DD17 travelling abroad, get another bank account?

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Her nationwide student account charges 2.99%. Would you open a new account for travel? Or give her my card to use or do people do something else?

She should get a Monzo account, no fees and the exchange rate is good, free account to open

Get her a Revolut account - it’s the best when travelling

Tell her to get a monzo in her name

Open an account with Chase or Monzo. No fees for spending overseas and decent exchange rate.

My teen uses Monzo and only has a few quid in her main account so if her card is lost/stolen, not much can be taken. She shifts money over when she knows she needs it. So much safer than having all her money available.

First Direct, Monzo, Chase, and Starling all offer current accounts with no fees on foreign debit card transactions, just the near-perfect Mastercard exchange rate. A multi-currency alternative to Revolut, which I use, is HSBC Global Money but you need an HSBC current account too.

However - and this is potentially a big one - foreign retailers (and this includes on-board Ryanair!) do have the ability to conduct the transaction in sterling and if so they set their own exchange rate which is usually outrageous. So, always make sure the transaction is done in the foreign currency (euro, dollar, doubloon etc) - especially when you're just tapping a contactless terminal without looking.

ETA: the big advantage for me with HSBC Global Money is that the card is a Visa debit, and all the others I listed above are Mastercard. Not such a big deal in Europe but in southern Africa it's still quite common to come across places that will accept one but not the other. Revolut lets you choose Visa or Mastercard for the digital one, but you don't get a choice for the physical one.

I use Chase as I heard some bad things about Monzo freezing accounts and putting cifas markers on people. It’s fee free abroad, it notifies you every time your card is used so if you lost your card and it was used contactless before you noticed you can freeze it on the app. The card has no numbers so it’s secure (the card number is on the app). I love it and have used it all over the world, US, Europe etc.

Both DH and I have a Monzo account for travelling abroad. We just transfer the money we need into that from our main current bank account. It’s always worked brilliantly.

This is important abroad, if the retailer offers to do your transaction in sterling say no. Always do it in the local currency. In local currency you will pay your banks exchange rate, if you let the retailer set the exchange rate they can take any amount.

DD got Starling for this. Seemed easy to open and card arrived quickly.

Based on DS’s experience, where he lost his first bank card a couple or days into his travels, get her to get two cards ie Monzo and Revolut and make sure both are loaded into her phone wallet.

My DD was recommended Monzo when she was abroad for a month for work experience by the organisers.

I’d get both monzo and Revolut

I don't think Revolut will let her have pockets with different currencies at 17. She'll have to have a Stirling account but it will still be better than using her existing NW one. The app is really good too.

Oh really?

At 17 she'll have a child account, which will have to be linked to a parent's account. It can only be held in the currency of the (parent's) country of residence. She'll still be able to use her card abroad though.
And you'll be able to track her transactions.

My son used Chase when he was travelling and we also gave him a card on my husbands credit card account that we use on holiday for emergencies

I’m in Ireland so it might be different here, but Revolut now allow a 17yr old to have their own (adult) account that’s not linked to the parents account.

Revolut had hidden fees when I used it for travelling, I switched to Starling instead

@KrazyKattyThanks, I'll double check that then - I'm in the Netherlands so that may explain it. DS would love to have his own account. He has four but I can see them all. (I don't judge )

Monzo or Revolut.
I have both and they are fantastic as you only put as much as you want on them so no issue if they are stolen.