just a tip for those with hsbc premier accounts in msia, even if ure parents are the holders of the accounts . u can get a letter of recommendation from ure hsbc branch in malaysia stating that ure going to the uk and wish to open an account there .. once u are in the uk .. just pass them the letter of recommendation and ure bank account would be activated for u the very same day and ure debit card 2-3 days after. . and no monthly charges of 25 pounds /month maintaining a premier account there would be charged to you .. HSBC UK premier interest rates apply to ure savings account which is pretty high ;p

Hi Kalimuthu.
Please tell me more about this Malaysia HSBC Premier account.

You are saying...if the parent are Malaysia HSBC Premier account holder and you yourself aren't, there are still benefit?

And what sort of UK HSBC are you talking about? Basic Account, Passport Account or Student Account? Or are you say, they open a UK Premier Account for you with no monthly fees?

And what sort of Debit Card? Solo? Visa Debit?

And must you maintain £50,000 in UK HSBC to qualify?

I checked. Credit interest in current account is 0.1% up to £10,000. Not a lot considering RBS gives 2% for Student Account. And Premier saving account interest is 3.2% for £50,000 which isn't a lot either.

And which department in Malaysia HSBC you have to approach to get that introductory letter?

Very much appreciated.

This post has been edited by Optiplex330: Sep 7 2008, 07:19 PM

You are saying...if the parent are Malaysia HSBC Premier account holder and you yourself aren't, there are still benefit?
Yes

And what sort of UK HSBC are you talking about? Basic Account, Passport Account or Student Account? Or are you say, they open a UK Premier Account for you with no monthly fees?
Premier Account with no monthly fees. As long as ure parents maintain a steady premier account back in Malaysia.

And what sort of Debit Card? Solo? Visa Debit?
Maestro Debit Card . Works just like any other debit card in the UK.

And must you maintain £50,000 in UK HSBC to qualify?
No

I checked. Credit interest in current account is 0.1% up to £10,000. Not a lot considering RBS gives 2% for Student Account. And Premier saving account interest is 3.2% for £50,000 which isn't a lot either.
Im not too sure cant be bothered to checked my pass account statements .. but if im not mistaken it was around 3%

And which department in Malaysia HSBC you have to approach to get that introductory letter?
Preferably the same branch that ure parents opened their Premier Account in. Get their Premier Relationship manager to draft the recommendation letter for you.

I hope this helps .. HSBC has served me well this past year, i would recommend it ;p

This post has been edited by Kalimuthu: Sep 8 2008, 01:42 AM

wokay... thankx u both. it seems hsbc is quite good. is it the student account? (or is there one?) will check out later anyway. more importantly any good perks from that bank??? and as for natwest and llyods are they good banks? they have quite some benefit (though im nt sure if they are useful). such as natwest giving the public transport discount card (or something like tat) and llyods a bunch of things. pls give some advice on them.

oh for mobile phone, what do u think? shud i get a postpaid or prepaid? and what telco? so far i only know 3, O2, vodafone. recommendation pls

@Geminist: yea..transport to uni wont be a prob since i'll be right beside the uni (south kensington area there). i'm going in first year so im also in campus accommodation. How much is PruHealth premium p.a.? or u have to pay per month?

you should be able to apply for passport account from HSBC. however, there is a monthly/annual charge. there isn't any giving from HSBC, but i just like them as i have no problem with them at all.

natwest, lloyds and barclays is fine as well. you will have to search which banks will give you the best offer. i stick with hsbc, as they serve me very well, and easier to find a branch anywhere.

get a prepaid in the meantime until you have got you debit card and more understanding of the postpaid system in here.

This post has been edited by youngkies: Sep 8 2008, 08:11 AM

Searching the Internet, I came to this conclusion. Correct me if I am wrong.

Available to international student and free accounts, the best bet seems to be either RBS or Lloyds. RBS seems to the better choice because:
1. Credit interest of 2% on your current account.
2. Treat us like UK local students with freebies and debit card etc.
3. I emailed and they confirm available to us on condition the 1st bank draft is GBP5000 but do not have to maintain that figure later on.

I do not consider other banks because either not available to international student, or have 0.1% credit interest or have monthly charges or very few facilities.

Now I would like to hear from those using Internet bank like Kaupthing Edge with high interest paid. Is it available to international student? Is it safe? Is it convenience? Anything!

Mayb u would like to join the Imperial Malaysian Fresher's facebook group:
http://www.new.facebook.com/group.php?gid=64431955110

I'll be reading E&E at Imperial too....nice to meet u future course mate haha ... when will u be flying to london??

imperial civ eng here. cloud strife whats ur name? did u go for freshers camp?

Justin.... I'm James lah lolz!!!

omg. u lowyat also spam. geng.

god!!! there is a malaysian fresher's group! didnt noe that. better go add myself in later. i'm flying on the 2nd october. how bout u? anyway that's cool. ur taking E&E MEng or BEng? nice to noe you!

btw it seems u did go for the fresher's camp. I din i wanted to but i have been crossing the south china sea a bit too often in august so my parents say no coz i'll be crossing it again soon (2 more times this month). so i think u can guess which part i'm from.

anyway....how's the postpaid system in UK? mind give some explanation?

postpaid most msians use o2. because the rest harder to clearance there.

owh....ok. btw i heard of free phone stuff there. how does it work? u buy a pack and they give u free phone?? im feeling so blur and the free minutes from postpaid... is it for any calls to any telco or landline or juz between the O2 networks? so as the free text. and can u use them for free overseas calls?

There are contracts because the phones are subsidised by the telco. You have to pay monthly fixed bills, usually 12months or 18months (you have your own quota on how many minutes/text messages you can use etc). In return, they will give the phone for free. For more expensive phones, you may also be required to pay for the phone (a fraction of the price, the rest will be covered by the monthly bills), or simply by opting to submit to a higher tariff if you dont want to pay for the phone price (40-50 pounds for bill per month).

For prepaid, you pay for the phone at normal price and the phone offered are usually low-end and locked to the telco.

This post has been edited by vorchiel: Sep 8 2008, 01:30 PM

hey Justin and James here lol
guess who I am

Since most of the newer posts are from IC's student, there's something I want to ask, is the Bachelor's intake date same as the Master's intake date?

I mean the dateline for the application, I'm going to apply for the next year's intake, it's on September if I'm not mistaken.

Thank You.

do u mean master intake date as in u take the MEng course from 1st year (undergrad) or ur going for postgraduate?

hey is anyone going to City Univ, London?

Yeah, MEng and BEng intakes are the same. For this year, it's 4th of October. Next year it will be around the same date.

For application, you gotta apply latest by Jan15 the year you wanna enter uni. They only have one intake, i.e. October every year. Cheers

Hi,

I would like to ask how long is the end dates in the student visa for a student which is going to pursue his/her post-graduate studies?

izit length of my course + 1 month?

or length of my course + 4 month?

the end dates in my Entry Clearance Sticker is length of my course + 1 month,

However, I was told by the International Student Adviser of my University that it should be length of the course + 4 month,

but my agent and the staff at VFS said that the additional 4 month is not written in my unconditional offer letter hence onli additional 1 month will be granted.

This post has been edited by Raining: Sep 8 2008, 10:19 PM