Talking Money

Hi I'm Nathan and I studied cookery in Adelei University and I'm a student advisor at HSBC.
While I was a student the main thing I was really interested in was of course enjoying myself in studying and getting to meet loads of different people from all over Australia at that stage. One of our friends used buy loads and loads of tin food so we went in there one day took every label off so it was a bit of a mystery what he was having for dinner each night. And getting a sun tan!

HSBC on budgeting

Sarah: I have a vague idea what a budget is.

Nathan: One of the major problems students have is budgeting, i've been through that myself. Pop in to speak to one of our advisors to see what costs you're going to have from living costs, travel costs, day outs, food - anything you need to budget for we can help you with it.

Lucy: We're in touch with students daily, we've got student ambassadors from around the country. We also found that they had a bit of trouble budgeting and they wanted some online tools rather than having to come to the branch a lot. We've then worked with UNIAID to develop our student calculator which has been a great success and students find it really simple to use and really helpful.

Go on the internet, have a look at your accounts and manage your money that way. It means that you can look at it any time of the night and you always know how much you've spent the night before even if you can't remember!

HSBC on funding

Lucy:It is hard at university now. There are a lot of expenditures that I didn't have when I was at university. What we try and do is we try and give support as much as we can. We try and help in-terms of the over draft limits, we try and help in-terms of budgeting as well, because it is really tough when you move away from home for the first time.

Holly: There is a lot of government funding out there and a lot of money to help students, but often it's hidden and not very easily found. You need to do research, speak to your uni advisors to find that money.

Lucy: UNIAID is a great charity, we've helped them for 5 years and they've helped millions of students in-terms of finance, understanding budgeting and making the most of student life.

Nathan: We're very friendly and approachable so if any students do have any financial concern, they can always just come in and see us.

Don't worry, have fun

Aaron: The worst things about university are probably money issues of worrying about whether your going to be able to pay your rent. And so it's finance issues really.

Sarah: I have a vague idea of what a budget it.

Nathan: We'd like to welcome the students in and make it easier to talk about their finances so we can take that away from them, their worries about their finances and they can just enjoy their time at university and their study.

Claire: It is a free part of your life and you are growing up and you're learning things and your learning who your are just enjoy it as much as you can because you probably can't go back on this moment.

Get yourself insured, part 1

Umut: First night I moved into the house in Leamington, unfortunately there was a group of students that thought it would be a good idea to kung-fu kick all the wing mirrors of all the cars along the road and mine was one of the victims unfortunately.

Jemma: Another really good thing to buy is insurance. The cost of replacing your laptop, your mp3 player, all your CDs and clothes if you get burgled is massive.

Nathan: We know that accidents can happen when you're a student and some students get targeted. If your parents have home insurance with HSBC you'll be insured for free.

Alternatively, student home insurance comes to you for as little £25 per.. sounds like I'm a salesman! (laughter) - bloody oath Sheila!

HSBC are here to help

Nathan: Here at HSBC we do listen to the voices of the students, we do want them to understand we want to take away any the financial difficulties they have. We want them to feel comfortable to come into a branch or use our website to help them with their financial needs while they are at university.

Pop in - we're nice!

Aaron: Don't be afraid to go and talk to your bank. I went to my bank and said I need some more money and they were quite happy and helped me out and everything was good.

Nathan: I believe that students are quite scared of banks at times and probably don't find us that approachable, but we really do want them to find it quite easy for them to come into us and speak about anything.

Vinit: I began to fall behind fall behind on my bills and so I went down to the bank to sort it out and Laura the lady at the bank very helpfully told me that I could set up some direct debits in the branch and I would never have to worry about making sure I getting the paid, as long as I've got enough money in the bank.

Nathan: It's more like having and chat and finding more the student finding out what they are studying, what things they're into, what their plans are over the next few years to see what we can do to help them.

Aaron: The bank people they give you free coffee, free pens, you name it.