Gimme gimme gimme

If you’ve not sorted out a student account yet, you might want to grab one just to get the freebies. At the moment, this is what the main banks are offering:

Abbey: Nothing
Barclays: Six cinema tickets (twelve if you take out a Barcleycard but don’t!)
Co-operative: Nothing (but the co-op are great on ethical policies, so you might want to bank with them anyway)
HBOS: Nothing
HSBC: Two years’ worldwide travel insurance
Lloyds: Free NUS extra card (worth £10), sign-up-a-friend scheme, free YHA membership (worth £9.95) and 35 free eMusic downloads
NatWest: Free five-year young persons’ railcard, discount (£50) on mobile broadband, discount (£100) on ASUS laptop. Free webcam if you open the account online.
RBS: Three-year railcard and a month’s bus travel if you’re Scottish. Discount (£50) on mobile broadband, discount (£100) on ASUS laptop. Free webcam if you open the account online.

(You can find full details of what all the banks are offering here.)

If I had my time as an undergrad over again, I’d definitely go for the five-year railcard; a fantastic deal, worth £120 at face value – but with the potential to save you much more if you take even two trips by train every year. (It could definitely save you enough for the whole ASUS laptop…)

Interest-free overdraft – approach with caution

Watch out for that tempting interest-free overdraft. Some sites, including Money Saving Expert, advocate going for the How to manage your overdraft

An overdraft makes it easy to get into the habit of spending money you don’t have. Yes, your overdraft is interest-free now – but you will have to pay it back eventually, and trust me, when that happens Future You will not be happy with Present You for splashing out on a term of partying…

Further reading:

• Choosing banking products – some good advice on choosing your bank from Support4Learning.
• How to manage your overdraft – from MoneyExpertise.
• Top Student Accounts 2008/09: Slash borrowing costs … – from MoneySavingExpert.

Is your overdraft strictly for emergencies or absolutely necessary for survival? Are you more often in the black, or in the red? And were the freebies you got when you opened your account any good? Let us know in the comments…