account for a teenager

techno_geek

Unfortunately, many Lloyds TSB staff are unaware of the changes - they no longer issue Visa Electron cards!

I would imagine you just ask for a chequebook unless they give you one straight away.

Kilty_2

They told me it was Visa Electron also. I can assure you, there's a Visa Debit card in my wallet.

Getting a cheque book was a struggle. The leaflet they gave me when I opened the account stated "you can request a cheque book at any time you wish".

I asked in branch about it and the lady was convinced I could not get a cheque book because I am under 18. She claimed there was simply not the option on her computer to order me a cheque book. I asked to see the manager and the option suddenly appeared...........

johnbfan

Unfortunately the card given on the Lloyds account to youngsters is a full blown debit/cash card. My 16 yer old son has it and and keeps going overdrawn on the account because he uses in shops, not just for cashpoint. I have stopped paying off this overdraft in the hope they wll freeze his account. He is not working so its all down to me to pay it off each time and I have to stop or h will never learn.

Kilty_2

It depends where he is using it, he must be using it in shops that don't pre-authorise the funds. If he tries using it in Tesco, etc then it would be declined since they authorise every transaction before debiting it. (Just like Visa Electron is supposed to do every time it is used, Tesco do this for any type of card as do a lot of the major retailers)

Some retailers don't authorise small transactions until they go to take the money and whether you have it or not, it's taken and Lloyds can do nothing.

I would hope that Lloyds TSB would see sense and withdraw the debit card from his account, replacing it with a cashpoint card.

techno_geek

Surely it would make more sense for Lloyds TSB to ensure that their systems force an authorisation if the account-holder is under 18?

Or would that be too sensible? :rolleyes: They are a bank after all, and it's a new 'market' of customers on which to impose charges!!

Kilty_2

The bank can't force authorisation, they have no control over the merchant systems that retailers use.