Jon's Blog
Practical tips to help you improve your credit rating and avoid expensive high interest loans
We look at some of the things that will affect your finances at Uni.
The best borrowing option for most students is a government-backed student loan.
Many high street banks offer interest-free overdrafts on student accounts.
Whilst a key part of ‘uni is to ‘stand on your own two feet’, borrowing from your parents or family can be a good way of meeting unexpected expenses and tidying you over to the ‘summer job’. This should be explored before looking at any higher cost lending options.
Other loans are available to students, however, these should only be considered if you have the income to pay them off. It can be tempting to get additional money, but if you start missing payments this will damage your credit history and make it more difficult and expensive to get loans/credit/ mobile phones/utility company contracts in the future. See
If you already have a poor credit history, have explored all your options and decide a loan is still required, we are a comparison website for guarantor loans, a type of loan that is typically cheaper than other bad credit type loans.
For more information and for no-obligation quotes > click here
There are two options available in terms of part-time work and the most suitable will depend on your circumstances and university workload.
If your workload is a little lighter, you may be able to work during the term-term? As this allows more flexibility, this may give you more choice when finding work.
There are some things that unfortunately we all have to pay for whether we like it or not.
Remember to use comparison websites to find the right deal for your circumstances if you can. These expenses will include:
It might be worth investing in a 16-25 Railcard if you think your son/daughter will be using trains for travel. This can save significant amounts of money even if it’s only for a relatively small number of journeys. Similarly, some bus companies offer student discounts so be sure to do some local research.
For many students, this will be the first time that they will be responsible for buying (and cooking) their own food. There are lots of ways to save money, most of which you probably already know but to give you a few ideas:
Student Job has more great shopping tips – https://www.studentjob.co.uk/blog/3539-student-budget-top-tips-for-cutting-your-shopping-bill
You’ll be amazed at how many places offer student discounts for anything from haircuts to clothes to cinema tickets, so make sure you have your National Union of Students (NUS) card to hand at all times.
We hope you found this post useful; any comments please let us know.