Working 18 year old needs new current account

zebidee1

I'm struggling to find the best current account to advise my son to open so I'd welcome some help.

He's 18 (or will be in a couple of days) and is working full time (apprenticeship) and takes home around £160 per week.

He needs an account with a decent interest rate, a debit card and possibly a cheque book (although that's not essential).

Most I've looked at either require more funding per month than he has, or that he be 21.

The A&L Premier 21 account looked ok but the high interest rate is only for the first £1000 then it's 0.10% thereafter which is pretty pants. I know he could open a savings account too with a higher interest rate but I'm trying to keep things simple until he gets used to handling things himself.

Any suggestions would be great.

mleonard79

Hi Zebidee1,

I really can't think of any other accounts for a young person that give a good rate of interest as they all seem to be reserved for over 21s or require £1K+ credit per month. As far as I know the A&L one is the only one to give a high rate of interest - albeit just for the first £1K. To be honest, though, if he was going to have more than £1K kicking around in savings you really would need to get him to open a savings account too anyway so it might be worth getting that account and using it until he reaches the £1K savings and then get him to open a savings account at that time

Regards

Michelle

zebidee1

Thanks, I think you're probably right with the savings thing. It's a shame there are not more accounts out there for kids in this category.

Not everyone goes to Uni and can get a student account and I'm sure there's more than a few in this age group who even have their own flats etc and could really use a good current account such as those offered to the 21's and over.

Kilty_2

Nationwide's FlexAccount is perfect - open an E-Savings account to go with it paying 5.50% interest with instant transfers between the two.

It's not as convenient as one account but is not as inconvenient as having two completely seperate accounts since transfers are made online and take seconds.

mleonard79

Kilty wrote: »

Nationwide's FlexAccount is perfect - open an E-Savings account to go with it paying 5.50% interest with instant transfers between the two.

It's not as convenient as one account but is not as inconvenient as having two completely seperate accounts since transfers are made online and take seconds.

That's not a bad idea Kilty as the Nationwide account is a good all-round account but I'd be still be more tempted to make use of the 10% on offer from A&L though at least for the year you can get it.

It is a shame there are not better accounts on offer for 18-21 year olds but perhaps the A&L account will be the start of more banks doing something.

Regards

Michelle

CLAPTON

lets keep a sense of proportion here

the lads earning £150 per week so lets assume his average balance is say £50.

assuming he gets a massive 10% interest on his account each year then his interest will be £4 after tax per year or 8pence per week.

Its good to look at the best rates but I doubt if 8 pence per week will make an enormous difference to the lad.

Better he opens a good savings account and get in the habit of saving for the things he wants and so he never pays interest (which will probably be alot more than 8 pence a week).

zebidee1

Clapton, what you say is very true but what I didn't put in my first post was the fact that son often gets lump sums over and above his wage and since they are usually for something, then then money never lies any longer than 2 or 3 weeks. Having said that he usually has around £500 in his account as a rule anyway.

It seemed simpler to just leave it in one account rather than have some in a savings and some in a current account which was another reason for the hope of a decent interest rate.

However I think now I do need to work on him with regards to the savings account thing. I'll go read up about the Flex account now. Son isn't stupid but he is a bit too laid back when it comes to money so the easier the better, at least to start him off with.

Thanks all.