Best children's bank account

Oblomov20, thanks for that information, as I might try and arrange this to open a flex account for DS2 (11).

Nationwide are now doing phone appointments. To pen the flex account for 11 year olds. I've got one booked for Ds2 for this Saturday morning.

NatWest will do 11 year old accounts. The only bank we could find that would, the others jut currently opening them because Covid 🙄

We went with MetroBank for 11 year old DD - it's not quick to set up, and you need to go in person, with child plus passport etc but they are very child-friendly.

We're giving her £5 a week allowance - and she has the potential to earn another £5 a week if all homework, music practice etc is completed properly, on time AND without any nagging from us (I suspect we will not be paying out that often).

We recently opened a Nationwide account for DS1 who is 13 which comes with a debit card. This is normally available to kids of 11 and 12 but at the moment you would need an appointment.

I have a current account with HSBC but local branches have closed and nearest ones are about 4 miles away, in London, which isn't particularly helpful, and I decided to go for Nationwide because I have other accounts there and passbook savings for the kids, and dp has his current account there. They have two branches about a mile from us in nearby shopping areas, and one near DP's work and the tube station there. I think it's sensible to think about which banks are most convenient to get to from you even if you mostly use them online, eg distance, places you/other parent/dc goes to regularly anyway.

Sadly we've already had to report a lost/stolen card on the phone but they answered dp's call promptly, spoke to DS, and were able to reassure us that no money had been taken or spent on his account before we reported it. We were told the card would come within 7 working days and it came in about 4.

We did the same as @MsEllany, this morning actually! As a Barclay customer we logged in through the app, then opened the separate video app and did it all over that (sent a photo of DS’s passport via docusign). It took about 45 mins and was so easy - the lady even helped DS set up the mobile banking app.

(I appreciate you aren’t a Barclays customer OP but I thought the info might help others on here.)

I opened a Lloyds one for my dd last year. I had to make an apt at a local branch and have her go in with me.

Not sure how that is working at the moment though.

It's fine. Debit card, no charges etc.

I've applied for Revolut junior. All done in the app and card on its way. It's not a current account but does what we want it to do. Can top up up to £40 per month, control security settings and both parent and child can see transactions etc.

All the accounts we have looked into that give you an incentive require a face to face appointment which they arnt doing that the moment! Can’t really find any right now!!

Ooh I've just seen there is something called Revolut junior. Appears to be a fee free prepaid card that means you can view their transactions etc

no i wouldn't just turn up as the appointment will take a bit of time

I need to do the same for my 11 year old. TSB seems to pay best interest. Anyone know if I can walk into a branch to open one? I'll perhaps try calling them rather than turning up...

My ds has a HSBC account. He's not usually one for leaving the house but I made him come with me to hand in the forms. He really didn't need to be there. The lady in the bank said so herself. Needless to say he was not impressed!

I transfer £20 a month.

Mine have Barclays accounts. I’m a Barclays customer so I could open them over a video call, they have the banking app and a debit card. I wanted them to have something completely separate from mine - at secondary age I wanted them to spend without me monitoring (the reality is that they can’t spend anything anyway so it’s not a big deal. They don’t know how to add their details to their Xbox account for example!)

Nationwide Flex for 11-13 isn't available atm, because it requires a branch appointment and they aren't doing appointments yet. I know this because I rang my branch today and branch manager told me so. He's waiting to hear. Might be September 7th, 11th or 22nd.

Dd has a Nimbl card as I couldn’t find an account with an app that under 13s could use. I’m going to convert her to a normal current account plus app and debit card when she turns 13, but for now Nimbl works very well. She can use her card to buy online or in shops or if she loses her Zip card, and I can see what she has spent and do an emergency top up if necessary. And it means I don’t have to make sure I have cash to pay her pocket money.

I opened my dc's accounts online and I'm sure ds was only 11 at the time (he's 13 now). I had to upload passport photos and proof of address. Didn't need to go in branch at all. It was Santander though and they don't seem to allow it at age 11 now

Nationwide flex account is great. It has worked really well for my daughter for last 2 years (opened when she was 11 and she's now 13). You do have to go into a branch but I'm surprised that's not the case with other accounts since money laundering regs seem to require personal verification. Great app so she can see easily her balance and spend and I can log into account too. And easy for me to pay her pocket money/allowance via a monthly online payment from my (different bank) account

The issue is proof of ID for money laundering despite DD already having a Nationwide account ( a legacy Portman children's account) we still had to attend the branch with her passport to open a flex account.
If you could do it online the fraudsters would open one for a 15/16 year run and small amount of money through for a couple of years and then convert to an adult account and boom away they go.

I have been very impressed with Metro bank. They are not everywhere in the country, but their opening hours are brilliant and they are very helpful. No charges, and a card for over 11s.