Child’s 1st bank experience/account

jmm8997

Hi,
Child (8) went to town to open first bank account. Really pleased with HSBC branch who gave him a money box although I have to create the account online.

xylophone

The parents of someone I used to know still have his five  ceramic Natwest piggies  sitting on their  book shelf  - the owner has long since departed to pastures new....

pridehappy

I still have my child’s Halifax money box from when they we’re very young, the memories…

flaneurs_lobster

jmm8997 said:

Hi,
Child (8) went to town to open first bank account. Really pleased with HSBC branch who gave him a money box although I have to create the account online.

Was child given alternative investment opportunity of purchasing bag of bird seed from elderly seller for tuppence?

HampshireH

I have 3 NatWest Pigs too on the shelf 

Opened a NatWest First saver for child 1 and got sent this horrible ugly plastic pig money box. It was horrible I gave it away. Such a shame as the old style ones were lovely to collect.

Annoyingly Child 1 now gets letters and statements from the bank saying they needs to update their mobile & email address. Despite them being very very young and it sitting in my online banking alongside my contact details as advised by said bank.

a_car_person

That’s so cool. I didn’t get anything out of NatWest (sadly).

surreysaver

NatWest just gave me a £2k overdraft. Saves having to worry too much about sending money to the account before direct debits are due

TheBanker

My very first bank account was with HSBC - or Midland Bank as it was then. They used to come to the school once a week and run a 'school bank' at lunch time in one of the classrooms. They had a few kids who 'worked' in the bank. And they were happy to accept small deposits - I used to pay in the change from my lunch money (which was probably about 20p!). 

It was really good to get kids saving and give a basic understanding of how money works. 

There used to be a theory in banks - get 'em young and they'll be a customer for life. Doesn't really work these days, because of CASS, switch incentives, student banking incentives etc.

I closed my Midland/HSBC account when I went to Uni because I wanted whatever incentive RBS were offering to students.

But, interestingly, my mum needed to open a bank account for herself (she didn't have one) because her employer was going to pay wages via BACS. So she chose Midland, simply because that's where my account was. My sister also opened a Midland Bank account because I had one. Both my mum and sister still bank with HSBC three decades later, so I think they've done alright out of the account I originally opened with my £1 pocket money!

HampshireH

TheBanker said:

My very first bank account was with HSBC - or Midland Bank as it was then. They used to come to the school once a week and run a 'school bank' at lunch time in one of the classrooms. They had a few kids who 'worked' in the bank. And they were happy to accept small deposits - I used to pay in the change from my lunch money (which was probably about 20p!). 

It was really good to get kids saving and give a basic understanding of how money works. 

There used to be a theory in banks - get 'em young and they'll be a customer for life. Doesn't really work these days, because of CASS, switch incentives, student banking incentives etc.

I closed my Midland/HSBC account when I went to Uni because I wanted whatever incentive RBS were offering to students.

But, interestingly, my mum needed to open a bank account for herself (she didn't have one) because her employer was going to pay wages via BACS. So she chose Midland, simply because that's where my account was. My sister also opened a Midland Bank account because I had one. Both my mum and sister still bank with HSBC three decades later, so I think they've done alright out of the account I originally opened with my £1 pocket money!

Love the idea of banks going into schools. That's such a great way to teach you g people and I believe something which is a big gap these days.

My first account was Abbey National As a child but once I got a "proper" account it was HSBC. Still have the same account decades later as my main account. 

TheBanker

Around here the Credit Union have service points in a couple of schools. They offer accounts to the kids but they're really there to sign up the parents. Anything that encourages saving and responsible borrowing rather than people resorting to loan sharks and payday lenders is A Good Thing in my opinion.

Rob5342

TheBanker said:

There used to be a theory in banks - get 'em young and they'll be a customer for life. Doesn't really work these days, because of CASS, switch incentives, student banking incentives etc.

That certainly used to be the case. My grandparents banked with Lloyds, so when my Mum started working she opened an account with them, and then when I became a student I opened one with them too and later took out a few loans and credit cards with them. It's different these days and they seem really outdated compare to Monzo who I'm with now.