2011 September

September, 2011

Monday, September 26th, 2011

The Perfect Student Bank Account

Most students don’t really expect to have a lot of money as they go through university. Certainly the student loan will be paid in, and then disappear remarkably quickly, but where that money sits before it gets spent isn’t always a priority. However, banks are really keen to attract students and are offering great deals such as Santander basic bank accounts.

So what type of thing should you be looking for? The first consideration has to be the interest free overdraft. Unless you’re one of those people who is lucky enough to be going to university with a fair amount of cash in reserve, the likelihood is that at some point you’re going to dip into your overdraft, it’s important to get a student account that doesn’t charge overdraft fees.

The size of the overdraft isn’t such a big deal. Most students end up living out of their overdraft for a while, so you might want one with a big limit, but then, on the other hand, at some point you’re going to have to pay that debt off. So it’s really a question of personal preference.

The second most important thing for students should be (although it isn’t always) security. If you’re moving away from home for the first time, it’s also the first time that you’re not protected by your parents insurance. When you add up the total value of what you owe, it’s almost certainly going to work out as a significant figure, so you need to make sure that those important and valuable items like phones and laptops are covered. Some banks offer free insurance with their student accounts, this coupled with an interest free overdraft should seal the deal.

After that, any interest that you earn has to be considered a bonus, as mentioned above, most students don’t have a lot of cash, and in the current economic climate, most bank accounts don’t offer fantastic interest rates. Nonetheless, all else being equal, an interest rate of any variety is probably a good reason to make a choice.

These are the essentials of student living, after that banks have different tactics and offers for attracting students. The most fundamental of considerations should always be what is going to cost you the least money (or save you the most), so any free things like insurance are a great addition. After that, additional bonuses are exactly that, additional.

Tags: basic bank accounts

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Monday, September 26th, 2011

Informed Decisions

Picking through the morass of financial products available is never easy, even for someone who has enough time (and the inclination) to do proper research. Thankfully, when it comes to just about any type of financial product, there’s help at hand.

Defaqto is a service run by the Financial Services Authority and provides an independent assessment of the quality of financial products products. This quality control means that you can straight away see how good insurance is without having to worry about what the person is trying to sell you.

So, for example, if you’re a landlord and you’re looking for insurance, you can just go to the Defaqto website and look for a four or five star policy, immediately find buy to let insurance from Legal and General and you’re off to the races.

Likewise for a student, if you’re looking at a credit card and you want to make sure that you get the right deal, Defaqto is a good place to start. It’s not, by any means, the beginning and the end of the process, but it’s a much better place to start looking.

The service really comes into its own in terms of insurance, because when it comes to insurance most people are willing to pay a little extra for better quality coverage. Many students travel in their summer holidays or take gap years before or after university, and having high quality travel insurance is absolutely vital and well worth spending money on. The difference between a four star Defaqto product and one without any stars is enormous, not only because it reflects the quality of the deal being offered, but also to a certain extent the pedigree of the company offering the deal.

It should be noted that Defaqto has absolutely nothing to do with price, it’s not a service that reflects the value of a product, primarily because if you’re buying something like travel insurance, individual factors such as age come into play. Of course, the higher the star rating, the more expensive one would expect the insurance to be, but that’s not a general rule and you can be sure you’ve got a bargain if you buy a five star policy at a similar price to a one or no star deal.

At the end of the day, getting the best deals are almost always about quality over quantity, and as a student saving time is always useful, so give Defaqto a thought next time you’re going to get insurance, a credit card, or just about any other financial product.

Tags: buy to let insurance from legal and general

Monday, September 26th, 2011

Student Home Insurance

For any student moving into new accommodation there are a thousand and one things to think about, not to mention the actual work that goes with being at university. With things like iPods, iPads, musical instruments and laptops all being hastily moved into accommodation, it’s little wonder that student households are often targets for burglars.

An additional problem is that many students decide to eschew home insurance altogether, primarily in order to save a few pennies. Whilst this might work out all right 9 out of 10 times, if you’re the odd one out it can be incredibly expensive, not to mention the fact that if someone steals your computer, all your university work will be gone with it.

Still, home insurance doesn’t have to be expensive, particularly with big providers such as Santander home insurance, fighting each other to attract as many customers as possible with things like online discounts and more flexible policies.

The key for any student is the ‘flexible’ part. Home insurance usually comes in two halves, there’s contents insurance (which is for everything that is removable) and buildings insurance (which is for the fabric of the building). Most landlords will have some form of buildings insurance, meaning you only need to worry about your contents.

However, an additional complication is that if you’re living with a bunch of other people, you don’t want your insurance premiums to reflect the value of their stuff (or their stupidity as far as things like leaving a window open goes). So being able to pick and choose your coverage is a good idea.

A good bit of advice is to work out what are your most expensive items, usually this will be a musical instrument or a computer (if you have a particularly valuable one). It’s worth trying to get these insured separately, because it can bring down the overall value of the insurance (notable items like computers are often viewed as a lure for thieves, so by removing them from the insurance you reduce the risk as well as the value of your insured items).

Another good tip is to not forget your clothes. Even if you don’t spend a lot of money on clothing, it’s almost certain that with a suit, some jeans and a couple of jackets your wardrobe could be worth well over £300. Make sure it’s listed on the insurance form just in case.

At the end of the day, not having insurance as a student is playing with fire, and it really doesn’t cost a whole lot of money. The best advice is simply to go and talk to someone at a local bank and get it all sorted out straight away, it could save you a lot more than just a bit of money.

By Santander Bank

Tags: home insurance