Meet the next generation: Monzo for Under 16s šŸŽ‰

@AlanDoe , please can you reopen this thread so I can read the last post(s) - or mark it as read by everyone?

Itā€™s killing my OCD as I have a permanently unread item in my ā€˜unreadā€™ listā€¦

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Sorry if I sound silly!! But I am a bit confused, when I search online it says they under 16 is up and RUNNING, but on my app it says I need to join a WAIT LIST? I am in the UK is this a glitch or is it simply not available in the UK yet?
I am going round in circles searching and getting different information so Iā€™d really appreciate if anyone knows the answer to this thank you!!!

@AlanDoe @GraemeMonzo @_Tom @Dan5

Thereā€™s your answer.

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You could always jump the queue.

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Being up and running and having a wait list can be simultaneously true. Itā€™s throttled availability.

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Monzo for Under 16s: Add another family member

As many of you already know, weā€™ve been working on Under 16s accounts - our free account for 6ā€“15 year olds, linked to a parent or guardianā€™s Monzo account. Weā€™ve already given early access to some of our users - including many of you. Weā€™re grateful for all your feedback and have been working on one of the most requested features - adding an additional family member to view and manage your Under 16s account.

Weā€™d love to give Community members the chance to try out this feature first. As this is an early Beta release - your bug reports and feedback will be super valuable to help us improve the product!

An additional family member can:

:eye: View your childā€™s balance, transaction history and pots

:moneybag: Add money to the Under 16s account from either their personal account or your joint account (if you have one)

:snowflake: Freeze and defrost your childā€™s card

:bell: Receive notifications about your childā€™s spending

Only you, as the account holder, can:

:money_with_wings: Withdraw money

:control_knobs: Edit spending limits

:x: Close the account or any of its pots

Want to try this new feature out early?

Fill out :point_right: this google form :point_left: before 1pm on 6th Feb 2025 (tomorrow) with your details, and weā€™ll update this thread when youā€™re enabled. Make sure to use the email address of the account holder (the person who set up the Under 16s account initially, probably you).

Update: weā€™ve extended this to 1pm on Monday 10th Feb 2025

Donā€™t have early access to Under 16s accounts yet but still interested? No worries, fill out the same form and weā€™ll give you access to Under 16s accounts at the same time!

You and your family member will also need to sign up for Beta testing:
If you have an Apple device, join us on Testflight.

If you have an Android device, there are a few more steps:

  1. Open the Play store app.
  2. Search for Monzo Bank and open the App Detail page.
  3. Scroll to the Join the beta section and select Join.
  4. Ensure the app has updated once youā€™ve been added to the beta program. You can select Update at the top of the App Detail page if it hasnā€™t been updated automatically.

:info: Additional family members must be adults (18+) who are closely related to the child, and must have their own Monzo personal account. You will remain the legal owner of the Under 16s account.

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Amazing! So glad to see the first parts of this coming out! I know itā€™s been asked for a lot & was a huge missing piece of functionality at initial launch!

Very happy to see this, Iā€™ll be signing up as soon as I canā€¦

I am curious why the family member canā€™t take money though? If it is a technical issue (with the child account essentially being a fancy pot tied to one account) will there be the possibility of tieing the child account(s) to a joint account in the future? Iā€™d really like my wife to be able to do anything I can with the kidsā€™ accountsā€¦ Spending limits and closing the account/pots arenā€™t a huge deal for me, but Iā€™d really like both of us to be able to add/withdraw money!

My guess is that in the T&Cs it states that the person who opens the child account is responsible for it and legally owns the money etc.

By giving someone access, it would go into joint account territory?

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You can both add, but not take away.

That makes sense, hopefully they give us the option to tie it to a joint account in the future.

Thatā€™s on the announcement thatā€™s just been made above

If the second parent canā€™t withdraw money, is it possible to have an area within the child account money can be moved to where they canā€™t spend if the main parent isnā€™t around to withdraw it at the time?

It only says you can add money from a personal/joint account (if you have one), it doesnā€™t say you can link the Under 16 accounts to your joint account (letting both parents add and withdraw money)

Can I use the same username on the form for my other half to join for me to add?
Does she just need the beta app via TestFlight or the form filled in as well?

Your other half doesnā€™t need to do it.

You do it for you, with your email. Then in the app youā€™ll be able to invite her.

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I donā€™t think linking one or more child cards to a Joint account will ever be a thing. The wording of this feature workflow has been ā€˜co-parentingā€™ which strongly hints at allowing any authorised Monzo Personal account to be linked to a Child card. This makes more sense for separated parents/carers to be able to continue to control the finances of u16yoā€™s than it does by linking to a Joint account.

Look at me downplaying the Joint account againā€¦ :eyes:

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Sure, but for this to be fully functional there needs to at least be the option of ā€œadditional family membersā€ being able to add and withdraw from U16 accounts. I get not giving that option by default but surely when you invite said additional family member there can be a toggle to give them full access?

How often are you taking money from your child?

I understand what you mean and why you want both parents to be able to do it, but surely it isnā€™t a big deal?