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HSBC has one current account available for students – the imaginatively-named HSBC Student Bank Account.
Below, you’ll learn the benefits and incentives associated with this account.
| Product Name | Student Bank Account |
|---|---|
| Card type | Cash / Debit |
| Debit network | Visa |
| Min. opening balance | £0.01 |
| Account fees | £0 |
| Interest (AER) | 0% AER |
| Funding requirement | No minimum funding requirement |
| Daily cash machine limit | £300 |
| At end of term | Account transferred automatically to graduate account |
| Maximum overdraft in year 1 | £1,000 |
| Maximum overdraft in year 2 | £2,000 |
| Maximum overdraft in year 3 | £3,000 |
| Overseas card transactions | 2.75% |
| Overseas cash withdrawals | 2.75% conversion fee plus 2% cash fee |
To be eligible for this account, you need to be at least 18 years old, with a confirmed place on a qualifying educational course in the United Kingdom. Undergraduate and postgraduate degrees all count as qualifying courses, as do several other qualifications.
On top of that, you’ll need to have lived in the UK for at least three years, and this must be your only student bank account.
You can apply for an HSBC Student Bank Account online or in-branch.
As part of your application, you’ll need to provide some basic personal details, financial details and information about your course. Your 16-digit UCAS code will serve as proof that you’ve been accepted onto your course.
You won’t be able to complete your application until you have this code.
No. This account comes with no regular funding requirements. See how that compares in our comparison of student accounts.
When you use your card overseas, you'll pay a non-sterling charge of 2.75%. For, example, if you spend the local equivalent of £250, you'll be charged £6.88.
Because it's a Visa, you'll find it's accepted pretty much anywhere that takes card payments.
Compare options for keeping costs down when spending abroad.
You'll pay a currency conversion fee of 2.75% plus a cash fee of 2%. For, example, if you take out the equivalent of £150, you'll be charged £4.13 plus the cash fee of £3.00. Withdraw 250 euros (that's around £216.60) at an ATM in Paris and it'll cost you £5.96 plus the cash fee of £4.33. Don't forget that the local cash machine provider may charge its own fee too.
Yes. While the opening interest-free overdraft limit is capped at £1,000, this increases to a maximum of £3,000 in year three. Check out our full comparison of student accounts to see the interest-free overdrafts available to UK students with a breakdown of each account's limit in each year of your course.
This is a basic as student bank accounts get. Yes, there’s a interest-free overdraft, which grows up to £3,000 in your third year. But there are no incentives or other money-saving offers available with this account.
There are plenty more student accounts out there, which offer a large overdraft plus a range of freebies, cashback offers or retail discounts. As such, it would be difficult to see why a student would choose an HSBC student account.
We show offers we can track - that's not every product on the market...yet. Unless we've said otherwise, products are in no particular order. The terms "best", "top", "cheap" (and variations of these) aren't ratings, though we always explain what's great about a product when we highlight it. This is subject to our terms of use. When you make major financial decisions, consider getting independent financial advice. Always consider your own circumstances when you compare products so you get what's right for you.
