My daughter is 15 now and I’m thinking of getting her on of those debit cards aimed at children. She’s got a Sunday job now so has a bit more disposable income and I feel a debit card would be better than her stuffing cash into the tiny pockets of those skin-tight jeans all girls of that age seem to wear!

It will also help her see what she’s spending.

So what’s good and what’s bad?

Ta!

Contactless one I guess would be useful. Maybe one that can be added to the phone given teens are forever attached to them, assuming the phone has contactless support.

Why not just get the one from whoever she banks with?

Aren’t debit cards all a much of a muchness.

It will also help her see what she’s spending

If she looks.

Why not just get the one from whoever she banks with?

Yeah, or maybe she could just ask her accountant what they would recommend.

I tried to get one with nationwide when I turned 18 as I already had an accountwith then, with a cash card. They refused, and kept refusing for 6 years till I lost my rag and closed all my dealings with them. Still no idea why!

Interested in this.

I’ve just this week signed up my 11 year old daughter with a RBS one.

All her pocket money currently goes into ‘her’ saver account. She has no way of accessing this bank account even though it’s in her name. If she wants to know how much money she has, she has to ask her mum. We could obviously just give her cash, but we tried that for years and failed – we just don’t have cash in our pockets these days, so it just gets forgotten. So we set up a direct debit into a saver account instead. But since she can’t access it herself, she never gets into the habit of spending – she just absentmindedly saves.

Anyway, when set up her new RBS child account will give her a debit card and an app on her iPad that she can access to see her balance, but limits her from doing anything of financial importance (e.g. no direct debits or balance transfers). We’ll feed a bit of cash from her saver account into her child account and see how well she deals with spending money.

That’s the plan anyway. We’ll see how she gets on. If it doesn’t work out then I’ll look at prepaid cards such as this one recommended by moneysavingexpert.com: NIMBL prepaid card

Will she be getting paid in cash? If so, the answer is what ever bank has the most convenient branch with an accessible paying in machine.

For digital natives, Monzo would be a good shout if they are paying direct into the account. I have a Golden Ticket, (no waiting in the acceptance queue) I could whang over if that helps.

My lot have been fine with Nationwide, from about 12 onward. Eldest switched to Santander when going to Uni because there is a branch on campus, but keeps £200 in NW to have an alternative source if one bank’s systems are playing up.

Could also look at something like a Pockit card which you transfer funds into

my 13 year old daughter has one – from nationwide. Had a 2 hour chat with them about the responsibilities of it, and an app on the phone

Most of the money resides in the savings side, with only an amount in the chequing (checking? Americanisms!) side. Helps if it gets nicked.

You can control how much goes into the spendy side, but trust is the key really….

Ours have had RBS debit card since age 12. It has not caused any problem, and in fact being able to use the bank app is a great, quick way of them taking responsibility. They only have pocket money and paper round money in there.

I had a NatWest one when I was about 12, was fine. Surely a debit card’s a debit card…? Possible exceptions about overdraft, transaction limits etc.

Good idea, all Toer 1’s have Child Accounts specifically for this reason.
Just ask the Bank you deal with and they’ll set it up, with or without parental controls so you can or may not want to manage it.. up to you.

There’s also companies like https://www.gohenry.co.uk. You pay a service charge, but as a parent you can set restrictions on use and so on.