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 offer:
-FREE NUS CARD
-FREE 16-25 Railcard (worth £25/year)

Whilst I'm not entirely sold by what HSBC offer to us students, I didn't want to have so many accounts at different banks which would only confuse me. The overdraft provided is appealing to some, but I'm hoping I wouldn't need to use the overdraft!! Fingers crossed.

What appeals to me is the free worldwide travel insurance as a bonus. Studying architecture, I'll be frequently going on trips which would make this a good bonus, though I'm currently already covered by an annual policy, but that will soon expire.

I think the Lonely planet guide discount and the supposed extra credit interest is just 'filler' and really won't affect me. I was enticed by Natwest's free railcard but only for a small while.

~~~APPLYING FOR AN ACCOUNT~~~
I looked online on the website and it says you can apply online or at a local branch. Knowing they'd need a copy of my university acceptance letter, I popped into my local branch. Not only was I subjected to slight abuse (counter woman was most patronising in asking if I'd been in the country more than three years seeing that I was Chinese and that my mum's English was not very good). Putting on a posh English London accent just to patronise her back, she told us to take a seat not two metres away, whilst she 'gossiped' away at her colleague asking her to deal with us.

Her colleague loudly said 'I can't open a student account for them' which we heard. Despite this, she sat us down and took our details and then told me to apply online. After questioning her as it said we could open it in the branch and I had all my documents with me, she still said she couldn't do it as they didn't have the forms or whatever.

I did work experience at a different HSBC and those forms you print from the computer! How she didn't have the forms is beyond me. Either way, clearly she wasn't being transparent to the reason she couldn't open it for me so I just went to another branch the following week with the exact same information and opened it successfully within half an hour.

NOT impressed. A week onwards and I have received a new payment book, cheque book and awaiting my new debit card. I opted not to have a credit card as I don't like the idea of spending money I don't own.

~~~BURSARY COMPETITION~~~
About the HSBC student bursary competition:
"Your student days are some of the best of your life offering opportunities and experiences that will stay with you forever. We'd like to help you get the best out of these years, which is why for the 4th year in a row we're running the HSBC Student Bursary competition for an opportunity to win £15,000 to help you reach your potential."

I aspire to become an architect who can solve social problems through architectural design; I'm passionate about sustainability and reducing the impact we have on the environment. I have just spent over £1000 on equipment for my course before receiving my first loan instalment including £70 worth of pens and a new laptop because mine currently would not run the AUTOCAD software adequately. Never thought shopping would be so painful!

I don't know if this would be classed as spamming but I would really appreciate it if you could please check out my video for the bursary competition at http://tinyurl.com/66cawm3 and vote for me!

Voting closes in two weeks on 30th September. Thanks for watching!!!

For more information about the bank account or to apply, please visit www.hsbc.co.uk or pop into your local branch.

~~~OVERALL~~~
HSBC doesn't really offer anything particularly enticing for their student account, but since I already bank with them and I wanted to enter their bursary competition, I chose them over Natwest despite needing a railcard.

After a frustrating incident at my local branch, I was finally able to open my account at another branch so all is well. Hopefully I won't encounter any more problems like this with my account. :P