Best bank account for an 18 year old

What is a good + reliable bank account for an 18 year old with a lot saved which is also considering university ( unsure ) and a bank that has a high interest rate.
Anyone got any advices? And which card ? That would be helpful tysm!

Reply 1

its-a-mina

2

Original post by Sunset_light

What is a good + reliable bank account for an 18 year old with a lot saved which is also considering university ( unsure ) and a bank that has a high interest rate.
Anyone got any advices? And which card ? That would be helpful tysm!

Hi, I use betterment, you can choose what type of investment you want, and the interest rate is very high as far as I'm know.

Reply 2

Sunset_light

OP

7

Original post by its-a-mina

Hi, I use betterment, you can choose what type of investment you want, and the interest rate is very high as far as I'm know.

I was thinking of choosing from Halifax , Barclays , natwest , santander , Lloyd’s or HSBC as they were branches I could go to in person if I needed to do u have any recommendations? Of which one would be better

Reply 3

mesub

Volunteer Team, Clearing and Applications Advisor

22

Original post by Sunset_light

What is a good + reliable bank account for an 18 year old with a lot saved which is also considering university ( unsure ) and a bank that has a high interest rate.
Anyone got any advices? And which card ? That would be helpful tysm!

Best to put it in an ISA, no?
Check MSE for best savings account.
If you mean current account, it depends on what you want from the bank account.

Reply 4

martin7

20

Original post by Sunset_light

What is a good + reliable bank account for an 18 year old with a lot saved which is also considering university ( unsure ) and a bank that has a high interest rate.
Anyone got any advices? And which card ? That would be helpful tysm!

I think you're asking about two separate financial products here: (1) a savings account, and (2) a current account.

You mention that you have "a lot saved". Your idea of what "a lot" means is likely to differ from my idea of "a lot". You don't need to mention an exact amount, but it would be useful to have some idea as to how much you mean -- for example, do you mean a three-figure sum (£100-£999), or a four-figure sum (£1,000-£9,999), or more than that (£10,000+)?

You go on to ask "which card", and I'm interpreting that as asking about current accounts. A current account is where you put your regular income and which is used for day-to-day spending. A debit card is one way to spend the money in the account, but it isn't the only way.

To be honest, I suspect that any standard current account is going to be fine for an 18-year-old who isn't at university. You'll get a card (either a Visa or a Mastercard, depending on the bank) and there's really not much to choose between banks.

Original post by Sunset_light

I was thinking of choosing from Halifax , Barclays , natwest , santander , Lloyd’s or HSBC as they were branches I could go to in person if I needed to do u have any recommendations? Of which one would be better

I suspect there's very little difference in reality. Bear in mind the the banks are closing branches at a high rate, so if you're lucky enough to have branches of six different banks nearby you'll probably find that number dropping quickly!

Any of those banks would be fine for a current account. But high-street banks pay lousy interest rates on savings. I would be surprised to find any of them paying noticeably more than 1% on a standard instant-access account. You can do far better than that by saving with any number of "competitor banks" who have savings accounts available online. There are a lot of these banks that you've probably never heard, but your money is just as safe with them as with the high-street banks and building societies. You just need to be sure that their accounts are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.

There are various web sites that list top-paying savings accounts, e.g. MoneySavingExpert, MoneySuperMarket, This Is Money.co.uk -- so it's worth perusing those. Make sure you understand any restrictions -- sometimes top-paying accounts restrict the number of withdrawals you can make, for example.

@mesub mentioned ISAs. ISAs have the benefit that you don't pay tax on interest earned. But if your annual income is below £50,000 you don't pay tax on the first £1,000 a year of interest so there might not be any benefit in this respect. (But note that at 5% interest, a £20,000 saved will result in £1,000 interest per year; so if you have that much in savings it might be worth looking at putting at least some of your savings into an ISA account. You'll still need to shop around for an ISA paying a decent rate of interest though.)

Best bank account for an 18 year old

Quick Reply

Related discussions

Articles for you