Change to a regular current account or stay until University

sbrewer4

Hi all,
I’m soon turning 18 and currently have a children’s bank account. I will be going to university this September and of course then will have a student bank account but I am wondering if it was worth opening a regular current account in between time and then applying for a Student account when possible (e.g A Level results day and confirmed place). Any advice is appreciated, thanks.

adamp87

I imagine most banks will change your account when you turn 18 automatically to be honest I may be wrong.

But realistically I don’t see any rush

sbrewer4

adamp87 said:

I imagine most banks will change your account when you turn 18 automatically to be honest I may be wrong.

But realistically I don’t see any rush

I imagine so but can’t see anywhere on my Banks website what they actually do. I’ve just looked at the bank accounts on here and there’s £130 to switch to First Direct so thought if it doesn’t harm me in anyway to switch, it’s definitely worth it (providing I’m accepted etc).

kimwp

Can you open a non-children's account before you turn 18? If not, then you'll have to wait til you turn 18. If that's the case, then ask your bank if they automatically change it and if so when. There's not a huge amount of point planning forward for a particular offer as it may be withdrawn. NB Make sure you check that you can fulfil the t's and C's of the bank account and also the switching offer.

Marchitiello

I have opened four different child accounts with HSBC, Barclays, RBS and Santander and I am pretty sure these will convert to normal accounts at 18 (some i opened for my kid when he was just 12 and already at 13 these changed some setting due to age…). My own experience, from the late 1990’s, I had a basic account with Visa Electron (opened when I was 17) and automatically converted to a Visa Connect full debit card when i turned 18, I then started uni and converted it to a Student account, and I opened also another Student Account at the same time.

[Deleted User]

Keep them and convert when opportune - the youth accounts are normally on better terms than the adult accounts with 90% of their functionality. 

lr1277

I am not sure you will be allowed to,open a new current account before you are 18 because most current accounts come with an overdraft facility. This will require a credit check and only those 18 and over are allowed credit.
You might be allowed to open a basic account which has no overdraft facilities.
From my younger days, you needed to show your source of funds to open a current account. I don’t know if that is still the case.
Banks open accounts for people with jobs because they are expected to have a regular income. Banks open accounts for students because they should have funds coming in regularly to pay all their expenses. In both these cases overdrafts can be provided because the account holder is probably over 18. I don’t know how 16 year olds manage if they leave school and get a job. The 16 year old might have to speak to branch staff to discuss possibilities.

You might be able to open an account now if you can show you will have some regular funds.

[Deleted User]

lr1277 said:

I am not sure you will be allowed to,open a new current account before you are 18 because most current accounts come with an overdraft facility. This will require a credit check and only those 18 and over are allowed credit.
You might be allowed to open a basic account which has no overdraft facilities.
From my younger days, you needed to show your source of funds to open a current account. I don’t know if that is still the case.
Banks open accounts for people with jobs because they are expected to have a regular income. Banks open accounts for students because they should have funds coming in regularly to pay all their expenses. In both these cases overdrafts can be provided because the account holder is probably over 18. I don’t know how 16 year olds manage if they leave school and get a job. The 16 year old might have to speak to branch staff to discuss possibilities.

You might be able to open an account now if you can show you will have some regular funds.

Your info is out of date.

It depends on the bank's internal policy regarding age but most current accounts don't come with overdrafts nor do most require regular income paid into them. As for income from a job - the employer is simply after a sort code and account number that accepts regular BACS/ Faster Payments - they aren't interested in the underlying account type.

The OP can have a chat and cup of tea with the branch staff but they are unlikely to have much more info that is on the respective provider websites.

lr1277

Deleted_User said:

lr1277 said:

I am not sure you will be allowed to,open a new current account before you are 18 because most current accounts come with an overdraft facility. This will require a credit check and only those 18 and over are allowed credit.
You might be allowed to open a basic account which has no overdraft facilities.
From my younger days, you needed to show your source of funds to open a current account. I don’t know if that is still the case.
Banks open accounts for people with jobs because they are expected to have a regular income. Banks open accounts for students because they should have funds coming in regularly to pay all their expenses. In both these cases overdrafts can be provided because the account holder is probably over 18. I don’t know how 16 year olds manage if they leave school and get a job. The 16 year old might have to speak to branch staff to discuss possibilities.

