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£100 cash and a free 4 year tastecard

Open a Student bank account

Why apply for our Student bank account?

Open a Student bank account for £100 cash and a free tastecard for 4 years (worth £39.99 per year)*.

Whether you’re already enjoying university life or planning ahead and thinking about your first year on campus, you could apply to open a Student account with NatWest today. 

What else could you get?

  • Interest-free overdraft - get an overdraft of up to £2,000 from year one (Limited to £500 in term one, year one) with an instant online decision. Students can apply for up to £3,250 interest free from year three onwards*.
  • No monthly Student current account fees.

* Eligible students in third year onwards can apply for up to £3,250 from 2nd October 2023.

Student bank account offers

Offer available until 6th October 2023.

Student offer

Get £100 in cash.

An annual tastecard, worth £39.99 per year*. Eating in or dinning out, enjoy 2 for 1 meals, 50% off your food bill or 25% off your entire bill at thousands of UK restaurants, with exclusive offers for students with discounts on movie streaming, attractions, membership perks with a tastecard membership. Valid for 4 years. Smartphone required.

Receive your cash offer within 10 days of opening account. We’ll send your tastecard redemption code to your email address. Offer T&Cs apply

*Based on the standard annual cost direct from tastecard excluding any offers. Correct as at 23rd May 2023. 

More ways to pay

Debit card

Brand-new plastic

Shop online or pay in-store with a new student debit card.

Contactless

Shop, tap and go

Tap-and-bleep your debit card to check out up to £100 in shops, restaurants, and more.

Apple or Google Pay

Banking for any device

Paying for items on your iPhone or Android is simple. You can use it to pay for things online or in-store with a tap.  Criteria and retailer limits apply.

Direct Debit

Bills, bills, bills

Got a regular bill that needs paid via Direct Debit? You can set that up on a NatWest Student account. Or if you need to split your household bills, check out our Housemate app.

Make use of a student overdraft

Our Student bank account comes with an interest-free overdraft. A quarter of students budget and monitor their spending. But around one in three are still short of money by the end of the month, says our Student Living Index 2022.

That's when your overdraft may come in handy as a short-term option. And because it’s interest-free, you won’t pay any interest on what you’ve spent.

Interest-free overdraft - get an overdraft of up to £2,000  from year one (Limited to £500 in term one, year one) with an instant online decision. Students can apply for up to £3,250 interest-free from year three onwards*.

* Eligible students in third year onwards can apply for up to £3,250  from 2nd October 2023. 

Manage your Student account with our app

See how much you have in your Student current account and transfer money between accounts from your smartphone. Students save on average £109 per month, according to our Student Living Index 2022. Easily move money into your savings account with our app.

Be bill savvy with Housemate

Want to take the hassle out of house sharing? With Housemate by NatWest, you can split household bills and pay each other back. You could also build your history with our partner Experian when you register your rent payments with the app. It’s free and you don’t have to bank with NatWest to use it. 

Student FAQs

Switch to NatWest

The Current Account Switch Service will do all the work when it comes to switching, moving everything across from your old account to your new account all within 7 working days, including Direct Debits and standing orders. All you need to do is tell us the details of your old bank account and when you want the Switch to start.

We can not switch savings accounts or ISAs through this service. Any other products you have with your old bank will not be moved at the same time.

Current Account Switch Guarantee (PDF, 39KB)

A Guide to Switching Current Accounts (PDF, 3MB)

How does the Current Account Switch Service work?

Get ready to apply

Before you apply, we need to check you're happy with a few things. And ask you a few questions up front. Then we can make your application as quick and simple as it can be.

First things first. You can apply if you are:

aged 17 or over and have been living in the UK for at least 3 years

completing a full-time undergraduate course that lasts at least 2 years or completing a full-time postgraduate course, or

training as a nurse at a UK university or college of higher education

completing a course that has already started, or is starting within the next 6 months.

Now please take a look at the important legal stuff

How your information might be used

It's important for you to understand how we use and share your information. Please read this short summary before you continue with your application.

All okay? You’re nearly ready to start.

To speed up your application for our Student account, we need to do a few final checks with you. They'll only take a minute.

Do we already know you?
Have you lived in the UK for:

You're all set

Your application will be completely online, as part of our checks we'll ask our partner HooYu to confirm your identity using; 

  • Proof of your UK student status, such as: UCAS status code, UCAS letter, letter from your University, and many more.
  • A Liveness check, a short video to compare your photo ID
  • Photo ID, which must be a Passport, UK or EU/EEA Driving Licence or an EU/EEA National ID card
  • Proof of your address, such as a utility bill, bank statement, driving license, UCAS letter, Student Finance letter or a letter from your University​.

Sorry, you can't apply for this account

Sorry, we can't offer you the account you applied for.

You can view our full range of accounts and apply for suitable one.

What would you like to do today?
Do you know your Online Banking details?
If you log in to Online Banking we can pre-fill some of the application for you.

You’re all set

You’ll need a few bits of info for your application:

  • Proof of your UK student status, such as: UCAS status code, UCAS letter, letter from your University, and many more.
  • Photo ID, which must be a Passport, UK or EU/EEA Driving Licence or an EU/EEA National ID card
  • Proof of your address, such as a utility bill, bank statement, driving license, UCAS letter, Student Finance letter or a letter from your University​.