Teen bank accounts – parental control and spending limits
On the programme on Thursday 3 September 2026*, producer Dave Quinn looked at bank accounts for under-16s, focusing on two key questions:
• Can parents set spending limits?
• Can parents see when money is being spent?
We looked at the offerings of five high street banks and three online-only banks.
*Note: The information below is correct at time of broadcast, 3 September 2026.
Spending limits – How much can teens spend?
Online banks:
• Under-16 accounts from online banks Monzo, Starling and Revolut, allow parents and guardians to set spending limits for online purchases or debit card withdrawals.
• These accounts are generally linked to an adult’s own account with the provider, rather than being standalone accounts.
High street banks:
• The main under-16 accounts from Barclays, Lloyds, Nationwide and NatWest (Adapt) generally do not allow parents to set the same level of spending controls. HSBC has a £5,000 limit for card purchases.
• All the banks have daily cash withdrawal limits, typically £300.
• Nationwide also offers a cash card only account, which can’t be used as a debit card.
• NatWest offers a product called Rooster, which does allow spending limits to be set – this is free for customers of NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland and Ulster Bank, otherwise it’s £20 a year.
Spending notifications - Which banks alert parents?
Some providers offer notifications to a parent or guardian’s device when items are bought using a debit card on their under-16 accounts.Online banks:
The three online banks we looked at – Monzo, Starling and Revolut – all provide notifications.
High street banks:
Nationwide, Barclays, HSBC and NatWest (Adapt) don’t provide parental notifications by default.
Lloyds and Natwest’s Rooster product do offer notifications.
Other useful features
Some providers offer additional parental controls, including:
• Freezing a card instantly if it is lost or stolen to block payments
• Restricting payments to approved contacts
• Disabling online payments
• Turning off contactless payments
Check with the bank if these are available before signing up.
What under-16 accounts can’t do
All under-16 accounts share the important protection that no overdrafts are available. This means children cannot spend more money than is in their account. Overdrafts are a form of credit, and are only offered to account holders aged 18-plus.
