Holiday Money for Pre- teen

[Zoeyclash]

Sorry - this isn't really an AIBU but I'm posting here for traffic. I posted in the preteen section but I got zero replies.
I'm looking for an online payment system for my two sons aged 11 and 13. I'd like them to be able to spend a limited amount of money while on holidays. Are any of you familiar with using Revolut or Starling with preteens? Would you mind sharing your experiences please? Thanks so much.

My two both have starling cards and work well.

My ten year old has a revolut card that i control from my app. Its the only one that is free to use and no monthly fee. Just £4.99 to get the card. Its really good.

Hyper jar is free and they can have an app. Money transferred from your card to theirs.

We use rooster cards (now part of natwest) we keep a check on chorea and pocket money through the app and the card can be used online, in store and at ATM.

Starling is good because their card is actually "space" within your account.

So if you pay for sth for them, you can transfer it back from their account to yours easily.

I found with GoHenry - which was a top up system - that once the money had gone from my account to the parent area of the GoHenry account it was v difficult to get it back so that I could actually use it. You can of course transfer it back into the parent area, but you can't use that for your groceries, only you have it sitting there ready to pay their next allowance.

It's fine if money not tight but if I buy something for £20 for my child, I do need the £20 back in my own account.

With starling, let's say we are shopping in the supermarket and DC wants to buy sth. I can just instantly transfer the cost from their space into my main account space, and then I will just buy her thing together with all the rest of my shopping.

I just had a look at Hyper Jar and it seems great! Thanks for the recommendation. Just one question if you don't mind..... When the kids are actually spending their money in a shop, do they use a card or can they use their phone to tap? This is very new to me!

Thanks so much for all the helpful replies. With Starling and the others mentioned, do children need to use the card when they are buying something in a shop or can they tap using an app on their phone. I don't know if my boys would be good at minding a card 😫

Can't you just set them up a child's bank account? My 12 yo has a barclays account and has a debit card to pay with also attached to his phone. They can only spend what you've put on the card.

I opened a Starling account before I moved to France. I was able to pay for things using the app, which was a godsend, until the card arrived. I’ve got a Go Henry account for my son, which he never uses and is a nightmare as you cannot transfer funds back out to your bank account. I’ve emailed them 3 times about closing and they don’t reply, and there’s no option to close online. Definitely not recommended.

I’m going to set up a Starling space for my son so he can use his phone for when he’s a bit older.

Another vote for Rooster, especially if you’re with Natwest…they’ve just taken over Rooster and are offering free cards for children of Natwest customers. Very easy to transfer money, I get a notification when they’ve spent money, they can withdraw cash, use contactless etc. You have loads of control too eg whether they can use it for online purchases etc.

If they have apple wallet they can add the card to it

The starling app is very very basic - it just tells them how much money they've got and transactions.

To be fair to GoHenry their app is mich - you can create savings spaces within it etc and add chores for them to do that you tick off.

But still subject to the massive disadvantage that once the money is in the parent area of GoHenry you can't access it again.

Do they have a bank account already?

I've just closed DTs Go Henry's via the app, it was closed immediately and the money in there - 36p! was transferred back to me.