Bank accounts and prepaid debit cards can be a good way of teaching kids about managing their money. As the world heads away from using cash, many businesses are opting to take only contactless card payments. You might think of it as dangerous to give an under-18 year-old a bank account or debit card, given the opportunities for overdrafts and lending but there are specific accounts and cards designed for this that have their safeguards and advantages.
There are two types of spending accounts for teens: prepaid cards and children’s bank accounts.
These cards are like a mix of a gift card and a regular debit card. A prepaid card can be topped up and used like a debit card, but once the balance reaches £0, it can’t go any further. Any transactions attempted at that point will be declined, so the child can’t end up in debt.
These cards all let you manage your child’s transactions, and block payments at blacklisted sites and stores.
For parental controls: gohenry
gohenry is the most expensive of the prepaid cards, and it’s available to kids from the age of 6 to 18, but it might be more suited to younger teens. It has good controls, notifications and safeguards in place, including an automatic limit on payments to your child’s chosen gaming platform. Kids can earn extra from doing chores you set via the app.
An easy and fun way to pay your kids pocket money and teach them good money habits
Rooster Card costs £24.99 a year for the card and app. It lets you limit stores visited, ban blacklisted stores and has a dynamic CVV, which gives more fraud protection for online sales. It also offers a wealth of educational resources for kids to learn about money. You can set chores for your child via the app, too.
Annual or monthly fees
Most children’s prepaid cards have annual or monthly fees. There’s often a promotional period that’s free or heavily discounted.
Usage fees
Some charge fees to top up, withdraw money or use the card beyond certain limits, especially when used abroad.
These cards are more suited to a younger teen than an older one. As your child starts to work part-time and earn their own money, you both might find it overkill that you get a notification about every transaction, and your child might want a bit of privacy. The best way to decide is to just chat to them and agree on what will work for you both.
Your teenager might not be a child, but until they turn 18, they can only have a children’s bank account. These accounts look like an adult account, but they usually have no charges and won’t have the facility for an overdraft. They offer more privacy for your child, especially the ones that can’t be opened until the child is 16-years-old.
123 Mini Current Account
£0
Monthly fee
£0
Card delivery fee
£0
Cash withdrawal fee
| Monthly fee | Free |
|---|---|
| Card delivery fee | Free |
| Card transaction fee | Free |
| Cash withdrawal fee | Free |
| Loading fee | Free |
| Replacement card fee | |
| Network | Mastercard |
| How many child accounts | |
| Fees abroad | |
| Other fees | |
| Freeze/unfreeze card |
Most of these accounts don’t have fees except for spending or withdrawing cash abroad. They aim to get their customers in early to hopefully keep them for life.
We have provided a table of various bank accounts for teens where the data was taken from the provider’s websites on 2 January 2021.
| Provider Name | Name of account | Rate (AER variable) | Includes debit card | Min/max deposit | Min age max age |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bank of Scotland | Under 19s Account | 0.50% | Yes | £1 | 11-17 |
| Barclays | Children’s bank account – BarclayPlus | 0.1% from £1, 0.6% from £1000 | Yes | £1 | 11-15 |
| Halifax | Expresscash account | 0.5% between £1 and £2499 | Yes | £1 | 11-17 |
| HSBC | MyAccount current account | None | Yes | £1 | 11-17 |
| Lloyds | Under 19s Account | 0.5% from £1 to £2499 | Yes | £1 | 11-17 |
| Metro Bank | Cash account | Not stated | Yes | None | 11 or over |
| Nationwide | FlexOne | 0.1% up to £1000 | Yes | None | 11-17 |
| NatWest | Adapt | 1% | Yes | None | 11-18 |
| Santander | 1|2|3 Mini Current Account | 1% up to 999, 2% to 1499, 3% for 1500 to 2000 | Yes | None | Up to 18 |
There’s not much between these accounts, except for the interest rates, so that’s what we’ve gone with to rank them.
Best interest rate: TSB
TSB’s Under 19s account has the best interest rate, at 2.5%, meaning that your teens will see some interest on what they put in it.
They receive a debit card with the account which means that they can spend money in shops and online.
For a digital bank: Starling Bank
Older teens can sign up for Starling from the age of 16, which gives them pretty much the same experience as with the adult account. You can get a nice interest rate of 0.05% and all the bells and whistles of the adult Starling account (except for the lending facilities).
Pros
Cons
We show offers we can track - that's not every product on the market...yet. Unless we've said otherwise, products are in no particular order. The terms "best", "top", "cheap" (and variations of these) aren't ratings, though we always explain what's great about a product when we highlight it. This is subject to our terms of use. When you make major financial decisions, consider getting independent financial advice. Always consider your own circumstances when you compare products so you get what's right for you.
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