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 - Natbest!

Advantages: Excellent online banking & customer services
Disadvantages: Trying to sell their advantage gold account at every opportunity!

...I've been with NatWest for 8 years now having moved from Barclays after they wouldn't transfer my account from Pontypridd to Witney! Natwest were only too happy to step into the breach! So what can I tell you about them... I've got several accounts with them so I can take advantage of transferring between accounts easily. Apart from a current account I hold an ISA; an e-savings account and also a personal loan. I know that I'm not getting the best interest rates, but for me the ease of being able to see all of my money (or lack of!) on one website is invaluable. I predominantly use their online banking facility which is SUPERB! Very easy to use and provided you have broadband it's actually very quick to load up. I can see a summary of all accounts on the first screen with balances and also a brief list of the recent...

furryjen78 05.07.2007 · Read review
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Review of NatWest

Natwest Staff Incompetance

Advantages: none
Disadvantages: not acceptable training of staff

...I had already written a shining opinion on Natwests new step account, and then disaster stuck!! Although this account is designed for people with low credit scores etc (see my step account opinion), i was presented with a letter telling me i had gone overdrawn by £20. Now this account is supposedly designed so that you cannot overdraw, yet somehow it did (i am still querying this!!). ANYWAY...... To add even more insult, the overdraft fee imposed was more than the overdraft, i was charged £25. I contacted Natwest Bank to state how ridiculous it was that an account aimed at low income and benefit recipient customers could incur such ridiculously high charges. They were adamant that i owed the £25 charge and that was that. Due to my frustration at the situation, later that day i picked up their fees leaflet and as i was...

mbmb11 16.03.2001 · Read review
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Review of NatWest

Natwest Online Banking

Advantages: Applying online,viewing your account online, and more
Disadvantages: none

...your bank's website, which mine would be www.natwest .co.uk and click on the option to sign up for online banking. Once you have done that then you will be asked a number of questions about you, your work, bank details, etc, fill them out as accurately as you can. Once you have done all this you will receive a letter from your bank saying thank you for registering online banking, it will give you the activation code and your customer number, which you will need to complete the setup. Follow the steps in the letter for completing the setup process, then follow the on screen instructions, within these instructions you will be asked to enter your activation code, then you will be asked to choose a password and PIN, these will be used every time you log on. This process does not take long to complete, and is simple to complete. Once you have...

AngelEyes76 08.06.2006 · Read review
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Review of NatWest Online Banking

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

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 - My Story

Advantages: Great student accounts
Disadvantages: haven't encountered any major ones

...One my 13th birthday I decided that being a woman of the world I needed a bank account, so off I went down the High Street and went into all the banks to see which one gave me the best freebie - Natwest offered an 8 pound record token and I have been with them ever since. I went to them when I joined university, an account manager sat me down and went through all my options, I opened a student account and I was offered an interest free overdaft of 750 pounds in my first year which could be increased by 250 pounds for each of my years at uni. I was given a switch card with a 20 pounds credit to my account. I once went overdrawn on one account by 4p so instead of charging me 3.50 a day until I noticed, they just moved the 4p from one bank account to another and sent me a letter telling me they had done this. I was very impressed...

curly110 03.03.2003 · 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