Students need to look beyond short-term incentive deals when choosing a bank account, moneyfacts.co.uk has claimed.

With a new batch of students looking to start University this summer moneyfacts.co.uk has called for students to weigh up the costs and benefits of interest free limits, overdrafts and credit interest not just incentive schemes when they choose an account.

Michelle Slade, personal finance analyst from moneyfacts.co.uk said: Only three providers now offer account opening incentives, HSBC, Lloyds TSB and NatWest, with many other offering ongoing benefits in the form of commission free travellers cheques and a variety of discounted shopping deals. The Incentives on offer seem to have moved away from student useful offers such as rail cards (still available at NatWest) to more fashionable gadgets such as web cams and iPods.

But however tempting these goodies may be, it is important that students look at account features such as interest-free overdrafts and unauthorised overdraft rates to choose the account that offers best value for their particular circumstances. The potential savings on these could mean that you could possibly buy one of the advertised freebies and still have cash to spare.