The Best Debit Cards For Young People
Share:
Sending off for your first debit card is often one of the first steps a teenager takes towards financial independence, and as such it’s important to use a debit card that will not only allow you to spend your earnings, but also stop you losing them by educating teenagers on what it means to be financially responsible.
A first debit card often comes hand in hand with a first job, and now we’re on the payroll we don’t want to be lugging around our new-found riches as cash-in-hand, as desperate as we may be to get our hands on a new five pound note…
You may overhear your parents discussing things like ‘rates of interest’ and ‘APR’ and it probably sounds like complete financial jargon, right? Well, that’s because it is. For you, anyway. On account of the relatively small amounts of money (compared to a working adult) teenagers will have in their accounts, even if your bank offers a very good rate of interest, chances are you won’t ever profit significantly from it.
Another point about young people’s debit cards is that they are generally fee free and don’t allow overdrafts – so you can’t spend money that you don’t have in your account and your bank will never charge you a penny.
For the most part, therefore, the card you choose won’t really make a massive difference. However, some banks do offer more in the way of education and also a few nice little perks to entice you in. For example, Lloyds offer 16-18 year olds £36 on AA driving lessons and a free CD to help you pass your test.
Personally, I bank with Nationwide using their ‘FlexOne’ current account and carry in my wallet a contactless (a most useful and almost standard feature) Visa debit card that earns me 1% AER/gross p.a on balances up to £1,000 – whatever that means…
An additional perk with Nationwide is the inclusion of the ‘FlexOne’ film card which, once registered, entitles me and one friend to 25% off cinema tickets at Vue Cinemas (p.s – there’s one in Gateshead’s Trinity Square) and although I’ve never really made us of it, I’m sure others would profit substantially from it.
As with most banking accounts for under 18s, Nationwide allows me access to their excellent online and mobile banking system so I can manage my money quickly and on the move, setting up various different savings accounts as I see fit.
A final point I’d like to mention is the accessibility of branches, which you’ll ideally want to be close to if you plan on paying cash into your accounts or taking out denominations of money that can’t be extracted from cash points on a regular basis. Almost all the major players in banking have branches in major cities, but in smaller towns and more rural areas you may have a longer journey to your branch. Having said this, however, thanks to online banking you’ll probably only need to head into your local branch once in a blue moon, and when you register for your card.
As I said before, it doesn’t really matter which debit card you choose as you’ll get the same sense of independence regardless, but if something like discounted cinema tickets or cheap driving lessons would win you over, then you know who to bank with.
Happy Banking!
Lloyds: http://www.lloydsbank.com/current-accounts/under-19s-account.asp
Nationwide: http://www.nationwide.co.uk/products/current-accounts/flexone/whats-flexone