Bank account for 16 year old

[TheCheeseTray]

Very sensible 16 year old needs her own bank account. She tutors and baby sits so earns money. Which I will top up - she wants to have an account which saves but if she wants to buy a drink with a friend or transfer money etc it was do that with a card or app.

not too keen on paying fees etc

any advice - I’m with NatWest

Watching and to say NOT Barclays. My daughter had an account with Barclays at 14 and unlike all her friends cant transfer money out. You have to go into a branch to set up a payee which is ridiculous. It was meant to transfer at 16 to an account where she can make transfers (she was 16 in April) but apparently Barclays won’t transfer it until mid September which is “always how their 16+ accounts work”. Rubbish.

Just get a current account? Does she not have one already? Mine had them set up at 11 which was the minimum age with my bank.

natwest will probably be easiest if you bank with them already as won’t need so much ID.

but yes, any bank, 16-18 current account. Debit card/Apple Pay. Like I said, mine have had this from 11.

Monzo

Starling is really good

Both of mine have had Halifax current accounts with debit cards since 13. We've never had a problem, I set up a standing order for pocket money and now 17 year old has his wages paid in as well.
They both use the app with no issues as well.

A current account with a savings account she can transfer money to is what she needs. Most high street banks will offer this. It's unusual these days not to have it set up until they are 16 though: most kids that age have been using contactless for a while already.

HSBC set them up a current account and a savings account which you can transfer between easily on the app. Mine has everything paid into the savings account and then transfers over to current when actually spending, often in the queue for the till

How has she got to 16 without a bank account? Does she not have any kind of account, as if she does have eg a savings account then that would be the place to start by seeing if a linked current account is available.
If she really doesn't have anything then tell her to set up a Monzo account online which is quick and simple.
Once set up she can use Apple Pay or Google pay etc on her phone

My 16 yo has Revolut, I had to set one up for her to have an account, but I only hold a min8mal amount in there to transfer to her

My kids both had Halifax current accounts with a debit card from age 11/12 and then a separate savings account. They used the app and Apple Pay once they were a bit older.

Not sure why a pp had trouble with Barclays. DS had an account with them at 14 and could transfer money to other people via the app with no need to go into branch. Then a week before his 16th birthday (in December) he was notified that it would automatically morph into a 16+ account on his birthday. Once that had happened the app updated and he had access to more features (such as paying cheques in online).

My 10yo has a revolut, HyperJar and NatWest rooster. Though I find the rooster card the hardest to use!!! They are all free - NAtWest free as I'm an account holder.
HyperJar and rooster has 'pots' for savings and spending, so pocket money goes in spends etc

My 2 have accounts with Santander

My DCs have an account with Nationwide. Because DD met the criteria and had a savings account too, she's just received £100 as part or their profit share scheme for members.

My 2 had accounts with Barclays from about the age of 12. Had no problems with them at all.

Thanks. In answer to why she hasn't got one -she didn't need one. She had cash.

Nationwide are good. My DC have had current accounts for years, and also a saving account each. They got £100 recently for being members!

Post office too

DD has had a Halifax account since she's 11 and it has been excellent, however we've decided to get a couple of back up banks as she recently lost her debit card and couldn't access her money until the new card arrived.

We've opened accounts with Natwest and Nationwide but she'll probably switch to Nationwide as they offer a 2% interest on credit balances.

We've just opened our 16 year old a TSB account

Mine have Santander accounts. When my oldest started university it was really easy to convert his account to a student account and they gave him a three-year railcard.

I’ve rung Barclays twice and she definitely can’t do transfers on the app without setting up a payee in branch. And the transfer at 16 but not until September after she is 16 is so ridiculous Really irritated about it. Maybe they changed their account offerings. We went with Barclays as we opened the account in the pandemic when she was 13 and as I already banked with them it was easy to set up with a video call.

That's so odd - my DS turned 16 in December and absolutely no issues like that at all - he received notification a few days before his birthday that his account would automatically become a 16+ account and sure enough on his birthday the app updated to allow more features. Maybe it was a different type of account from your DD's, but my DS absolutely could transfer money to my account from his account without setting me up as a payee in branch (although I'm not sure he ever transferred money to anyone else). In fact his whole account was set up over video call without ever setting foot in a branch.

Just checked and his is a BarclayPlus account and came with a debit card so he could use ApplePay too.

When we set up the account I transferred money into it during the video call and then DS was told to transfer £1 back to me to demonstrate how the app works so I wonder if that counted as authorising me as a payee? I've checked with DS and he never needed to transfer money to anyone else using the app.

No idea why they are making you wait until September to upgrade to the 16+ account. Makes no sense.