Teen bank account

[minervamcgonagall2]

DS1 has GoHenry but now aged 13 time for a bit more financial independence plus I don't want to keep paying monthly fee. Recommendations please for bank accounts - just for pocket money / presents. Thanks!

Most of the leading banks do them. Some you can even set up on-line without going in, if they have a passport. For instance, Nationwide do a FlexOne account for 11-17 yr old. They get a debit card and can do all the usual things.

Our kids all have Halifax accounts because their debit cards work for contactless payments at 11 years old (the other banks didn't enable contactless until older at the time we set them up).

Easiest is to go with whoever you bank with.

purely because there are fewer hoops to jump through with proving identity, because they’ve already authenticated you. A new bank is double the paperwork.

My 11 year old has a natwest adapt account. Most of the banks will only open a ypung person account if the parent uses that bank.

We applied online, scanned his passport in and the card came in 3 days.
It's a contactless debit card and he can use apple pay on his phone too.
From age 11 children are eligible for a basic current account with contact less card.

If your bank doesn't do a kids account (I'm with first direct and they don't) metro bank do. You can walk out with the debit card and kids app set up. Obviously you need to be near a branch, and mine had queues, but the service was good.

My dds both have the FlexOne Nationwide accounts. They can open them on their own at 13 online.

Ds had a Virgin teens bank account that converted to a basic adults bank account when he was 17. He got a contactless card with it.

My dd (14) has a NatWest account. I can view it via my app, as I also have an account, so can keep an eye on spending. She gets a card which is also contactless, and can use the app, she can spend on internet, applePay etc, she can't transfer money to another account. It's been really good so far.