Children’s bank account / prepaid card

[Deep Blue]

My eldest is 12 and I’d like her to have a bank account to keep her cash in. Ideally it would come with a debit card she could use offline and online and bonus if it could be linked to Apple Pay.

There are many great accounts in the UK which offer parental controls on transaction types, spending reports, linkage to parent accounts, digital apps etc - Revolut <18, gohenry, Rooster are three often recommended.

This site shows some of the features

https://www.finder.com/uk/better-debit- ... ZIQAvD_BwE

Is there anything similar in Japan?

[ClearAsMud]

Opening a bank account for a child is fairly easy. A debit card, however, normally won't be issued until the child turns 15 (Aeon, MUFG, Resona, Sony, others) or 16 (Rakuten, 7-11).

Below the age of 15, you might look into prepaid cards like the Visa prepaid card issued by Sumitomo-Mitsui, which can be issued to children over 6 and applied for online. It's free, can be used with both Apple Pay and Google Pay, and has a (small) cash-back benefit. The free d-Card Prepaid Card (connected with NTT, so used through a "d-Account" and issued as a Mastercard through Sumitomo-Mitsui) can be issued to children over 12.

Also, though I never heard of it before, Shuttle Pay advertises a Mastercard-affiliated prepaid card designed for children that is managed through an app for 480 yen a month (after a free trial period). It seems to be a work in progress.

Can't provide any more details, but maybe something to start on.

[TokyoBoglehead]

Opening a bank account for a child is fairly easy. A debit card, however, normally won't be issued until the child turns 15 (Aeon, MUFG, Resona, Sony, others) or 16 (Rakuten, 7-11).

Below the age of 15, you might look into prepaid cards like the Visa prepaid card issued by Sumitomo-Mitsui, which can be issued to children over 6 and applied for online. It's free, can be used with both Apple Pay and Google Pay, and has a (small) cash-back benefit. The free d-Card Prepaid Card (connected with NTT, so used through a "d-Account" and issued as a Mastercard through Sumitomo-Mitsui) can be issued to children over 12.

Also, though I never heard of it before, Shuttle Pay advertises a Mastercard-affiliated prepaid card designed for children that is managed through an app for 480 yen a month (after a free trial period). It seems to be a work in progress.

Can't provide any more details, but maybe something to start on.

Yucho accounts for children operate like a standard account.. I recommend them as they integrate well with most brokers and have branches everywhere.

It's a good basic account for a child. Just and ATM card and passbook though.

[Deep Blue]

Thank you both very much.

I think the SM Visa pre-paid card looks ideal, coupled with a regular bank account for saving. It would be a massive bonus to get multi currency to let them save money from grandparents etc and even earn some interest…. But I guess this is pretty unrealistic!

Probably in a few years Wise will offer something along these lines I guess, rather than expecting it from a Japanese bank.

Until then I think I might make a bank of Dad, pay them some monthly interest and get them comfortable with the idea of delayed gratification, savings, interest and then eventually led into investing . Would be so much easier if yen deposit rates weren’t 0%

[Deep Blue]

Does Yucho children’s account have any online options? Or do they send an annual statement?

[TokyoBoglehead]

Does Yucho children’s account have any online options? Or do they send an annual statement?

Once you get the token setup you can be 100% online and cancel all mail.

They might be legally required to send some items by mail as the child approaches legal age.

[sutebayashi]

Opening a bank account for a child is fairly easy. A debit card, however, normally won't be issued until the child turns 15 (Aeon, MUFG, Resona, Sony, others) or 16 (Rakuten, 7-11).

My kids are under 15 and they each have a Sony bank account with a debit card. Can’t remember doing anything special to get one.

[TokyoBoglehead]

Opening a bank account for a child is fairly easy. A debit card, however, normally won't be issued until the child turns 15 (Aeon, MUFG, Resona, Sony, others) or 16 (Rakuten, 7-11).

My kids are under 15 and they each have a Sony bank account with a debit card. Can’t remember doing anything special to get one.

I think there are different definitions for ATM vs debit card depending on the norm in your home country. Just for clarity.

An ATM card is a PIN-based card, used to transact in ATMs only. While a Debit Card, on the other hand, is a much more multi-functional card. They are accepted for transacting at a lot of places like stores, restaurants, online in addition to ATM.

[ClearAsMud]

[My kids are under 15 and they each have a Sony bank account with a debit card. Can’t remember doing anything special to get one.

Maybe they applied before the current rule -- see the basic description of the card and this FAQ -- was strictly enforced. Opening a Sony Bank account online also requires the applicant to be at least 15 years old (younger than that requires a paper application).

You probably don't recall doing anything special to get the debit card because the online application for opening an account actually requires you to opt out of requesting a Wallet at the same time. Instead, you are simply asked to choose which of two designs you want, and click a less conspicuous box if you don't want the debit-card version of a cash card.

The combined cash card/debit card sometimes causes confusion because you have to insert it from different ends depending on which function you want to use.

[Edited to make the comment text-only.]

[Deep Blue]

Thanks for all the discussions.

I decided to open yucho accounts for them all and feed in some starter savings. Then their pocket money will be transferred monthly, plus any birthday money/New Year money etc. Have to give up on a debit card for now.

I’ll also manually pay them an interest bonus once a year, not yet decided on the rate - maybe 5% to make it worthwhile to promote saving over consuming.

Hopefully this will led to discussions and reflections on Rule of 72 etc.