Why can't my kids openup a savings account?

Spendymacspend

They are 16 and 18, have passports and driving licenses and bank accounts. They receive monthly incomes... 
We have been tryignot open them a decent interest, instant access saving account, but everywhere says that they cannot verify their identity so can't open one. 
Any ideas or adviceplease. 

eskbanker

Which ones have you/they tried so far?  There's no point people suggesting options that have already been eliminated....

And identity verification will typically be done electronically by preference, but if that doesn't work then there will often be a manual fallback of presenting certified copies of documents?

Brie

You say they have bank accounts.  Can they not open a savings account with that same bank?  Or are you looking for something different/specific??

Beddie

Brie said:

You say they have bank accounts.  Can they not open a savings account with that same bank?  Or are you looking for something different/specific??

Agreed - start saving with their own bank. Also get the 18yo on the electoral register if not already.

Unless it's big numbers, the interest rate really doesn't matter too much when you start saving, getting into the habit is more important.

surreysaver

They're unlikely to have any data on the CRAs yet (especially the 16 year old) - this is typically how banks verify people's Identities.
The only way would be to go into a proper bank and open a proper bank account.
The 16 year old won't have data held with a CRA until they're 18, as people under 18 cannot obtain credit.

refluxer

Spendymacspend said:

They are 16 and 18, have passports and driving licenses and bank accounts. They receive monthly incomes... 
We have been tryignot open them a decent interest, instant access saving account, but everywhere says that they cannot verify their identity so can't open one. 

Speaking from experience, your best bet with the 16 year old is to see what your local banks or building societies have to offer first, as they're going to need see to see ID documents and this saves you the risk of having to post off originals or expense of getting certified copies made. Some of the smaller building societies often have good accounts but you don't always see them in the best-buy tables because they're restricted to residents of certain nearby postcodes.

If you have a local branch of HSBC or Nationwide nearby, they both offer childrens' current accounts to under 18s that have an associated savings account with a decent interest interest rate for up to £3k or £5k respectively (just check to see if either is due a reduction following the recent BoE base rate drop). My kids have had both of those, managed them via online banking and got on well with them. While you wouldn't want a child to have too many current accounts, having a couple could prove useful and may help to start to build up an online presence / credit history that could help with future applications, I would have thought.

Most of the higher-paying easy access accounts you see mentioned on this forum (or at the top of the best-buy tables generally) are for adults only (18+) but one exception is Ford Money, whose Flexible Saver is available at aged 16. The rate isn't table-topping, but it's not too far off. I've no idea what the ID verification will be like for a 16 year-old though, so you'd just have to try if your 16 year-old has larger amounts of savings and this was of interest. Access for that account isn't instant - I think it's usually within a few hours or early the following day, depending on when you request the withdrawal.

If your 18 year-old is having trouble applying for accounts online, then they may have to start with a similar approach as well. The downside to this though is that despite often having children's savings accounts with good rates, the same high-street banks and building societies don't tend to have the equivalent high-paying accounts for adults.