Student Banking Survey 2025 – Results

Banks are competing as fiercely as ever for student customers, but which ones are ranked the highest? The Student Banking Survey 2025 uncovers these answers and more.

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Now in its eleventh year, our survey offers in-depth insights into how students bank, budget and manage their finances.

From the most popular student bank accounts to what influences their choices, views on going cashless, and beyond – this year's findings reveal what really matters to students in 2025.

Dive into the full breakdown below.

Key findings from the Student Banking Survey 2025

Here's an overview of the key findings from this year's Student Banking Survey:

• Santander was once again the most commonly-used bank among surveyed students, although its market share has dropped slightly to 18%, down from 21% in 2024.
• NatWest and RBS came out top in our student ratings in 2025, with the banks receiving respective average scores of 4.34 and 4.32 out of 5, compared to a sector-wide average of 4.04.
• 15% of surveyed students are looking to switch banks.
• Among those with overdrafts, 27% have reached their arranged limit at some point.
• 27% use buy now, pay later (BNPL) services at least some of the time. This includes 6% who use them often.
• 23% have a Lifetime ISA (LISA) account, but 22% of those in the survey don't know what they are.
• 54% use cash once a month or less.

How do students choose a bank?

Among the students surveyed, the reasons for choosing their student bank account were as follows:

Almost half (48%) of the students surveyed chose their current bank account because they already banked there. Since launching the survey, this has consistently been the most common reason.

32% chose their account because their friends or family members were customers of the bank. This shows that having previous experience with a bank holds high importance among students.

It's perhaps surprising that student bank account freebies – with some banks offering incentives worth over £100 – only impacted the decision-making of 26% of respondents.

And interestingly, the proportion of those swayed by the 0% overdraft fell from 15% in our 2024 survey to 11% this year, putting it behind banking products, branch location and customer service for the first time.

The influence of branch location (15%) was also eye-catching, given that a similar proportion of those in the survey (14%) told us they had never set foot in a high street bank.

Where do students do bank account research?

The majority of students in the survey (60%) turned to money-advice websites to research bank accounts.

Parental advice plays an important role, but reliance on the banks themselves for information has shot up from 25% in 2024 to 53% this year. This suggests that more students may now be choosing to do their own comparisons.

Student reliance on social media, however, has remained roughly the same – although Reddit research has increased by two percentage points compared to last year.

What is the most popular bank among students?

With just under one in five surveyed students banking with Santander, this was the most common choice. The bank's share is down slightly versus 2024, with Lloyds, Barclays and Halifax all slightly increasing their market share.

In the above bar chart, we focused on banks that offer accounts designed specifically for students. However, 10% of those in the survey said their primary account was with an alternative bank. These were:

• Monzo (4%)
• Chase (2%)
• Revolut (1%)
• First Direct (1%)
• Metro (1%)
• Starling (1%).

Student satisfaction scores

Note: Just under 1% of respondents were with the Bank of Scotland, so the average rating was deemed too unreliable to include.

NatWest, RBS and Santander comprise the top three rated student banks in our survey.

Last year, Santander fell behind NatWest and RBS for the first time since 2021. These positions have stayed the same in 2025.

Do students consider switching banks?

We'd always encourage students to shop around to get the best offers available for switching banks. But, only 15% of those in the survey said they were looking to do so.

There were many reasons respondents gave for wanting to switch, such as the incentives on offer elsewhere. Similarly, there were a range of motivations for staying put, including not wanting to switch as they believed it could damage their credit score.

This is a snapshot of the key reasons for looking to switch bank accounts:

• My current account is boring it offers no benefits, interest or incentives.
• Switch incentives.
• Will soon be graduating so can no longer have a student account.
• I'd like a more environmentally conscious bank.
• The app is archaic.

And these were some reasons why respondents decided to stick with their current banks:

• It's too much hassle to switch.
• I am satisfied with my current bank for my needs.
• Railcard savings is a major positive and I've always banked with them.
• I haven't seen another account that would be significantly better.
• I already have other bank accounts.

Student borrowing habits

We wanted to get a better understanding of how students borrow money while at university, so we asked them specifically about overdrafts, credit cards and buy now pay later (BNPL) sites.

How overdrawn are students?

Of those in the survey, 70% said they weren't overdrawn at the time of responding. This is a promising sign, representing an improvement on the 64% who reported the same in 2024.

However, looking only at the 28% who were in their overdrafts, almost one in four (24%) told us that they were overdrawn by £1,000 or more – an increase on last year after also steadily rising in previous years.

27% of those with an overdraft have hit their limit at some point, while 43% don't know when it needs to be repaid.

There's no doubt that many students appreciate the 0% overdrafts offered with their student bank accounts, but others stated that they were wary about the encouragement to spend and the repayment terms when graduating.

Do students have credit card debt?

Just over one in 10 polled students told us they have credit card debt. This is consistent with 2024's survey (12%), although that result was significantly down on the 26% who said the same in 2023.

How many students use BNPL services?

There has been an encouraging drop in the use of buy now, pay later (BNPL) services – now 27%, compared to 34% of respondents who said they used them in last year's survey.

However, 6% of students in the survey said they used these services regularly. In addition, 14% said they'd been late to make a payment, which would have likely incurred an extra cost.

There were some positive opinions about BNPL services, but the majority were negative. Here's a selection of comments from surveyed students:

• They are bad as they encourage you to spend more.
• I think they are fantastic. They are very flexible and actually helped me to purchase my laptop for university.
• They make people buy more than they can afford, leading to more debt and unrealistic living.
• They are predatory and can be dangerous for the financially illiterate.

How many students have Lifetime ISAs (LISAs)?

Lifetime ISAs (LISAs) allow you to save up to £4,000 per financial year, and receive 25% of the yearly deposits as a bonus from the government.

There has been a slight drop in awareness compared to 2024 (78% versus 80% last year). However, compared to the 65% who knew of LISAs in 2021, the long-term trend is still one of improvement This is likely because the accounts have been heavily promoted over recent years as effective ways to save for a house.

23% of students in this survey said they have a LISA, with a further 55% saying they were familiar with them but didn't currently have one.

How often do students use cash?

The proportion of students in the survey who never use cash (11%) has risen from 8% in 2024, almost matching the levels seen during COVID (12% in 2021), when cash payments became less common.

In fact, over half of the surveyed students (54%) said they use cash less than once a month or never.

Here's an overview of how often respondents in 2025 use cash:

We also wanted to gauge student interest in a cashless society. Roughly one in three (32%) of those in the survey would oppose it, with 14% saying they'd strongly support it.

About the Student Banking Survey 2025

• Source: Student Banking Survey 2025 / www.savethestudent.org.
• The survey received 701 responses.
• Students were polled between 2nd April – 2nd May 2025.
• Data from our previous surveys.
• Save the Student's Press Page.
• Tools and resources.