Flexi ISA for a 16 year old

Coz

Which banks can a 16 year old open a flexi cash ISA? He has a Virgin Money Cybersave account which offers very little interest and I would like him to open an ISA to start saving in that instead.

NoMore

He can only open a Junior ISA and as they are locked for withdrawals until he's 18 there is no point them being flexible.

refluxer

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6671321/flexi-isa-for-a-16-year-old

Young adults aged 16 used to be able to open an adult ISA with certain ISA providers but the ISA rule changes introduced for the 2025-26 tax year raised the minimum age to 18.

As mentioned, the only ISA a 16 year-old can now open is a Junior ISA. Kids can have one Junior Cash ISA and one Junior Stocks and Shares ISA running at any one time, but can't access the money until they turn 18.

As children and adults can earn up to £18,570 from combined income and savings interest without paying tax though, if his earnings come nowhere near that then he'd be better off trying to find the highest-paying non-ISA account instead - especially if he wants easy access to his money, which a JISA obviously doesn't give him.

The ages of 16 and 17 can be tricky for young savers unfortunately, as they are too old for many children's accounts and too young for the better-paying adult savings accounts.

He does have a couple of decent options though, one of which is Nationwide. If he opens a Flex One current account (for 11 to 17 year-olds), he'll get access to the Flex One Saver (which pays 5% on balances up to £5,000) and the Flex Regular Saver (which pays 6.50% on contributions of £200/month for a year). Flex One current account holders have also qualified for Nationwide's £100 Fairer Share payment in recent years by simply making one payment in or out of the account in March of the same year (this has been the case for the last 3 years but could change).

The other decent option for a 16 year-old is Cahoot (part of Santander), who currently pay 4.17% with their Simple Saver and 5% for balances up to £3,000 with their Sunny Day Saver. Cahoot only do browser-based online banking though - there's no app.

Newbie_John

Other options:

Depends on how much money they have, if let's say £20k+ you could open Premium Bonds for them, or if low amounts and you haven't used your ISA limits - you could open a separate ISA in your name.

But in my opinion JISA or account like Nationwide sound best.

Coz

I suppose it doesn’t have to be a flexi one until he’s 18. Would it be possible to transfer the money from his Virgin Cybersave account into a junior ISA?

xylophone

As a 16 year old he can open a JISA for himself.

https://moneyfactscompare.co.uk/isa/junior-isas/

https://www.gov.uk/junior-individual-savings-accounts/open-an-account

Albermarle

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82025760#Comment_82025760

Why this need for him to have an ISA at all. An ISA is only useful if you are likely to pay tax on the interest. Even if he gets a job at 18, he can still earn £1000 in interest in a normal savings account without paying tax.

poseidon1

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82026109#Comment_82026109

Avoids the parent/settlor £100 tax trap re parents being taxed on accounts they fund on behalf of minor children.

Most parents are oblivious to the fact that interest in excess of £100 per year, earned on accounts they fund for their children under 18, is entirely taxable on them.