<p>Just checking in with experienced parents out there. We need to open a checking account for student to manage their bills during college. The banks seem to have crazy fees just for looking at your balance or wanting to touch your money. We don’t have any experience as a family with credit unions. Anyone want to share their stories - good or bad of either option. Anything we should think through before opening? </p>
<p>Thanks for any advice or tips!</p>
<p>Credit unions only have local offices in town. This makes difficult for out of town college kids to deposit, withdraw money.</p>
<p>My kids use Bank of America. They don’t have fees if face-to-face teller services are not used. They also give reward when debit card is used for buying merchandises.</p>
<p>Features to look for in a Credit Union for your child:
<p>I dont like our CUs logon process. It uses the member number instead of a unique user id. If another customer incorrectly enters your number instead of his number, he will enter the wrong password of course but this will cause your account to be locked up after three attempts. If this happens after hours on a non-business day, you will be unable to access your account online. You have to wait for business hours so you can talk to someone who has the proper authority to reset your password. Of course, you can still go to an ATM machine to inquire balance and withdraw funds.</p>
<p>Our CU closes at 4 p.m. and no branch is open on Saturdays. My kids both have savings account with a credit union and a bank.</p>
<p>Our S started with, and still has, a bank account with our local bank. When we got it, they had a one-time fee that allowed you a year of fee free ATM withdrawals in his college town. (They had since discontinued this.) When he started a campus job and needed to be paid by automatic deposit into a local account, we opened a BOA account for him. I have the ID/password but have never accessed the account. As long as he doesn’t use a teller and does all his banking via ATM, there are no fees. About the only thing we use the original account for is his rent which is automatically withdrawn. I can periodically transfer the money because it’s our local bank.</p>
<p>I started a savings account with my local credit union in high school. Bank of America was the only bank with ATMs in my college freshman year. I got a checking account with BoA and don’t pay fees as long as I don’t use in-person services. Now I just use my BoA debit card for making purchases and put money into my saving account.</p>
<p>Now that almost all of our banking is electronic, we switched to a credit union. We no longer have a need to walk into a brick and mortar to get cash. Most of them have reciprocal agreements with all the other credit unions for no-fee ATM transactions.</p>
<p>Another factor is we got 6% on the first $500, so we get $30 per year for each account (we have 4).</p>
<p>We were planning on having S open an account in the bank that has a branch in the student union where he will be heading in 2 weeks. Convenience is worth something since he won’t have a car.</p>
<p>Wow, just realized, 8 days from now, not 2 weeks.</p>
<p>Many banks have special student accounts (they figure once they have them they won’t leave) - these are typically special no fee accounts (my daughter has one with Bank Of America which proved useful as that is the bank with lots of ATMs on her campus)</p>
<p>Why not both? Our family banks at Bank of America. Both kids have free student accounts with debit cards. The advantage is that I can instantly transfer available funds into their account online. Several times I’ve gotten the call “I need money” - its nice that I can make it available to them in less than a minute. It is key that you and your student have accounts at an institution that allows online immediate transfers.</p>
<p>So while their day-to-day needs are met by the BofA account with debit card, I have also insisted upon them opening a small account at the credit union at their campuses (Miami-OH and Alabama) so that they have free ATM access readily available for their limited currency needs. (They managed to both chose schools where BofA does not have a branch or ATM within 100 miles!) </p>
<p>Having an on-site bank or credit union also covers the “I lost my wallet/purse” problem since they can always walk into the campus branch and withdraw cash at the teller line until their debit cards are replaced. Both credit unions had free account options for students with extremely low minimums (@$25), making this essentially a no cost insurance policy.</p>
<p>Sometimes you get lucky and “your” bank has a branch on or near campus. PNC is now the “official” campus bank at Miami (OH) with a branch and multiple ATMs on campus. PNC also has several branches in Tuscaloosa, with one right near campus and also an ATM at the student center. It would be convenient just to use them since PNC just opened a branch in our hometown, but I have numerous accounts and relationships at BofA so its easier just have them open the credit union accounts.</p>
<p>I’ve never used anything but a credit union. My kids both have accounts at credit unions. No big deal. I did talk ds1 into getting a debit card with BOA when he did study abroad last year as BOA had an agreement with the largest bank in that country that there’d be no ATM fees. I don’t think he’s used that debit card once since he’s been home.</p>
<p>I think the key is cost and convenience for your son. Ds2 starts college in three weeks and already has opened an account at the student-run CU on his campus. Can’t beat the convenience, and it’s free. He’ll keep his account open here, as well.</p>
<p>My kids have college accounts that are “no-fee”; when they graduate the bank gives them a letter saying that as long as they maintain a minimum balance and have automatic deposits, the account continues without fees.</p>
<p>Her bank is a block from the uni. But I will also tell her to look into college credit union and atm service.</p>
<p>Thank you everyone for all your perspectives…very much appreciated.</p>
<p>Many credit unions belong to nationwide networks that essentially give their members branches all over the country. Two of our credit unions belong to this network: [url=<a href=“http://www.cuservicecenter.com/]CUServiceCenter.com[/url”>http://www.cuservicecenter.com/]CUServiceCenter.com[/url</a>] Yes, I can walk into any of the participating branches and it is just like walking into my own credit union’s local branch.</p>
<p>Each credit union, like each bank, has its own policies about using ATM machines that are associated with other financial institutions, so do check that out carefully.</p>
<p>My son has an CU account where we bank and a commercial bank account at school as his school direct deposits campus job paychecks only at that bank. Both are no fee student accounts.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Plus, Miami’s credit union is student run and gives a plenty of business students real banking experience while still in school. It is a good thing to support if it works out for you.</p>
<p>Our kids have both types of accounts. We did open a joint checking account with each of them at the on campus credit union, for convenience. We also had a joint account with them at local bank. It was just good to have multiple ways of getting money to them. It has worked fine. None of our accounts have fees, whether you are in person or electronic.</p>
<p>Credit union membership is becoming the “in” thing lately, as the previous two years were filled with people getting rid of big banks for community based ones. They aren’t exactly fleeing in droves, but a steady stream is pouring out of the banking industrial complex into credit unions. Read more at: <a href=“Personal Money Network”>Personal Money Network;