What are the best student bank accounts with perks?
Banks across the UK have been battling for our attention for years now, paying £100s to get you to move over from another bank account. I have covered this topic in-depth over the last 5 years and am a strong advocate for taking advantage of these offers that, combined, can earn you well in excess of £1,000! Here’s my free guide for a recap on just how to do this; “Bank Switching as a Side Hustle”.
Best Student Bank Accounts UK
However, banks also love students as they are a good way to build a long-term customer and usually build up debt whilst at university. With this comes a battle to get as many students into their customer base as possible each September. Many of these banks will pay you in the form of actual cash, or with vouchers and other perks.
Here are the best as at September 2025:
Nationwide Student Account
Open a “FlexStudent” current account with Nationwide and you will get:
£100 Cash
£10 Just Eat voucher per month for 12 months
Interest-free overdraft (£1k in Yr 1, £2k in Yr 2, £3k in Yr 3)
£40 Just Eat vouchers if you refer 2 friends to open the same account
To be eligible, you need to pay £500 into the account by 12 December 2025
Keep using the account and you might receive £100 each Summer as part of Nationwide’s Fairer Share scheme
Apply here
Lloyds Bank Student Account
Open a student account with Lloyds and pay £500 in by 31 October to receive £100 cash
For each month you make 20+ transactions November - April, you will receive a £15 Deliveroo voucher (£90 total available)
Apply here
Santander Student Account
Open a Santander Edge student account and you will receive a FREE 4 year 16-25 railcard saving you 1/3 of the cost of train travel
If you open the bank account before 17 October and use your debit card once before 31 December 2025 you will be entered into a prize pool where you could win any of the following:
1 student will win £100,000
5 students will win £10,000
50 students will win £1,000
1,000 students will win £100
All other students will win £20
Apply here
NatWest / RBS Student Account
Open a student account with NatWest or RBS and you will get a 4 year Tastecard which gets you money off at restaurants across the UK and £85 cash
Apply here (NatWest)
Apply here (RBS)