Children/Teenagers - Suitable for under 18s
By selecting one of the options suitable for children and teenagers, you are not only gaining parental control of your child’s spending but your child is also learning the value of money and the basics of budgeting with no danger of debt or overdraft. Currently there are only 3 main options specifically designed for children (under 18) and we have listed the key features of each.
GoHenry - gohenry.co.uk
Prepaid Visa Debit Card (with app)
Age: 6-18 yrs
Monthly charges: £2.99 per card per month (currently offering 1 month free trial). Card arrives within 7 working days
Ongoing costs: Top Up – 50p per transfer (bank transfer or debit card), Transactions – free in UK, 2.75% on any transaction abroad. Withdrawals – ATM free in UK.
GoHenry was founded in 2016 by a group of parents and it was the first digital family banking solution of its kind in the UK.
nimbl - nimbl.com
Contactless Prepaid MasterCard (with app)
Age: 8-18 yrs
Monthly charges: £15 per card per year (currently offering a 1 month trial period). Card arrives within 7-10 days
Ongoing costs: Top Up – Free all methods, Transactions – Free in UK, 2.95% on any transaction abroad. Withdrawals – ATM 49p (first withdrawal each month is free)
USP: Parent account linked to child’s card. Parental controls to receive alerts on child’s spending in real time, view statements to see spending habits, use spending controls to decide where the card can be used and limit weekly or monthly allowances. There is also a unique micro-savings feature to help children learn the value of saving their money, allowing users to save each time the card is used by transferring a set amount of money to the child’s nimbl savings account. Parents have the option to disable cash withdrawals or spending online and to ‘soft’ lock and unlock the card via the app, if cards are misplaced or lost.
Osper - osper.com
Contactless Prepaid MasterCard (with app)
Age: 8-18 yrs
Monthly charges: £2.50 per card per month (30-day free trial). Card arrives within 5-7 days
Ongoing costs: Top Up – Free by debit card only; allowances are free of charge, one-off loads incur in a 50p charge unless there is some money in parent balance to cover that load (in which case there is no fee), Transactions – Free in UK, 3% per transaction abroad, Withdrawals – ATM free.
USP: Adult account linked to each child’s account. There are no parental controls currently available via the app. Children can tag their spendings to categorise them and learn how much they spend and where they spent it. Parents can order replacement cards, they can enable or disable online or contactless spending, lock/unlock the card (this can be done by children as well), update their details and check children’s transactions (but only children can set up the savings goal and tag spendings). Both parents and children can send a “gifting link” to another member of the family. The link will allow the other member of the family to load money onto the Osper card for birthdays or special events.
Young Adults - Suitable for over 18s
For young adults, the issue is often overspending and a limit needs applying to avoid regular overdraft fees. There are various benefits to a prepaid card over an ordinary credit or debit card but there are also some negatives to consider; charges levied by the provider, additional costs to use abroad and the limitations of having no credit. We have selected a few from the large selection of cards available for the over 18’s.
Cashplus Activeplus - mycashplus.co.uk
Contactless Prepaid Mastercard (with app)
Age: 18+ yrs
Monthly charges: £5.95 per month. Card arrives within 3-5 working days.
Ongoing costs: Top Up - Free. Transactions – UK Free, Abroad 2.99% per transaction, Withdrawals – ATM £2.00 per transaction
USP: No credit checks, no links to your bank account, no interest. 4 additional cards can be linked to each account. Overdraft ‘iDraft’ subject to approval.
U Account - uaccount.uk
Contactless U Mastercard (with app)
Age: 18+ yrs
Monthly charges: There are 3 options - free (pay as you go), £5, £10 - price points can be changed each month to suit monthly needs. Card arrives within 3-5 working days
Ongoing costs: Top up – free, Transactions – UK free (in-store or online), Abroad 3% on each transaction. Withdrawals - ATM depending on option, £1, 50p or free respectively
USP: Extra Accounts can be linked for direct debits, bill, rent or mortgage payments. The Online Money Manager gives the ability to see and track where money is spent.
Other: A Budgeting 365 account automatically takes 1p out of the account, putting it into a separate account on day one, growing to £3.65 on day 365 - saving up to £650 over a year. There is also the facility to move £1 a day
from main account into an Overdraft Buffer to create an extra fund of cash for when needed.
Pockit - pockit.com
Contactless Prepaid Mastercard (with app)
Age: 18+ yrs
Monthly charges: 99p, Initial card fee 99p. Card arrives within 48 hours
Ongoing costs: Top Up – bank transfers FREE, cash deposits 99p.
Transactions – UK free (in-store or online), Abroad £2.25 per transaction. Withdrawals – ATM 99p per transaction
USP: Up to 3 additional cardholders per account. Balance notifications to device. No overdraft so no additional spending.
All details quoted were correct at time of going to print.