MTDad, I know, like letsfigureitout says, that there has been a thread about this in the past, but I seem to have trouble locating it, but here is what we did.
We set up a checking account (with an ATM/debit card) for our D for her daily needs and a checkbook for larger expenses (medical, books etc.). She also has a savings account, where she sets aside things like her birthday money and the majority of her earnings. We are able to monitor her accounts online, and deposit her allowance on a monthly basis, so that she has to budget and spread out what she spends. We all bank at the same institution which helps speed up transfering money from one account into the other, when needed. We also made sure that the bank has a branch office close to where she intends to live/will be going to college, but I don't know how pertinent this may turn out to be yet. I just remember having some issues once with an out of town bank that I wanted to avoid
.
In regard to a credit card, I think this is a very personal decision as I have also read those horror stories of kids running up their cards, and I guess that each situation may be different. Our D has a tendency to 'help people out', which at first may sound lovely, but we have tried to cap that somewhat. At this point, we are leaning towards giving D one when she leaves, with the understanding that it is for absolute emergencies (and fashion emergencies don't qualify
), although I personally think that her ATM may work just fine, even in those type of situations.
With an occasional snafu here or there, all this has worked out just fine over the past couple of years when her independence kicked in. Prior to that the checkbook would just sit on her desk at home
.