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Poppy R

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Review of the NatWest, Natwest Rooster Money:

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Great card for starting secondary school with

I have an account with RBS, so getting a Rooster card for my son when he started high school was an easy decision because then there are no fees associated with it. He's now 15 and it's all going well; he's used it in a variety of situations, on the bus and online with no issues. It is good that there are some safety features - the parent's phone is notified with each transaction; the cvv changes every 15 minutes and is accessed only via the app; needing a pin number every 5 contactless payments unless the parent resets the tally; the parent can restrict its use in certain situations if they want to eg for online payments or abroad. This is particularly good for younger children - or maybe for more spendthrift teens I guess! My son was actually pretty anxious about the idea of a card associated with a bank account when he was 11, so for him, having a pre-paid card with a limited amount on it really worked for him and his confidence - after all, it is conceptually very easy for a child, the same as having a wallet in that you can spend only what you have on the card. The very clear app helped hugely with this, and for him knowing that we could monitor what was happening was helpful. He gets a bus to a school in another town, so it's important to me to know he has money if he needs it, so having access to that information via the parent app has been fantastic, as has been notified when he's spent money. It has been easy to add money to the parent account and keep it in reserve for when it's needed - or add it immediately. Our extended family has also given him birthday money onto the card (via the parent account). and the ability to have "pots" on his card has worked really well. I send it to him labelled "birthday money from X" and he puts it into his "birthday money" pot, which is kept separate from his day to day spending/ lunch money. I do trust my son, but the fact that you can't use the card to gamble or spend on alcohol might reassure some parents. The only problem I've heard is when older kids want to buy a soft drink at a concert and the card isn't accepted as it's a bar, so maybe be aware of that. I suspect the other "con" for some older teens might be feeling the lack of privacy with their spending as the parent can see it all. This isn't an issue for our family, we all feel pretty comfortable with that. A teen could get round it by using the card at an ASTM and paying with cash if they really wanted! All in all, we're really happy with this card; my son felt reassured with the safety net features at 11, and at 15 he doesn't think about it at all, he feels he can use it easily for whatever he wants, and appreciated the clear app. Reviewed on: 13th February 2025

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