After some views/feedback on the best first current account for my 11 yr old.
I’m tending towards Lloyds Smart Start mainly as Club Lloyds is my “main” account and they have parental oversight facility where I can see their accounts in my app which I don’t think many of the other banks do?
Any experiences welcomed
Probably Nationwide FlexOne as it’s got an okay interest rate plus free overseas usage for holidays/trips too.
That account is a pile of poo for an 11 year old. The child literally cant do anything with it besides hold money in it and withdraw cash. They don’t get a debit card. Just a cash card.
RBS is objectively better by your own metrics (same free overseas usage and a higher rate of interest) in addition to being a full service basic current account with a debit card for the child to use and learn.
They get a debit card if the parent approves it. My two have had their debit cards since age 11.
You can also choose the cash card option (not both).
How does the parent approve it?
My friend is paying for Go Henry precisely because of the cash card limitation meaning her child couldn’t buy v bucks on Fortnite like his friends can.
Also they can keep the account until they’re 23 when it changes to a normal Flex account. As they get older the ATM limits increase from (I think) £10 to, eventually, £500.
I did it when they opened the account. They’ve been buying stuff with their card online for years and years. You can likely upgrade from cashcard to debit card on request. Or they may be able to do that online themselves.
Thanks! I’ll let them know they can request one. I don’t believe they had the option to choose when they opened it, nor can they find an option in the app, so I imagine it’ll need a phone call and hopefully not a branch visit.
Laughed at this line I must say 
It was an option in 2013 when I think it was one of the first to offer debit cards to 11 year olds.
A choice of 2 cards
If you’re aged 11 to 17 and a half, you can choose between a cash card and Visa debit card with our children’s bank account. Cash cards can only be used to get money from cash machines and print mini statements. From 17 and a half, you’ll need to use a Visa debit card.
Contactless with you in control
We’re always working hard to keep our younger members and their money safe. So, if you apply for a FlexOne, the debit card will be limited to £45 for contactless payments in the UK. This is instead of the usual £100.
As a parent, you can also restrict the ability to make contactless payments further. For that little bit of extra security. You just need to call us to discuss contactless.
am looking at this myself at the moment, the best I’ve seen (based on nothing except my ‘feeling’) is NWG’s rooster money accounts and the starling kite card.
These ones aren’t actually current accounts, these are prepaid cards. We already have HyperJar from when they were under 11 which I’ve found really good and are free unlike almost all the other competitors. Now they’re 11 we’re looking at fully fledged current accounts
I went with the NatWest Adapt account. Debit card, 2.7% AER interest, the app works fine, we have a local branch where they can pay in cash easily. A few years ago it was possible to open this (for an 11-16 year old) without the requirement that a parent also had a NatWest account, but I see that is necessary now.
Interesting. I opened my first current account with Natwest just after I turned 12 I think, over 20 years ago, neither parent banked with them. It’s a shame in some ways that ‘right of passage’ is now delegated to parents.
And now my kids are asking if they can switch accounts to a different bank for one of the incentive offers! (After seeing me collect a few hundred pounds.) Told them to wait some years until they are eligible for a full current account.
Nicely swerved. 
Love the aspiration tho, bravo!
My two treat it as a bit of a cottage industry 
You may want to check.
My eleven year old Niece has a FlexOne Visa Debit and she has used it free of charge on holiday already.