I'm about to embark on an exciting change in my life- I'm about to go off to university!!! So I took the time to look and see which bank account to get. I already bank with HSBC and having heard about their student bursary competition I was going to enter anyway, I decided to go with them (as having a student account was a prerequisite to enter). ~~~DETAILS OF THE ADVANTAGES~~~ Advantages offered by HSBC: -up to £3000 interest free overdraft -Free worldwide travel insurance -Additional credit interest on your first £1000 -25% off Lonely Planet travel guides -HSBC Student Bursary Competition Advantages OTHER banks ...  Read the complete review

I have been surprised by all the negative reviews HSBC student accounts have been receiving lately. I used HSBC when I was a student and their policy hasn't changed since then. What I liked was that I got a free railcard which I used all through university and then for two years after which saved me a fortune on rail travel. I also got a £1000 overdraft in my first year of university which is interest free. In my second year that went up to £1250 and then in my final year of university it went up to £1500. You do of course have the option to apply for more overdraft but any you get over these limits does charge interest. The interest ...  Read the complete review

I am an employee for HSBC and must tell you, it isn't the best bank to hold a student account with, we do interest free overdrafts for students but what we dont tell you is that is only for the first £1000 if you wer successfull in applying for an overdraft of £2000 we would give you the first £1000 interest free but the other £1000 we would charge you so so so much it is unbeleivable, and i work for them remember. I f you were ever to accidently go over your agreed overdraft we charge you £25 for every transaction, for example... If you have £20 left of your overdraft and 2 dircet debits for £20 each came out of your account we would charge you £50 even though ...  Read the complete review

I've been with HSBC for years and its only recently ive wondered whether if this is wise. In the past staff have gone massively out of their way for me but in recent years theyre policies seemed to have slipped towards making a fast buck (as all banks are now I guess). I do however love their recent addition of a change machine though as I collect change in a jar and banks are often really difficult about taking loose change. You just pour it into the slot and it counts it for you and puts it into your account without a fuss. Im less keen on the new layout too; im guessing these will be rolled out across the company. It seems to be much more ...  Read the complete review

There's three good reasons to avoid HSBC student banking. One is that scandal you might have heard about re. graduate overdrafts. To cut a long story very short, they advertised accounts as (like most banks) giving you a couple of years grace after graduating to pay off your overdraft, interest-free. This is VERY important as the last thing you want when desperately job hunting is for your debt to keep on rising uncontrollably. Out of the blue, they dropped this last summer - no warning, timed so it'd be when students were away, and effecting people who had already signed up. In short, they can, and do, change the terms of their contract without ...  Read the complete review