under 18 students

phoebe03cat

Hi
My daughter is 16 and looking to open a student a/c. Staying at school for 6th form. Does anyone know if this is a good idea and are any banks better than others? Thank you

juno

If she's only at 6th form, she can't open a proper student account with overdraft and freebies. She'd just get a normal bank account.

Savvy_Sue

But as I've just said in the post about student accounts, I know NatWest offer an account for 11+ which gives them a solo card for cash withdrawals (limit £20 until 16) and purchases. And I am sure some BS and other banks offer similar. Catch 'em young, I say!

Anyway, I'd say opening a bank account was an EXCELLENT idea! Those getting EMA need one anyway, and although my eldest son didn't, I paid into his account sufficient money each month for his bus fares and lunches. Then it was HIS responsibility to get the cash out before he needed it, not mine to produce it from thin air when he found he didn't have any!

Also if she has a job it's good for her to be responsible for her own money, if she has a BS account as well she can learn to transfer from one to another (I wish my son had!) and see where the money goes. Plus relatives giving money can write cheques to HER not you, and she can learn all about going-to-the-bank-to-pay-your-cheques-in. Again, I wish, although in my son's defence we are not well served with bank branches locally!

PLUS - BIG plus IMO - if she wants to go on a shopping spree you don't have to go too! Or send her out with wads of cash. Maybe she will spend £100 on a pair of shoes which last 2 weeks when she really needs a winter coat, and maybe with you in tow she'd have done the right thing. But which way does she learn fastest?

Well, that's my thoughts anyway, along with the need to learn how to use a washing machine, cooker, washing up bowl, vacuum cleaner and clean a toilet! Far more important than what they get stuffed into their heads through AS and A levels if they're leaving home at 18!

nearlyrich

My two had a RBS Royalties(?) account, son changed his to the student royalties when he went to uni. It has a cash withdrawal card but not a debit card. HTH

megsykins

As a 16-year-old, your daughter reaches that lovely age when she but can't yet get an NUS card, so doesn't yet get student discounts, but she isn't a child anymore, so has to pay adult costs (cinema, swimming, etc) Some colleges will give NUS cards, but these seem to be declining. Despite this, I seem to remember having more money than I knew what to do with in 6th form. The fact I lived at home (so no outgoings) but had time for a p/t job and parents still gave some pocket monet meant I was loaded!! *those were the days*

Opening her a bank account is a good idea, it will help her manage money (on the other hand, how do you know that the school dinner money isn't being saved and spent on night out?) There's a thread here from ages ago about this, mainly about whether to pay pocket money via direct debit and what parents should pay for.

Savvy_Sue

Yup, 16 is a dreadful age from the point of view of having to pay for things like an adult without necessarily having the income for it!

One thing she could get is a Dubit Card which is free, doesn't generate loads of spam, and gives discounts on various things.

Another is a Citizen Card which my boys have been offered through school. Some discounts available.

Both these are available from under 16, so useful for proving age if they look too old for child fares, and as they get older it's useful for proving age eg for 15 films if they look young.

CrispyUK

megsykins wrote:

As a 16-year-old, your daughter reaches that lovely age when she but can't yet get an NUS card, so doesn't yet get student discounts, but she isn't a child anymore, so has to pay adult costs (cinema, swimming, etc) Some colleges will give NUS cards, but these seem to be declining.

Although not many colleges / sixth forms will provide NUS cards, you can still get one and receive the discounts via the NUS Associate Card scheme. The card costs £7 and you just need to fill in the form, get it stamped by your college/sixth form to prove you are a student and send it off along with a photo.

http://www.nusonline.co.uk/associate for more information, the application form should be available to download later this month (or your sixth form may have leaflets and forms available).

terri

My son will be starting a degree course in September. He is 16 (17 in December). All the student bank accounts that we have looked at are for 18+ year olds only. He will be living away from home and will be looking after his own finances, so will need a decent debit card as well. Anybody advice out there please?

fragster

i'm pretty sure you can only get solo until you are 18 because switch includes a cheque guarantee, and this could theoretically be used as credit, if each cheque is guaranteed to £50 and a book is 40 cheques thats £2,000. and debts cannot be enforced against under 18's, so he's going to have a tough time getting anything other than solo i think. big responsibility for a 16 year old to be living away from home and taking care of everything too... also all student activities in the first week are based around drinking, i'm sure he wont mind though... wish him luck!

Savvy_Sue

fragster wrote:

i'm pretty sure you can only get solo until you are 18 because switch includes a cheque guarantee, and this could theoretically be used as credit,

My son opened the NatWest account for 11-16 year olds, which only lets you withdraw £20 at a time but you can spend more than that in shops. However, he tells me he automatically got a higher cash withdrawal limit once he was over 16. Not allowed to go overdrawn (the bank did tell one of my sons how it was theoretically possible to do so, but it was in my hearing and we all agreed it would be a pretty dumb thing to do!)

I'm sure fragster's right about the credit thing, but it MAY be possible to open a joint account with your son that he could sign cheques alone on. Certainly worth asking about. You can get the statements sent to two different addresses as well - or used to be able to - which might be useful!

Good luck to him!

terri

Thanks for your replies - I hadn't thought of a joint account - will look into it. His course is at a small dance college with other students of a similar age, so hopefully not too much drinking involved!