<p>How do other parents handle transfering money to their students at school? The on-campus bank (BofA) is national and has locations in my area, but isn’t where I bank. </p>
<p>I do everything online, and want a simple inexpensive way to transfer money electronically. </p>
<p>Sorry if this has been discussed many times before. When I searched past threads, I got too many unrelated results and couldn’t find any relevant ones.</p>
<p>We had the exact same situation. We opened our own BOA account and had it linked electronically to our kids’ accounts. I think the kids’ accounts were called CampusEdge and are geared to college students. We kept just enough in our account to avoid monthly fees and be able to transfer into the kids’ accounts. The only time I had to physically go to the bank was to replenish our account; all transfers to the kids were online.</p>
<p>I opened a B of A account for just this purpose. I have a free checking account which required only that I have a direct deposit set up in order to make it free. I have a small once per month income that I have direct deposited. There may be other ways to get a free or inexpensive account, this just happens to be the way that worked for me. Then I have that money available to transfer to my Ds (have two in college) easily and instantly when they call and need money because they both have B of A accounts. Of course I can also go to the bank (both here in NY and in FL during the winter) if I have any other banking business I want to do with the account. One D has also gotten a B of A credit card which she uses occasionally and I can transfer money to pay that bill too since I have her online sign-in information.I use another bank account that I have had for years to do the bulk of my online bill paying, etc.</p>
<p>Haha cross posted with my-3-sons (I also have 3 sons, LOL)</p>
<p>I did something similar. It is so handy to be able to transfer money periodically. DD is very frugal and always makes her money last, but I love to tell her during exams that the ATM fairy visited! Just last night, I knew she was neck deep in papers so I skyped her and told her that the ATM fairy left a little money for a coffee break. </p>
<p>One thing I haven’t done is make sure she also has a credit card - she only has a debit card. I know she needs to start establishing a credit history.</p>
<p>If your bank does not charge for an outgoing ACH and BOA doesn’t charge for an incoming ACH, you don’t have to open up an extra account. That said, apart from a few cash transactions, 95% of the money I spend is on a credit, sometimes debit, card. Even fast food restaurants are accepting credit cards without fees these days.</p>
<p>Thanks for the suggestions. I’ve considered opening a BofA account, but kind of hate to go to those lengths. </p>
<p>I’ll have to look into the ACH thing - I’ve never heard that term before. </p>
<p>Up to now, S has been using a VisaBuxx debit card, where I can easily transfer money online, but there is a $2 charge per transfer. Since I typically only do this once per month, I decided that the $24/yr was worth it to avoid opening another bank account. </p>
<p>But, it is just time for S to have his own bank account now.</p>
<p>Any other suggestions?</p>
<p>we did it another way; our son kept his hometown account and added me as a cosigner. I could easily transfer funds to him if necessary. He used that account to make online payments, which is how he pays just about everything, and he could get cash at ATMs. He did have a local back, too, and he used his savings to open that account and had his summer earnings direct deposited there. He could arrange to transfer funds from home town bank to school bank, which he didn’t do often,but I don’t know how he did it.</p>
<p>PayPal is a good way to go if you don’t mind few days delay. It’s free. Both of you just need to open a PayPal acct linked to your acct, then you could send money to each other without any fees.</p>
<p>S also opened a BofA acct. It just seemed so much more convenient than anything else since there were ATMs right on campus; bank reps were on campus during summer orientation which made it very easy to sign up. He also had a prepaid visabuxx during hs that we kept open for a while after he started, just in case… Not sure if other schools do this, but we can also load money onto his school card which can be used at the bookstore as well as several restaurants or stores on/near campus.</p>
<p>oldfort, I like the PayPal idea, and will look into it. There are really no fees? Where do they get revenue from then?</p>
<p>They get fees from merchants. They charge 2-3%, like credit card. If it’s for personal use, there is no fee. If you have an personal acct, it’s more likely you would use it to pay for merchandise online. My family members have used PayPal to send money to each other - presents for parents, money for niece and nephew, even paying for some of our parents expenses.</p>