If you have just moved to the United Kingdom to pursue your further studies, you will need a bank account for your urgent and day to day financial transactions. In a country like UK you would need a bank account even though your status is of international student. This article on student bank account UK majorly deals with the precautions and measures you should take to start a student bank account UK.

Types of accounts
You could consider joining various types of accounts to handle and keep in check your financial transactions to minimalize any financial barrier in your academic career. The banks in United Kingdom provide their customers with different types of accounts and credit system. It is quite often that a person finds it difficult to select an appropriate type of bank account. Let us have a look at different types of bank accounts in UK.

Students accounts
These accounts are majorly customized for the students who are pursuing their higher education in the country. The characteristics and benefits of student accounts are actually like that of a normal current account which provides some additional benefits to the account holder like interest-free overdrafts.

By the term overdraft, it is meant that the bank allows you to withdraw more money than the amount you possess in your account. The facility of interest-free overdraft would provide you with the loan service devoid of any interest. You should note that this perk would cease to exist when you complete your academic career. Hence the outstanding amount should be returned before the completion of your degree, otherwise you have to pay the amount according to the general interest rate.

International Student Accounts
As mentioned above, if you are moving to the country of UK to pursue your education then it is more probable that you have to start a bank account to carry out your financial transactions. The financial transactions would include the payment of tuition fees, rent, and objects for satisfying day to day needs to avoid heavy charges. Only the citizens of the United Kingdom are allowed to take the student accounts and hence the international students are not eligible for it. You could open a basic bank account for your basic transactions, which would also provide you with an ATM that would turn out to be very handy. Although this kind of account would not provide the facility for overdraft or other facilities like credit cards and cheques. Even though most of the banks provide the facility of a debit card to ordinary bank accounts.

You could also opt for the international student bank account UK. This account is specially customized for the people coming to the UK for further academic studies. This account would be better than the ordinary account though they may charge a fee for upkeeping the account and small fines if the balance gets below the mentioned minimum balance. In the international student bank account UK, the account holders could reap the benefits like less transmission charge for the foreign cheque deposits. Though it should also be kept in mind that no credit facility would be provided to the account holder.

Facts to be reconciled with
While you have decided to open a student bank account UK, you should have to keep in mind some of the factors which are discussed in the below section of the report.

Overdraft
This facility would allow the account holder to withdraw an amount larger than that of the amount already present in the account. This would turn out to be a very handy benefit in the case of an emergency. The facility of overdraft is not provided in all sorts of accounts and thus if not selected an appropriate type of account, you may have to approach several lenders to acquire extra money. The facility of overdraft would only require a little charge annually and help in eliminating the daily problems of over repayments. If you have selected the student bank account UK the banks would provide you with a cost-free overdraft facility, i.e. you could get extra money without having to pay interest. Hence you should check various plans provided by each banking company and consider the facility of providing the overdraft as the primary one. Have a close look at the terms and conditions of providing the overdraft and choose the one which appears to be the best plan by you. You should check the conditions very carefully since the banks would try to canvass you and try to hide the loopholes in it. There have been many complaints about the banks that they often don’t provide the total amount of overdraft as displayed in their advertisement. Please make a limit on the amount you are planning to take as an overdraft since a small misappropriation would lead to huge financial fraudulence.

Freebies
To attract the customers, the banks often offer many perks which also includes delivering high volume and interest-free overdrafts. Since this is one of the most preferred options by the customers, many people get drawn towards it.

If taken an instance, the banking company Santander provides a customized 16 to 25 railway cards with a validity of four years. By these cards, the customers could claim the railway tickets at a very discounted rate. The companies like RBS and Natwest would provide the facility to select between the Taste cards, Amazon Prime Student membership, and a National Express Coach Card. You should select a company that provides the maximum number of perks to its customers. The freebies would help you in reducing the expenses in the monthly budget.

Location
Although the ATMs of another bank would allow withdrawing money from any bank account, it would get very convenient if the branch of the selected bank is nearby. It would be very hard and difficult to transit to a very distant bank branch if any emergency comes. Since you are a student, you may be busy with daily academic and university tasks and between it traveling to a distant place is an irritating task.

Methodology to open an account
Although some of the banking companies claim that opening an account in their respective branches is a very easy task to do, it consists of some complexities and paperwork which makes the delay of at least a weak to get an active bank account. So, it is recommended that you should start a bank account as soon as possible you enter in the United Kingdom or receive the UCAS confirmation letter. If you wait till the college starts its session then you may have to face many of financial consequences. This case is different in the context of an international student. The international student would require to start a bank account even before he arrives in the country or at least he should have posted an application regarding the opening of an account in the concerned bank. The students are advised to consider some extra money in cash or in the form of travelers’ cheque since there is a possibility that the process of opening the bank account would get delayed to an unexpected period. The reliable and prominent banks in the country of the United Kingdom are Nationwide, Barclays, RBS, Santander, HSBC, Natwest, and Lloyd Bank. Go through the facilities and perks offered by the banks and when you have selected a particular bank, you should set up a meeting with the bank manager of the nearest bank branch. While you have scheduled a meeting with the bank manager you should carry some documents which are listed below.

• Documents proving that you are a student of the university situated in the country.
• Documents revealing your identity. This may include documents like an authenticated ID card and passport (The visa document would be the most relevant document in this context).
• Documents revealing your domicile in the UK (the paper bills of the tenancy agreement or any other sort of original utility bill comes under this section).

It should be noted after analyzing the context of student bank account UK that you require a permanent address before you apply for a bank account in the country of the United Kingdom. Hence you should approach a tenant before applying for a bank account.

Credit Score
It is most probable that your account would be credit scored if you opt for any debt product like an overdraft. This is done by the bank authorities to analyze whether a certain customer is desirable or not. If the bank authority provides you with a very low credit rating then it is probable that your application for the overdraft would get rejected or you would get a comparatively low amount of overdraft.

User-Friendly accounts for students
For your convenience, we have listed down some of the reliable and government affiliated banks in the nation of the UK. Various banks provide various type of benefits and perks like delivering better overdrafts, attractive offers of freebies, and flexibility to the transactions, especially for the students.

Natwest, Student Bank Account
This group of banks usually provide their customers with an interest-free overdraft. The account holders could also be given with choice to select among the Taste card, Amazon Prime subscription, and a National Express Coach Card.

Santander, 123 Student Account
The Santander group would provide an overdraft amounting to the level of £1,500 which would be available for the initial three academic years. Along with this benefit, the company would also provide the account holders with 25 rail cards having the validity of 4 years. These cards would reduce the price of railway tickets by 1/3 of its cost.

Barclays, Student Account & International Students Account
If you opt for a student account in the Barclays bank, then you would be provided with the overdraft amounting to 500 pounds. The international student bank account UK would help the students to transfer money to a network for more than 30 nations by the means of just a mobile application or a mobile number. The Barclays Group has focused more on the technological aspect and has introduced Apple Pay and a contactless debit card.

HSBC, Student Bank Account UK
The student bank account UK holder of the HSBC with the specialized student credit card and other attractive offers for the students. The company also provides an option for opting for the HSBC Basic Bank Account if they are deemed to be ineligible for the student bank account UK.