Bank account for a 13 year old

The youngest you can be to open an account is currently 16.

1 Like

Monzo have talked about doing 11-15 accounts but by the time Monzo get their act together your 13yr could probably open the 16-17 account.

I’d recommend this for 11-15 atm

I’d also add Santander 123 Mini account to that list too. At least for an 11yo I believe it’s the only one that allows you to use Apple Pay/Google Pay with it. Barclays definitely don’t let you.

Barclays has a note in the footer it’s 13. I thought it was 13+ by law?

  1. You need to be at least 13 years old to be able to use Apple Pay.

NatWest also is a good choice.

Use Apple Pay and Google Pay™ to buy things with your phone. You must be 13+ to use these services

When I spoke to Barclays CS they said all child accounts didn’t get it. They must have just been mistaken.

I can however confirm at least Santander let my 11yo use Apple Pay which was the whole reason for choosing them. Not sure on the legal side of things.

Not sure how Santander did that I think Apple set it at 13+, but then again I think Google Pay is meant to be 16+ now and NatWest says 13+ is fine. :man_shrugging:

Maybe it’s not something the bank puts in place but an Apple T&C that I just didn’t see. I’m not even sure if her Apple account has has her true DOB. :man_shrugging:

Could be that it’s what the banks are happy with. I think the 13 is to do with data laws and storing/collecting electronic records of children online.

I’ve just looked at Google/Apples ToS and I’m seeing this for GB.

3. Using Google Pay

(a) Age Restrictions. To use Google Pay you must be 16 years of age or older.

https://payments.google.com/payments/apis-secure/get_legal_document?ldo=0&ldt=googlepaytos&ldl=en-GB

and :apple:

Apple Pay isn’t available for children under 13. Age varies by country or region.

Why the age restriction? In the US I had an account since birth?

Well you can have Savings/JISA accounts from birth but the legal age for having a current account where the child has control in their name is 11 in the UK. I think it’s 11-12 they need permission to get a debit card though but have an Electron card which checks funds before debiting. 13 you can get a debit card yourself. You can of course get pre-paid card for 6+ but the account is really in the parent/guardians control in managing it. GoHenry is probably the biggest.

1 Like

Sorry to say but Starling have beat Monzo to this with their Starling Kite debit card for 6 to 16 year olds… will be looking at this in 3 years when my daughter is old enough.

Were they in a race? :confused:

I didn’t know Monzo were planning on launching a child account?

1 Like

They have three years to hop to it though

2 Likes

Always a race going on between competitors, even if they weren’t taking part or knew that a race was on.

:smile:

Monzo won the race to release a Metal card. :man_shrugging:

1 Like

I’m winning the race between us for eating the most toffee pennies from a quality street tin :muscle:

Phil doesn’t like toffee pennies :wink:

2 Likes

Happy to be last in that race! :joy:

1 Like

They have a metal card?

Who Starling? Nope. I haven’t been following if a premium account with a metal card is planned.

I’m purely guessing that their next card could be a credit card that was originally planned for 2019.

I meant, Monzo do a metal card?

Yes it’s part of Monzo Premium. More info below:

1 Like