CreditCards Blog

Teenagers and kids don't need expensive Prepaid cards because they can have a debit card for free - plus it pays interest. 10 years old can have a visa pin and chip debit card account with Halifax. My 12 year old has one and uses it regularly in shops. Online banking too. Just make sure that there is not too much money in that account!! It's a good way to teach them responsibility - spending their own money, not credit! Also learning about security and how the money system works. They simply do not need to pay those expensive charges that the prepaid cards have.

Which account is this, as my daughter needs a card, but all the ones I can find on their website you need to be over 18?

Hello mikey72,

Online it says that the under 16 account with a Visa Electron debit card and PIN is called Expresscash which is converted to a Cardcash account when they are 16.

However, we applied in the branch and my daughters account (at age 12) is already called a Cardcash account.

Again, online it says minimum age 11 but in branch I was told 10.

It's basically a with interest current account but without a chequebook (who needs one these days).

Certainly better than 5 or 10 to buy a topup card and then often 2% transaction charge.

Hope this helps.

Regards,

Mal.

HSBC have solo cards for early teens/younger.

I know I have had my Solo card with HSBC since I was 11/12.

[edit] seems now you get a cashcard until 13 when you can get a proper debit card.

I had a solo card from Natwest from age 11

The Halifax one is not a cashcard - they do have cashcards on other websaver accounts (cashcard is the one that you can only draw cash from the banks own machine). The Halifax 11 year old debit card is a full visa debit card that can be used in shops in UK or abroad - subject to only PIN authorisations being allowed.

From the Halifax website:

Expresscash


http://www.halifax.co.uk/bankaccounts/images/misc/Tommys%202007%20Online%20Banner.GIF
Want to get easy access to your money with an award- winning account?
If you're 11 to 15 years old, Expresscash is a great way to look after your money. Our award-winning account is easy to use, and lets you get your money when you need it.
So how does it work?

You get your own Visa Electron debit card and PIN, so you can pay for your shopping where you see the Electron sign without having to carry cash around with you.
You can manage your account online.
You can withdraw up to 300 a day free of charge at Halifax or Bank of Scotland cash machines. If you need more than 300, you can withdraw money from a branch counter.
You can open your account with just 1.
You'll earn a special rate of interest on any money in your account.
When you are 16, we'll automatically transfer you to our Cardcash account (http://www.halifax.co.uk/bankaccounts/cardcash.asp).Once opened, you can manage your Expresscash account online!

As that site says it is visa electron not full debit, I too had a halifax account before I was 18 and just had the electron. :)

The Halifax one is not a cashcard - they do have cashcards on other websaver accounts (cashcard is the one that you can only draw cash from the banks own machine). The Halifax 11 year old debit card is a full visa debit card that can be used in shops in UK or abroad - subject to only PIN authorisations being allowed.

From the Halifax website:

Expresscash


http://www.halifax.co.uk/bankaccounts/images/misc/Tommys%202007%20Online%20Banner.GIF
Want to get easy access to your money with an award- winning account?
If you're 11 to 15 years old, Expresscash is a great way to look after your money. Our award-winning account is easy to use, and lets you get your money when you need it.
So how does it work?
You get your own Visa Electron debit card and PIN, so you can pay for your shopping where you see the Electron sign without having to carry cash around with you.
You can manage your account online.
You can withdraw up to 300 a day free of charge at Halifax or Bank of Scotland cash machines. If you need more than 300, you can withdraw money from a branch counter.
You can open your account with just 1.
You'll earn a special rate of interest on any money in your account.
When you are 16, we'll automatically transfer you to our Cardcash account (http://www.halifax.co.uk/bankaccounts/cardcash.asp).Once opened, you can manage your Expresscash account online!

I disagree - they call it a debit card and it is a debit card. The difference is only that all tranasctions must be PIN tranactions so that the money is withdrawn instantly from the attached account. It can still be used in shops in UK and some abroad. It is NOT a credit card, it is not an expensive top up card, it is not a charge card - it is a debit card that Halifax rightly calls it. Yes, a VISA Electron DEBIT card - that works perfectly online and in shops and ATMs.

I am tempted to say forget it but this may provide you with more info: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1262391

They are 2 different types of cards and using the same name for both may confuse some people so it's best to differentiate between visa debit and visa electron:)

Anywhere with a chip and pin machine will take Visa Debit Card..

Visa Electron Debit Cards are not accepted everywhere & are not classed as a Visa Debit Card, Electron / Solo are the rock bottom basic versions of Visa Debit / Maestro where credit facilities are allowed

You call yourself "Serious MoneySaving Fan" yet you contest what I thought was a serious money saver. My original post was fired from Martin's advice of getting a Top Up card for kids and teenagers at a cost of 5-10 plus fees when you use it (from 0% to 2.5% depending upon the card). To me that seemed expensive when a free debit card that pays interest is available for 11 year olds. For me, a VISA Electron DEBIT card is the money saver. It appears to me that a free card is cheaper than a 10 card - but don't take my word for it, that's only my personal point of view, I could be wrong.

