Current bank accounts – once you’re 18

The full range of bank services should now be available to you – if you already have a current account, contact your bank to let them know you are 18.

If you’re opening a new account, you may find accounts especially designed for younger people or students in particular, which offer special features; take a good look at them to find if these particular features would help you.

Whatever bank account you have, you should make sure that you use the services to your advantage: see our pages below on telephone and online banking, standing orders, direct debits, overdrafts, credit cards, debit cards, cheques and loans.

Telephone and online banking

If you make the most of these, they can really help you manage your money efficiently; you can (more…)

Standing orders

If you want to make regular payments to someone (every month, every three months, or every year), you can set up a standing order (more…)

Direct debits

Like standing orders, direct debits are regular payments, made automatically once you set them up. They are used mainly to pay bills for (more…)

Overdrafts

An overdraft occurs when money is taken out of a bank account so that the balance remaining is below zero (more…)

Credit cards

Like overdrafts, credit cards can offer dangerous temptation – but they can also, if used carefully, offer some (more…)

Debit cards

Plastic debit cards have some of the practical payment advantages of credit cards (and are used in a similar way to (more…)

Cheques

Cheques seem quite old-fashioned in the 21^st century; there have been attempts to phase them out, and they (more…)

Loans

A loan means borrowing money from someone else; you have to pay the money back, and unless it is (more…)