You might be able to open an account now if you can show you will have some regular funds.

Your info is out of date.

It depends on the bank's internal policy regarding age but most current accounts don't come with overdrafts nor do most require regular income paid into them. As for income from a job - the employer is simply after a sort code and account number that accepts regular BACS/ Faster Payments - they aren't interested in the underlying account type.

The OP can have a chat and cup of tea with the branch staff but they are unlikely to have much more info that is on the respective provider websites.

Oberoth as you said yourself the current account details will be on each bank’s website, so I checked three.

First Direct: overdraft subject to status and need to be 18 or over.
HSBC: potential overdraft, need to be 18 or over and agree to a credit check.
Barclays: potential overdraft and need to be 18 or over.

With HSBC, I checked the regular current account and not the basic account.

OP: as part of opening the account you will need to prove ID and address. You could use your (provisional) driving licence to prove your address as long as you are not using it to prove your ID. If you are using your driving licence to prove your ID, do you have a council tax or utility bill in your name? From what I have seen and remember, banks don’t accept mobile phone bills as proof of address. Though you could always ask the question.
Good luck!

kimwp

Should be able to use the letters from your existing bank account to prove your address also. Often they need to be within the last three months - it's worth keeping hold of the most recent letters for this purpose. Letters from ACAS (if they are still the ones doing uni admissions), from the universities themselves would count, I imagine.

Marchitiello

lr1277 said:

Deleted_User said:

lr1277 said:

I am not sure you will be allowed to,open a new current account before you are 18 because most current accounts come with an overdraft facility. This will require a credit check and only those 18 and over are allowed credit.
You might be allowed to open a basic account which has no overdraft facilities.
From my younger days, you needed to show your source of funds to open a current account. I don’t know if that is still the case.
Banks open accounts for people with jobs because they are expected to have a regular income. Banks open accounts for students because they should have funds coming in regularly to pay all their expenses. In both these cases overdrafts can be provided because the account holder is probably over 18. I don’t know how 16 year olds manage if they leave school and get a job. The 16 year old might have to speak to branch staff to discuss possibilities.

You might be able to open an account now if you can show you will have some regular funds.

Your info is out of date.

It depends on the bank's internal policy regarding age but most current accounts don't come with overdrafts nor do most require regular income paid into them. As for income from a job - the employer is simply after a sort code and account number that accepts regular BACS/ Faster Payments - they aren't interested in the underlying account type.

The OP can have a chat and cup of tea with the branch staff but they are unlikely to have much more info that is on the respective provider websites.

Oberoth as you said yourself the current account details will be on each bank’s website, so I checked three.

First Direct: overdraft subject to status and need to be 18 or over.
HSBC: potential overdraft, need to be 18 or over and agree to a credit check.
Barclays: potential overdraft and need to be 18 or over.

With HSBC, I checked the regular current account and not the basic account.

OP: as part of opening the account you will need to prove ID and address. You could use your (provisional) driving licence to prove your address as long as you are not using it to prove your ID. If you are using your driving licence to prove your ID, do you have a council tax or utility bill in your name? From what I have seen and remember, banks don’t accept mobile phone bills as proof of address. Though you could always ask the question.
Good luck!

What you have stated does not back up your initial statement: Bank accounts do not come with Overdraft automatically, you can request one as part of the application, but as you said an account for a minor will not have one, it does not mean that they won’t open a suitable account for the minor because it won’t have an overdraft. Basically the fact that their adult account has a requirement of being 18+ It is not linked necessarily to the fact that the account comes with an overdraft facility (I have applied for many account and the application process ask you if you would like to apply for such facility. I opened my own Barclays account when I was 4 months short of turning 18 (late 1990’s) and I was given a regular account but with no overdraft facility and a visa electron debit card. I still have that same account, it is now a Barclays Premier Account and for a time it was my Student and then Graduate account.  When I turned 18 I got offered a Barclaycard  with something like £300 limit (which again I still got and went through few product changes overtime to become a Cashback card with £18k limit before it was almost halved as part of the recent wide limit reduction as effectively I have not been using the card for years, aside an annual transaction for £1-3). Barclays for example still offer “Young Person Accounts”, for 16-17 yo, which is probably what I had, but different from a child account available from 12 to 16yo.