees	You may be charged for things like: Cash withdrawals Debit purchases Cash out transactions Purchasing foreign currency or travellers cheques	Around 2% (min £1.50, max £4.50) for cash out and foreign transactions
Other fees	Other services such as text alerts, mobile phone banking and internet registration may have charges.	Around £2.50 per month

All Banks provide key information about their accounts and overdrafts detailing interest rates and charges that will apply, use these to compare student products and packages. The table below gives an example of the key information for a personal overdraft:

Key Information	Personal Overdraft Example
Interest rates for arranged overdraft	£3,000 or less Interest free (0% EAR) Over £3,000 0.58% a month (7.2% EAR)
Interest rates for unauthorised overdraft	£3,000 or less 1.82% a month (24.2% EAR) Over £3,000 1.82% a month (24.2% EAR)
Unauthorised overdraft fee	£28 for every month in which you at any time have an unarranged overdraft
Paid item fee	£20 charged (no more than once a day) if a card transaction, cheque (whether guaranteed or not), standing order, direct debit or other instruction paid results in or increases an unarranged overdraft.
Unpaid item fee	£20 charged (no more than once a day) when any cheque, card transaction, standing order, direct debit or other instruction that would result in or increase an unarranged overdraft is returned unpaid, or is not paid by the Bank.

Most personal overdraft interest rates are advertised using a monthly interest rate and an EAR (Equivalent Annual Rate), this is an overall percentage interest cost applied to your account. For example, an EAR of 7.2% means that for every £100 you are overdrawn you will pay £7.20 per year in interest and charges. This is an important rate to compare as it represents the largest cost. Student Loan Question

As well as the key information there may be additional charges and services included in a bank's student package so some good questions to ask are:

Is there a cost to register for Internet and Phone banking?
Do they offer text alerts, for example to let you know if your bank account is about to go over it's overdraft limit?
Do they have mobile banking packages to let you manage your banking via your mobile phone?
Is there a grace period when your account goes into unauthorised overdraft before overdraft fees are applied?
Do they charge for replacement debit cards if yours gets lost or stolen?
Are their any conditions relating to the account opening incentives, free offers and gifts?

Most high street Banks have online sites you can use to search and compare student products. Alternatively if you don't know which Bank you want to use, just doing a search from your home page, for example typing in "UK student banking deals" will bring up several links for you to investigate.

Many online companies also offer comparison sites which enable you to compare student banking packages. You may also get an indication of the likelihood of being approved for lending and credit in some cases. We've included links below to some independent comparison sites to help start your search:

www.student-finance.co.uk/accounts/compare Compare Student Accounts Deals
www.moneysupermarket.com Compare over 300 banking accounts
www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/Student-bank-accounts Top student accounts

Download the Student Loans PDF Guide here - see our other free PDF guides here

Guide Contents

What are student loans?
What about student banking?
Shopping around for a student bank account package
Applying for your student bank account
Student loan FAQs
Student loan help

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