Contactless Debit Cards

Liam_W

Hi, first of all I'm new here, so bear with me

Now then, does anyone know of a bank account for a 16 year old (me) that offers contactless debit cards? It needs to be a full debit card, and a full account.

I'm with Barclays, but they said you needed to be 18 as it was credit or something. It struck me as odd, as surely it's the same risk as debit cards, as when updated they could cause you to go overdrawn?

Anyhow, is there a bank that offers contactless cards for 16 year old people?

Thanks,
Liam

SurfKing

Liam_W wrote: »

Hi, first of all I'm new here, so bear with me

Now then, does anyone know of a bank account for a 16 year old (me) that offers contactless debit cards? It needs to be a full debit card, and a full account.

I'm with Barclays, but they said you needed to be 18 as it was credit or something. It struck me as odd, as surely it's the same risk as debit cards, as when updated they could cause you to go overdrawn?

Anyhow, is there a bank that offers contactless cards for 16 year old people?

Thanks,
Liam

Hi Liam!

I'm not aware of any banks who offer a contactless card for under 18s. On most accounts for under 18s the debit card will be what's called an Online Card (sometimes a "Full Authorisation" card). This means that any time you make a purchase, the card machine will check with the bank to make sure the purchase won't make your account overdrawn (this is why you might find that you have trouble using your card to buy tickets on the train, because there's no way for those old portable machines to check with the bank), although as you say there are some edge cases which can still take you overdrawn. The other kind of card is an Offline Card, which will still usually check with the bank to make sure you aren't overdrawn, but which will also work in offline mode, allowing you to make purchases without the card machine checking with the bank.

As far as I know, current contactless payments work exclusively in offline mode, meaning that when you pay for something using contactless the card machine does not check with the bank to see if you have sufficient funds. This means most banks won't give contactless cards to people who are under 18 or who have poor credit histories.

Gromitt

Meh, what SurfKing said ^^^

[For better than my original response]

pmduk

Barclays will offer contactless cards on their basic account now. Whether this applies to those under 18 is another matter.

System

hello liam,

I think? I have heard that the co-op bank's standard current account accepts any one over 16yrs but not sure if they have contactless debit cards.


might be worth a look but apart from that I do not think any but apart from that have not heard of any banks that give debit cards to under 18yrs.

sorry not much help.

eddddy

Liam_W wrote: »

... does anyone know of a bank account for a 16 year old (me) that offers contactless debit cards? It needs to be a full debit card, and a full account.
...

If you're near London / the South East... it looks like anyone aged 11+ can open a Personal Cash Account with Metrobank, which offers a MasterCard PayPass contactless cash card, that you can use for purchases.

But it looks like the account has some limitations - e.g. no standing orders or direct debits.

https://www.metrobankonline.co.uk/Global/Metro%20Bank%20Online%20-%20January%202013/Cash%20Account/Cash_Account_201_IIS_PF192_06%2013%20v3.pdf

There's nothing to stop you having both a Barclays account and a Metrobank account, if that helps. And you could probably transfer money between them online, if you wanted to.

ecraig

You won't get a traditional debit card with full authentication - you're just not old enough. You won't get a full debit account because you're not old enough to *be able to request* an overdraft that comes with most full current accounts. You won't get contactless because you can't have the above yet.

Why? Because bankers are w*nkers.

Hominu

ecraig wrote: »

You won't get contactless because you can't have the above yet.

No, anyone can get a contactless card regardless of age. You can even get one if you don't pass an identification check (but you'll have spending limits).

What you might not be able to get is a bank account with combined contactless debit card.

However, you can easily get a prepaid card with contactless functionality and then link it with your bank account.

Nathan101994

Nationwide have launched a new current account for under 18s called flexone that strangely enough is contactless as I am 19 and had to fight for one with my bank. Hope this helps and you get your wave and go card :j

dr_adidas01

Nathan101994 wrote: »

Nationwide have launched a new current account for under 18s called flexone that strangely enough is contactless as I am 19 and had to fight for one with my bank. Hope this helps and you get your wave and go card :j

Why are you responding to something that hasn't been and active thread since June of this year?

Nathan101994

dr_adidas01 wrote: »

Why are you responding to something that hasn't been and active thread since June of this year?

because i dont need your permission