Banking, home insurance, phones, etc

fillefatale

Hey, just a few questions - I'm moving to the UK (Glasgow) to study and having never lived there before I have a few questions:

-Best value pay as you go phone company, I use meteor here and plan to buy a sim card - I was looking at Orange, but if anyone has any advice it'd be much appreciated

-Home Insurance cover - I want to protect my valuables like laptop, camera, ipod in my tenement flat. How much would I be paying for the year and who is the most reliable?

-Banking! This is the big one, I'm with permanent TSB here, but I'm wondering could I open an account with Bank of Ireland and transfer it there or am I better off to open a bank account there, but with who? Which bank offers the best deals for students?

Thanks for taking the time to look at my my questions! Hope someone can help!

pow wow

Moved to NI/GB Colleges

Hello

Re. phones, it depends if you plan to be calling home a lot. If you are, Lebara is one of the better companies (4p per min landline calls, 10p texts). You can order a SIM from them online and a lot of local shops/supermarkets sell them. If you only plan on calling home occasionally (or not at all!!) then one of the regular providers (Orange, Virgin, O2 etc.) may work out cheaper as they have a lot of inclusive local text/minutes deals on at the mo.

Re. insurance, Cover4Students.co.uk was the best provider I found, particularly in relation to high value items. I paid about £100 for the year but I had my laptop covered outside the house too. Endsleigh also specialise in 'student' insurance although if you're living in a rented flat you don't have to go to an insurer specialising in students. Cover4students.co.uk definately gets my recommendation though.

Re. banking, you can't 'transfer' an account from Ireland to the UK although you can use your ATM card to get money out of it whilst you're away. All the big UK banks offer student deals however they usually have a residency/citizenship requirement which means that Irish/foreign students don't qualify for the freebies and interest free overdrafts . Some overlook it (mine did...by mistake :P), so if you aren't in a mad hurry you might get a good deal at Freshers' Week. If you need something quicker you can open a basic account with any bank providing you have all the necessary paperwork (and they are very strict about proof of address etc....make sure you bring your lease agreement!).

fillefatale

Perfect, this is very helpful! Thank you! I think I'm going to go with Orange or o2 and just use skype to keep in touch with those at home.