Drawbacks–depositing checks is kind of a pain, but if you have direct deposit, it shouldn’t be too much of a problem. It was easy to open and no skin off my back so I just decided to give it a try. I’m pretty happy with it so far. They definitely do need to come up with a better system for depositing checks.

Nice site.

From my research, one of the key differences between student checking and a standard free checking account is marketing. If a bank knows you’re new to the whole checking account scene, they’re going to send you different info with your monthly statement about things like budgeting, student loans, building your credit score. With standard free checking accounts, the marketing is a bit more generic. Often students say that student checking makes the whole bank experience less intimidating.

I’ve actually used WaMu’s free checking and high-yield savings throughout my college years and plan to in the future and am perfectly satisfied. But alas, they didn’t give me a frisbee or lame t-shirt for signing up.

Gracias for the comment!

I’m sure that there are many situations in which a student might not qualify for a “regular” checking account. But those cases aside, are there common reasons why students should pick “student” checking accounts over “best of breed” regular accounts?

With all of the new products lately (like WaMu’s free checking and linked high yield savings), the competition seems much stiffer than, say, five years ago.

Dave Hanson

And as for HSBC, that sounds similar to Wachovia’s approach. So you could be a 40-year-old with a student checking account. However, you might not be as popular at the frat parties.

Thanks for the comment!

As far as HSBC, I graduated about a year ago and they haven’t touched my Student Checking account. Same with Sovereign.