Family accounts / Accounts for children / under-16s

but it would be great to link a pre paid card to a parents current account- which in reality doesnt even need linking except for oversight as you can transfer between Monzo customers anyway - the system for prepaid cards is already built, ‘only’ needing link to a parental account for oversight - prepaid card not offered overdraft facilities - future customers , teaching financial stability - whats not to like - could even be a pre loaded prepaid card by the parent as a present on the young persons 16th (?) Birthday - similar to a pre loaded card for a Xmas present which would be great also :slight_smile:

However great it may be there is a cost involved in running two systems one of which requires payment to a third party (Wirecard) and for this reason Monzo will not be issuing prepaid cards in the future. Also the Wirecard agreement limited the prepaid cards to 18+ but with the current accounts they may start at 15 or 16 if comments at the recent open evening are anything to go by

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That said, similar functionality could be possible using debit cards and Monzo’s own infrastructure.

Hi, how about a function to link family member cards in-order to track spend. Say you were abroad and got a notification your son/daughter’s card had zero balance and you could top it up quick as you like.

Or even parental controls for limit of spending per week (day seems too extreme) for under 18s.

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Hey Alexander
I’ve moved your post here as it is the topic that best fits your idea.

Something like RoosterMoney would work for me. https://www.roostermoney.com/

Create a “pocket money” pot and app that children can have access to.
Use Monzo.me to allocate money out of that pot to children using Monzo.me?

USe apple pay or android pay on the child’s device (Ok, I know not every child has a smartphone but if pre-payment cards have been withdrawn… actually, I would pay a monthly servie card for something like this!)

There are plenty of other similar products out there from Nimbl and Go Henry.

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I have a 4 year old daughter and would love the idea of saving on her behalf.

The sort of thing I was thinking about was a specific children’s account pot where I can save for her as I go (perhaps sweep change into the pot automatically?)

Then, when she is eligible, upgrade to a full Monzo Current Account.

Perhaps a virtual card could also be considered so she could pay using a smartphone or her own when she is older. She doesn’t live with me; however, I would the ability to offer some sort of virtual card I could give to her mummy for pocket money.

Having a view of what she is spending her money on and a fixed maximum per transaction would be useful?

Lots of potential here! What sort of ideas do you have for useful features?

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Wow. It might be that Monzo attracts Millennials more than fuddy daddies like me! What? No comments?! :wink::rofl:

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Really like the idea of some kind of account for children.

Notifications of spending would be good (at least for larger amounts), though a little annoying for the child as they get older and at some age not appropriate (not sure what age, think that’d vary with the parent).

I quite like the idea of a child’s account with a card, with limits on spending of course, and some money ringfenced as savings, that way they can get used to spending money responsibly when in their teens, and saving money for things they want and feel like an independent person.

Another option is a family card - a secondary card on a main account or a pot/subaccount, which again has limits on spending and you can freeze if you need to from the main account. Perhaps that is more likely?

A virtual card is a nice idea too, could be used in a similar way, and is less cost for Monzo perhaps.

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Here is a thread I started on Starling about Kids/Joint accounts

https://community.starlingbank.com/t/family-kids-accounts-with-multiple-cards/1585

Have a read through as I think having “dumb” cards is the most secure way of doing this

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I wonder if there is a way they can leverage some of the work that has been done on joint accounts?

Although, when I save for my kids (slightly younger than yours) then I do that with the aim/hope that they won’t withdraw from it for years. As such interest becomes quite important to me, as I don’t want their savings to be wiped out by inflation, don’t you think?

Also, a snappy app isn’t too important in that use case, as the money isn’t meant to be touched.

That doesn’t take away from the fact that I’d love to have a Monzo style spending account for my kids once they grows up a bit, but that to me is a slightly different use case.

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I’m very late to the parent game! My daughter’s only 3 and it sits in a Nationwide account earning pence! I noticed that Monzo’s big list includes the potential for interest to be given. Perhaps a specific children’s pot would be a first step?

I have made a pot for my daughter. Every time my account isn’t settled on a round £, I transfer the extra into her pot as spending money/pocket money.

It’s a great system, but I live cash-free essentially, so when she wants to buy something I use my card and she sits with me and watches me transfer money back from her pot to my main account.

I don’t know the legalities of cards for young children (I think Go Henry starts at 8). She’s only three but I would love for her to have her own card for her pot, to get used to the full process of paying in shops. Even just a card for a separate pot in my name, for now, as obviously I’ll always be with her when she’s spending.

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My daughter’s 3 and I could open an account for her in Nationwide. I would love her to have a Monzo pot and allow relatives to pay money into her pot.

Your daughter is the beneficiary of your coin jar or is this something different?

No, I have the Coin Jar for myself, but if the Coin Jar rules don’t move any money over for a certain transaction then I may end up with an odd figure as my total - for example £6.57 - and so I transfer the extra 57p to her. Or if I had money coming into my account that wasn’t a round £ - for example a wage of £670.34 - then she would get the 34p.

Usually the Coin Jar keeps the figures nice and round, but not always. When it doesn’t, I step in and move the extra to her pot.

It doesn’t happen loads, but I would estimate that I set aside an average of £1-1.50 a week for her this way. Which at her age is plenty to get used to saving and having a bit of money to spend on treats.

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It would be great to have essentially a joint account with each of my kids (I have two). So I can pay in/take out etc but then so can they. Then be able to track/limit spending etc would be good.

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There is already companies which specialise in children’s accounts such as https://www.gohenry.co.uk

Yeah but they have a monthly fee. Which I know is low but so is the money I would be putting in. And if the money/account is not used then I feel like I’m paying for dormancy.

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