Debit card which cannot be used without funds in account.

[Seasswimmer]

Does anyone know of a debit card that can be loaded with an amount of cash that cannot be overspent by the user? My son wants to use a card to buy items in a shop but he does not understand budgeting. I have looked at one type of card but they charge 99p for every transaction. The big banks allow overdraft which is not helpful. Any ideas?

[Jofisher]

I would discuss with his bank how best to protect him, or contact the mencap helpline they maybe able to help you

[Seasswimmer in reply to Jofisher]

Thanks

[Autisticframework]

gohenry for 6year old to 18 year old - UK

[Seasswimmer in reply to Autisticframework]

Yes I have heard of that but my son is 31?

[LDAutie]

hi Seasswimmer ive possibly got an answer for you,but please dont use go henrey,it is really not age apropriate for people like us (im 37) but the answer is not to far away- im under an appointeeship and use whats called a top up card-ive neveer had a debit card in my life as my parents looked after my benefits before i got instituttionalised, go henrey is a top up card but highly restrictive whereas the one i use is for adults-its called an Equals card (fairFX owns them,and they also do a card i think) and it doesnt cost anything to buy things using this card,and if you transfer money to his account using certain methods-it doesnt cost anything eitheryou can pay either with the pin you get or use the swipe thing option (sorry i dont know what its called) but every few uses it acts like its failed so needs the pin number entering-this is normal for top up cards.i dont know the rest of it,sorry.

i dont know about your son but in my case, ive been officially tested for capacity as well,i do not have capacity in certain areas including money/looking after bills etc ,so during covid 19 the service who supports me and many others with both care and corporate appointeeship (whatever that means) gave us whats called a top up card because of the amount of shops refusing paper money-starbucks being just one example.

on my card,it says two names-my name and underneath,the support companys name because theyre my appointee-so i guess you coud do the same thing as a parent,if your son allows it or is deemed to not have capacity in this area.

i get my weekly money put on it,it arrives like clockwork on the date set by my appointee (so in your sons case, it woud be you setting up the bank transfer) and i use it on everything from rompa to amazon, to ebay,to paypal, to ticketmaster,to steam (if your son is a gamer,hes probably heard of this platform-sadly its now the place you buy allmost all PC games and much software from).

if i ask for something extra,like currently im asking for a new portable super hardcore hard drive for gamers and last week i recieved my 2 meter jumbo bamboo fibre optic strands/spagetti lights from rompa-my appointee had added the money to my card so i coud be independent and buy them myself.

in terms of security ( i know you didnt mention this but i thought id add it in so you know) if your son gets the csrd stolen -whether physically or online,the most thatd get stolen woud be what was put on the card,they woudnt get acess to his bank account,its a lot safer than debit cards or credit cards.

so i am very very sorry for going into another waffle and once again i apologise-my memory has been damaged badly over the years by life long epilepsy so i dont even see my writing i type as i think.

if you need any help,give me a shout,im on here every day and i can ask my support staff about it for you if no one here can answer any questions you have.

[Booa in reply to LDAutie]

Hi can you use this card at an ATM

[LDAutie in reply to Booa]

hi Booa sorry ive not been on the group or the internet for a while so ive just read your message now. yes you can use the equals card at an ATM,my apointee told my staff you can take out money with it but it charges per take out but she lied to me and told me i cant use it to take out money-i found out because she didnt want me getting carged.

you can view it in an ATM for free,so you you can see every thing like whats on your card at that moment but there are a couple of things you cant do with it, for ecxample just in case it was ever a need-i know you didnt ask but just in case- itunes-you cant buy music off itunes with an equals card (its unsupported by apple currently) if you want to know any more details around itunes i can tell you,as i unfortunately came aross this problem when trying to buy some albums for my ipad so i coud blue tooth it to the car music player,theres a way around it though,just using a apple gift card which you can buy in tescos and similar places.

ive never had a problem with any other website and ive bought off everything from steam,to nintendos estore, to joules, to ebay,to ocado,to shockhosting even (a small american company which hosts my server) etc.

the other issue some people will find with it-say you are at tesco or another petrol place,you have a motability car,your support staff/one of your staff or family go to use your equals card in the slot for debit cards it says it wont work or something like that, but it can be payed for in the garage shop-both chip and pin and the bluetooth? method work with this card,just not at the place where the petrol goes in.

to anyone thking of getting a top up debit card,id recomend having an app for that account of your loved one because you can get to a lot of ATM machines and theyre not working,especialy if its on a busy day,for example if you shop near a busy football ground-the shop either turns the card machines off or the money runs out.

[ApertSibling]

Not entirely answering your question but I support my 50 year old sister with mild moderate learning disability. I support her with her finances and admin. I found this link yesterday- hopefully useful to you carersuk.org/help-and-advic... also, I notice Santander have some options for 3rd party access to a bank account which look useful. Good luck

[CoyoteU]

Try Nationwide I have they don't have an overdraft on the Flex account.

[Seasswimmer in reply to CoyoteU]

Thanks

[Tigger1306]

HiI'm a support worker with Mencap and know that we have used Nationwide for one of our tenants as it allows you to not have an overdraft facility. Also I am sure that Lloyds do an account that has no overdraft facility, but we gave up with them as they were messing us around with POI as the person did not have any photo identification

Hope that helps

[Seasswimmer in reply to Tigger1306]

Thank you. yes we tried Lloyds, one minute they said he couldnt go overdrawn then it allowed him to be overdrawn . then someone else said there wasnt the facility not to go overdrawn!

[Jac_789]

I got a Nationwide Basic account for my adult daughter. It has no fees. You can help him keep an eye on it online. She has a visa debit card and no overdraft.

[Serious_seamstress]

Hi

Ask for a basic account. Most don’t offer an overdraft facility. TSB’s basic account is good one.

[Sally426]

Mencap Helpline yes 😀