From my experience, the Top Up cards are not accepted everywhere, they are refused in many situations (including the Post Office - you can top up a Newcastle BS issued card there but you can't spent with it there). The VISA Electron DEBIT card is accepted in more places than a Top Up card and generally in most places, including online, without the 2.5% added cost. For a child who is unlikely to be buying tickets for a train ride but more likely to be using it in a Disney shop or clothes shop - it is, in my humble opinion, the better and cheaper card.

Of course, I am not suggesting that kids should have access to CREDIT - which would be the situation if they had a card that authorised without account checking. But for an 11 year old child, EITHER the top up card (at a cost) or the Visa Electron Debit Card is the perfect introduction to budgeting and spending sensibly. That is - without getting into debt. If is not classed as a Visa Debit I would have thought that Visa would not allow the words Visa or debit on it. It works in the Visa system and it is attached to a separate account that has funds in it - a debit card. To me that is a Visa Debit card, albeit Electron.

You call yourself "Serious MoneySaving Fan" yet you contest what I thought was a serious money saver.

It's the website which is calling him that, based on the number of posts made in this forum. You'll see that under your name it has 'Money Saving Newbie' because you've got a lower post count.

I don't think anyone here has said that a Visa electron isn't a better option than the prepaid cards. They're just being particular about the name of the card.

I agree with them that it's important to differentiate between the types of cards to avoid confusion. In an earlier post you referred to it as a full Visa debit card, which it isn't. It's a Visa Electron card which does have differences to a full Visa debit card.

I'm not having a go, and I don't think anyone else has either; they were just pointing out the full details about the card.

I imagine quite a lot of us have had a Visa electron card when we were younger, I know I did. I also remember always asking if Visa Electron was accepted before taking anything to the till. It's more widely accepted now but there's still places where a full Visa debit card is accepted and an Electron isn't, which is why it's important to distinguish between the two.

Getting back to the original idea of teaching kids about money saving, due to it being an electron card those accounts are also quite handy for families who like to book flights with people like Ryanair, and can also teach the children about the art of haggling.

I had a kid paying for his sweets for the first time since he got his card recently and was talking to him and his parents about the card. By the time they left he'd managed to get them to agree to let him keep half the money he was saving them by letting them use his card for their holidays. It might be cheeky given he gets free holidays in the first place, but I couldn't help but like that he'd come up with the idea.

After my experience with this posting you may understand why I don't post very often. I never did say that it was a FULL visa! That was a pure assumption made by readers, including youself Benf90, which seems to have caused an explosive reaction. Electron is slightly different as is Maestro, which most pre-paid cards are. So thats where any comparison should lie. As a card, both are similar inasmuch as only instantly available EFT (electronic fund transfers) are allowed. Their main difference is the cost of running them, nothing to do with Credit cards, full debit cards or any other type of payment card. Note, you no longer need to ask if a shop takes Electron, most shops now carry signs in the window confirming acceptance. In the last 6 months Visa have changed the way it promotes Electron, originally only accepted within the UK - but now can be used abroad. More acceptable online, WorldPay, for instance, used to refuse Electron but now accepts it with open arms. Ryanair used to refuse it but now charges 5 per passenger LESS if a Visa Electron is used. Times change but not peoples attitude. However, when we are talking about a card for a child, I do think that it is somewhat silly to start distinguishing between cards, naming cards that are not even available to a child when the subject is a payment card for an 11 year old child ! My post was about a free debit card for a child vs. a very expensive pre-paid card for a child. All I tried to do was save others from spending lots of money on prepaid top up cards for a child when free is available. Clearly I failed - I simply brought sillyness out of the woodwork - sillyness because the bickering about adult payment cards had nothing to do with with saving money on a childs payment card which was the intention of my post. Best that, like before, I stay silent and keep my 65 years of knowledge to myself - and leave others to argue between themselves in their childish ways - arguing about nothing that is of any importance to the crux of the subject. Maybe, arguing for the sake of an argument.

Whether you meant it or not, you did. (Post #6)

The Halifax 11 year old debit card is a full visa debit card

I've tried bringing it back to what I thought was the intended theme in my previous post, ie the OP recommending a good account for kids. Can we try to leave it on that theme and leave the technicalities out of it from now? The account users aren't the ones that would really be doing things that would make them notice much/any difference and it has been gone through.

...my 65 years of knowledge...

And you have a 12 yr old child..?

Congratulations.

Yes - born 25th January 1996 - I wasn't 65 then though! I was 52.

At least at this age I'm old enough to give her financial security and good advice.

Oh, by the way, I also have a 41 year old daughter (married) a 30 year old son and a 23 year old son. Plus 2 Grandchildren from the eldest!!

Nice gaps between all of them - always having kids around keeps me young and fit. You should try it sometime (if you can). It gets better with experience.

By the way, How does your comment save money? C'mon, I'm really interested to know. It wouldn't be off topic would it?