NatWest - a Student-friendly bank

Advantages: Easy to set up, great overdraft facility, great student credit card
Disadvantages: Solo/Maestro - you have to make sure you have the right debit card

...... What do NatWest have to offer? Why did I choose NatWest for my student account? The answer is very simple: I've had a bank account with NatWest for many years, and although I did research other banks before deciding who to open a student account with, I ultimately chose to stick with NatWest. For students starting university this year who open an account before 10 October 2009, this is what's on offer: * A Maestro debit card - accepted pretty much everyone in shops and online, and can be used abroad (at a cost, obviously) * Chequebook (you need to apply for this though) * Student credit card (CAUTION: I'll come back to this later...) * An overdraft facility starting at £1,250 in your first year * Freebie #1 - A 16-25 railcard for 5 years, worth £130, which gives you up to 1/3 off rail tickets AND doubles up as a student discount card...

lora44 27.08.2009 · Read review
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Review of NatWest Accounts

NatWest

Advantages: Good for young people, no problems so far, lots of cashpoints
Disadvantages: None so far.

...Being a bit of a freebie hunter when I decided to open up a bank account I opened one with whatever bank gave me the best freebie. At the time NatWest were the only bank offering me an “incentive” to join and it was a £10 gift voucher so my Card Plus account was opened and I was a customer of the nasty NatWest. I was given a Solo card with my cashcard account by NatWest. A card that most banks only give to customers who are aged 16 or over. A Solo card is a debit card designed for young people, see my opinion on it for further information. All cash machines are free to customers of NatWest though I think NatWest have the most cash machines that belong to them out of the British banks so it shouldn’t be a problem for you finding a cash point. NatWest have abolished plans of closing branches – so your local...

Disillusioned 23.07.2001 (13.11.2001) · Read review
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Review of NatWest

  NatWest - super service until theres a problem!

Advantages: Until you have a problem, they're great. Very quick to spot potentially fraudulent activity on your account
Disadvantages: Absolutely dire at sorting out any problems you have have - expect long delays with no explanation

...Having banked with NatWest essentially all my life (well, since I set up my very first bank account with them over 7 years ago), I have never had a problem with them. In fact, if asked, at one point I would have quite happily heartily recommended them to anyone. The service I used to receive in my ex-local branch was second to none. Friendly and helpful Customer Service people. Excellent range of accounts to suit everyones needs. Rates that were always in line with their competitors (give or take, at times). Even handier was that a few years ago they even started advertising that they would only ever have UK based call centres too so you were assured you'd be able to understand those people on the other ends of the telephones if you ever neede to ring them. What more could you need from your bank? Of course most of use use...

Sarah_Louise 14.03.2007 · Read review
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Review of NatWest

NatWest

Advantages: Easy to open accounts
Disadvantages: Tricky

..., thinking that it would be convenient to move money between the accounts. When we schedule a transfer, the money leaves our savings account immediately so they don't have to pay us the higher interest, but when we schedule our transaction to pay off our credit card, it takes 4 business days to reach the credit card account so that they can charge us the interests and the late charge fee. It doesn't say anywhere that it takes 4 days, of course. 4 business days is almost a week! They said all banks take up to 4 days, but that is a big fat lie. When we pay for another credit card that is not a part of NatWest, it only takes 48 hours to clear. They talk very smoothly to make things sound great, but don't trust a word they say. It is too late when you realise that you were scammed! So be careful because they will do anything to trick...

Mygame05 29.08.2008 · Read review
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Review of NatWest

Shock Horror - Satisfied Nat West Customer!

Advantages: Excellent individual Service
Disadvantages: A little pushy on the loan front as a youngster

...I have been with Nat West since I was 16 years old and got my first job after leaving school. At the time I did not have a bank account and the company I went to work for offered a service where they opened an account for you if you did not have one. It was with Nat West as that was where they held their salaries account and at 16 I had no opinions on bank accounts to offer any resistance. I am glad I didn't to be honest and 18 years down the line I still hold the same current account and have added another joint account and a business account. As a teenager I was a total idiot when it came to money, and as a result I have managed to have experience with credit zones, over drafts, consolidation loans, credit cards, bank charges and lots and lots of customer service. Most of my experience has turned out positive in the end but I have...

wendybull 23.09.2006 · Read review
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Review of NatWest

