Cash card accounts for kids

[PamDenick]

Hello. Can anyone advise me. Now that we are an almost cashless society I want to get my DCS (15 and 12) an account that they can use for bus fares, treats etc. Preferably one that they can pay cheques into without visiting a branch IYSWIM.
I looked at Apple Pay but apparently the lowest age is 12.
Has anyone experience of Go Henry or Rooster or is there anything else out there?

My son turned 13 in March and had started asking me and his dad if he could open one. His dad is from a large family so DS always gets money at Christmas and for his birthday so makes sense for us to be able to pay it into an account. We went with Lloyd's.
It's also handy for him to log onto the app and transfer money to me when he wants to buy PS4 credits etc for his gaming . He might not be the most sensible when it comes to deciding what to buy with his money, but he knows he can't spend what isn't there. As an aside, it was a revelation to find that you can pay cheques in via an app and I was excited to find I can do it with my bank too! How modern!

My dd has a Barclays account. I can't remember if it was eleven or twelve where you got a card.

There is an app she can use to check her balance and she can freeze her card from the app.

Mine have the Lloyds young person's account. There's no fees. It's been perfect. They have a debit card, although to be honest they usually pay using their phones. They can't go overdrawn, so they've both had the embarrassing experience of their card failing once in a shop - a good lesson! I have a standing order set up for their monthly allowance.

They can check their balance on the app - well, ds could before he forgot his password!

I'm with Lloyds too and it's really easy to send them money; too easy, to be honest, I seem to get frequent requests for top ups for lunch when they're out ! The funniest was when ds was spending his birthday money with a friend and decided to treat him to a KFC afterwards. He rang me to ask me to transfer 1p over as he'd miscalculated how much he had left!

I didn't realise you could freeze the card on the app. Having said that, ds' card once got eaten in a cash machine during a power cut and I rang Lloyds for him. It was very easy and they sent him a new card the next day.

Mine has a Nimbl card (similar to GoHenry), which I set up via a special offer on ParentPay. There's a small monthly charge but it's easy for me to top it up, set up automatic pocket money payments etc. and I get an alert when he uses it, which helps me to keep track of how much crap he buys at the Co-Op on the way home from school. He wants a real bank account though, so once All This is over we'll probably open him an account with one of our banks.