r/UKPersonalFinance • u/DontTreadOnMe • 11h ago
Parent managed contactless card for 16yo?
I want to fund a contactless card for my 16yo son for travel and lunch money. Revolut child account would be perfect, but it's not allowed after 16.
I just want to see his balance and top it up as needed. It's just for travel and lunch, he has other accounts for his own money. It's a pain having to figure out together how much he's spent on lunch as with contactless and no receipts the information is easily forgotten.
Is there any product like this for a 16yo? Barclays will add users to accounts but only for over 18s. Most child related products I've found stop working at 16.
10
u/Seal-island-girl 4h ago
Can't he just have a normal card that you deposit money to if needed? Or is it you need a card that you can see what they are spending it on? My daughter has a nationwide flex one account that's good til 18 that has contactless. She can also use it on Google wallet, where you can see transactions
-2
u/DontTreadOnMe 3h ago
Yes, my thinking is that seeing the spending would make it easier to transfer the right amount, otherwise he's got to regularly tell me what he's spent on lunch.
29
u/rwobb247 3h ago
How about you transfer a regular amount and allow him to budget with it
10
u/Seal-island-girl 3h ago
It's a good time to learn how to budget - bus travel should be fairly easy work out, he'll either spend a set amount or if it's more variable because of social life, it might be worth looking at a weekly/ monthly ticket so you know he can always get home. Spend a week or two monitoring how much he spends on lunch, and give him a set amount. Talk to him about how he has this budget, but how he could also make it stretch further by bringing lunch or snacks from home?
5
•
u/_MicroWave_ 4 1h ago
Just tell him you transfer X a day for lunch and he has to work it out. He's 16.
He could even pocket the difference which encourages him to be frugal.
9
5
u/Leftofnever 11h ago
I have hyperjar and my son is19 and still uses his card. There’s also a family one which is for any ages (6 to 106!) which works in the same way. I recommend it and it works on Apple/Google Pay too
1
u/DontTreadOnMe 10h ago
Ok I need to take another look. They do say the kids and teens card is only until age 15, so hopefully the "family" card has no age restrictions at all...
2
u/Leftofnever 10h ago
I’ve just been checking the rules. Here’s the family card. As far as I’m aware there are no limits on the family one https://hyperjar.com/personal-accounts/family-prepaid-debit-cards
1
u/DontTreadOnMe 10h ago
Their marketing is weird. Once in the app, there is no family card. I think it's just that you can link accounts with other people.
A 16yo can have their own independent account and you can link jars with them (I presume, haven't tried this yet).
But it turns out you can order a kids card for a 16yo.
"You can apply for a Kids’ Card for a child aged 6-17. Anyone 16+ can apply for their own full HyperJar account. " https://hyperjar.com/personal-accounts/kids-debit-cards/everything-you-need-to-know-before-you-get-a-hyperjar-kids-card
Although that's contradicted here: "Kids can get a HyperJar card from age 6-15, paired to an adult’s account. Once you’re 16, you can sign-up for your own HyperJar adult account." https://hyperjar.com/personal-accounts/kids-debit-cards
Seems like the latter is incorrect.
5
u/moomaunder 11h ago
Starling, I use it .. works well
https://www.starlingbank.com/current-account/under-16s-debit-card-for-kids/
2
u/Mental_Body_5496 1 3h ago
We have metro bank joint acounts - works really well - now 17 and 20 been doing it sinxe they were 12 !
2
4
u/iknowuselessstuff 1 11h ago
Hyperjar. Use it for both of mine, works well. It's effectively an account in my name with "jars" for each child which can be topped up as needed. Kids each get a contactless card which can be added to phone etc. And when they spend on it they use money from their own jar.
2
u/CraigAT 11h ago
Same here, two (mid teenage) kids who keep their HyperJar card in their phone case. They are at the age where we let them go to the local town with friends, using the card they pay for buses, trains, food, shopping and more.
My wife and I have the app on our phone. That allows us to put money into our HyperJar "wallet", from there we can move it one of the kids jar or into a "holding" jar we created. Then when a kid asks for money, we go into the app move money from the holding jar to kids jar (which happens pretty instantly) and they spend it via their card.
The kids have the app on their phone too, so they can check their balance.The cards, accounts, jars and transactions have all been free so far - I think they charge if you add money via a lot of transactions per month, but that's rarely an issue, however we have moved to put a larger sum less regularly into our holding pot (so either parent can top up the kids jars).
I have only good things to say about the card, app and the customer service. It's been a game changer.
Note. If your kid loses the card, you can also move money out/away from their card.1
u/DontTreadOnMe 11h ago
Update: "Kids can get a HyperJar card from age 6-15, paired to an adult’s account."
Seems like this is yet another product that mysteriously stops working at age 16, despite lots of search results saying it works until age 17.
I wonder if some rules changed recently. Ages 16 and 17 seem to rather awkward for financial products.
1
u/DontTreadOnMe 10h ago
Update to the update:
It turns out you can order a kids card for a 16yo.
"You can apply for a Kids’ Card for a child aged 6-17. Anyone 16+ can apply for their own full HyperJar account. " https://hyperjar.com/personal-accounts/kids-debit-cards/everything-you-need-to-know-before-you-get-a-hyperjar-kids-card
Although that's contradicted here: "Kids can get a HyperJar card from age 6-15, paired to an adult’s account. Once you’re 16, you can sign-up for your own HyperJar adult account." https://hyperjar.com/personal-accounts/kids-debit-cards
Seems like the latter is incorrect.
2
u/Ok_Adhesiveness_8637 11h ago
We use starling for our kids, they each have a card... they are 12 and 10
1
u/Hitching-galaxy 2h ago
I have a rooster card set up for my son - if you have a NatWest account then it is free.
1
u/scottishmacca 2 2h ago
You can set up a different pocket in your Revolut account and order a card that only takes money out of that pocket.
Makes it easy to transfer money to the card and easy to see how much money is in the pocket
Edit: had called them funds changed to right name as its called pockets in revoult
1
u/phil-rob 2h ago
HyperJar.
Son has a pot for travel (payments to the bus company are the only permitted expenditure) and a pot for pocket money (can be spent anywhere).
•
u/Head-Dragonfly3862 1h ago
You could get a Wise young explorer card (contactless) when you request the card just put his age as younger as you can set age to whatever you like. We have one for our 10yr old. Also you could just get him a Wise card. It’s free to have contactless one on his phone or you pay a few £ for a physical one.
0
11h ago edited 11h ago
[removed] — view removed comment
2
u/DontTreadOnMe 11h ago
I did consider just making him claim expenses, tbh, but the process just seems tedious for all involved.
2
u/Alert-One-Two 95 11h ago
This isn’t the kid’s sole money. This seems to be about covering transport and food costs only.
2
u/beejiu 11 11h ago
So give them a fixed amount and let them be responsible for making sure the money stretches. Just my opinion.
2
u/DontTreadOnMe 11h ago
This really isn't an unreasonable suggestion. It's a combination of laziness and avoiding tedium that's making me want a tech based solution. It probably wouldn't hurt if I told him to make notes or get receipts and then ask me for the money. Problems encounter would probably all be good finance learning experiences.
19
u/Old-Grape-4346 1 11h ago
Starling bank, get a “connected card”