My other review of the NatWest

Advantages: Erm... well you get a cheque book & Debit card
Disadvantages: Charge you a fortune, Staff treat you like an idiot, online banking impossible to sign-up for at first

...I already reviewed them earlier under the "National WestMinster Bank" section of Ciao, but since they've screwed me out over £140 in 2005, I couldn't resist this opportunity to twist the knife in further. As you probably know, NatWest is short for "National WestMinster Bank"..... and are now part of "The Royal Bank of Scotland" (Stock Ticker EPIC code = RBS / RBS.L depending on which ticker / portfolio service you use..... cost around £16 - £18, usually a solid one to buy into if your into the Buy&Hold approach to purchasing shares). If you read my earlier review, you'll probably know the only reason I joined 'em in the first place was because I needed my own account to have money paid into + a cheque and piece of plastic to make payments with.... and that Barclays turned me down, and while the blurb for most of the other banks...

duck1979 05.05.2006 · Read review
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Review of NatWest

NatWest Do The Business

Advantages: Excellent levels achieved throughout the whole company
Disadvantages: I can only comment on the local level I receive

...**PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS AN OPINION UNDER THE CUSTOMER SERVICE CATEGORY AND THEREFORE WILL NOT CONTAIN DETAILS ON THE PRODUCTS OFFERED** Those of you who have read my rants about the poor service I received for my business banking with Barclays will remember I was in the process of moving my account elsewhere. The difficulty in this was trying to work out which banks would live up to their promises. In reality they all offer a similar service, free banking for twelve months etc, but trying to judge which one would deliver is near impossible. Even talking to other business owners it became apparent that even those with the same banks had very different experiences. In the end I chose NatWest, purely on the basis they had appeared reliable to most people I had spoken with and that when I?d spoken to a representative a year or so ago...

Benniash 11.09.2003 · Read review
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Review of NatWest

Just joined NatWest & already impressed!

Advantages: Helpful staff
Disadvantages: Restricted opening hours, no branch in my town

...I recently decided I needed a Graduate Account as I'm taking yet another course. My current bank Lloyds TSB were of no help to me as they don't do Student Accounts which cater for post-graduate study - they would only offer a loan or an over-draft facility of £500 with 15% interest charge. I looked around the Internet and after looking at Barclays and other banks, I found that NatWest do Students Accounts which cater for post-graduates so I decided to drop in and find out what I needed to do and see if the info on the NatWest website was correct. The website was rather sprawling and slow and I'd rather get a face-to-face answer. You can apply for Student Accounts on-line and there is a chance to win £10000 at the moment, I do believe but I didn't want to use the website. I went to NatWest in Newcastle at 9am on a Monday morning...

Mel27 05.08.2004 · Read review
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Review of NatWest

NatWest, More like National Disgrace

Advantages: Can't think of any right now
Disadvantages: Unpleasant staff, Poor Customer service

...Well I already have a current and savings account, but during last summer I decided to get a job for 3 months to get some money to pay off these damn student loans I'm accumulating :) As I pay rent out of my current account I thought it would be a good idea to have a separate account for my earnings to make it easier to track my finances. I had no real preference of where I got my new account. Already with Barclays and Halifax i thought that I would try out a new bank. I scanned around the centre of Brighton to find out hich bank had the best offers on at the time, and this led my to the NatWest. They had an offer of 2 free CD albums of my choice and was exclusively open to 18-21 year olds. I went into the bank one afternoon and asked to speak to someone about setting up an account. This seemed OK enough and the chap seemed to be...

pumfster 04.03.2003 · Read review
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Review of NatWest

NatWest ISA

Advantages: high rate, excellent servce
Disadvantages: none

...I didn't know about the ISA account NatWest and other banks offer until recently. It is a tax free account which allows you to save and invest up to 7000 pounds per year without paying the Government any taxes. The account I set up with NatWest is a mini Cash ISA, which means that it is a risk free savings account. It works just like an ordinary savings account, that you could get a cashcard and a paying in book etc, except that the interest is high at 4%. This is really great as NatWest provides brilliant service, fast, friendly and extremely reliable, and being such a good bank it allows you to have every confidence that what you have invested in is sound. The only disadvantage is that everyone is only allowed to save up to 3000 pounds per month in a mini Cash ISA. The Government created this type of account in order to...

WinsomeCh 14.09.2002 · Read review
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Review of NatWest Accounts