Internet Accounts for 16 year olds

loobs40

Does anyone know of any current accounts for young people that can be accessed on the internet ?

my 16 year old is still at school and does not have any formal income (only his paper round !).

grumbler

bank a/c for under 18's . Most of accounts have internet access and don't requier any income.

Search (Guide);)

meadowcat

Both of my boys (now 20 and 16) had accounts with the Halifax. I think it is called Express cash.

They had a card for the cash machine and also full internet access. They also had a websaver account where they kept most of their money and just transferred money back to the Express cash account when they wanted to take money from the cash machine.

20 year old has moved on, but 16 year old is still using these two accounts. I think they can move on to a proper account when they reach 18.

System

Martin’s asked me to post this in these circumstances: I’ve asked Board Guides to move threads if they’ll receive a better response elsewhere(please see this rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board, where it should get more replies. If you have any questions about this policy please email [email="andrea@moneysavingexpert.com"]abuse@moneysavingexpert.com[/email].

loobs40

We visited various banks today to clarify details of the Under 19 bank account products. The amount of wrong information we were giving by the staff was staggering. Frankly I could have done a better job selling these accounts.

The most worrying aspect was that the marketing information does not do enough, and in some cases nothing at all, to warn about bank charges should a under 18 go overdrawn or have standing orders/ direct debits /cheques returned

The lady in Lloyds told me it was impossible for them to go overdrawn and so incur charges. When I mentioned that it could happen via a direct debit, she was genuinely surprised and told me that in her experience it wouldn't happen. Just like under 19s would never break the speed limit perhaps, or under 18s don't drink alcohol ???

After phoning her help desk etc she conceded that yes there was a possibility of charges for unpaid direct debits (approx £30), but she would have to go to a higher authority to find out for sure.

In the end we went with Abbey. Not because they were any better (advisor there told me current account does not have direct debit facility until I showed her the leaflet advertising direct debits) but because my son already has a savings account with them so setting up the current account was a lot less hassle.

cougar_3

Should have gone with Natwest, you get a solo card (accepted in the vast majority of shops and online), online and telephone banking and OK interest.

I think that Lloyds were right, you can't legally go overdrawn. Someone did on these forums, complained and got the money refunded.

Helix

I agree with natwest, solo cards seemed to be accepted in lots more places than visa electron. Plus the interest is good, it has even gone up since I have been with them.