<p>Many banks offer ‘college checking’ accounts starting at age 16. The restriction is that usually there needs to be a parent cosigner.
The college accounts will have an associated ATM card with a Visa logo for debit and online purchases.
If it is not offered, look around for banks or credit unions, especially credit unions, which do offer the Visa logo and which do not charge for network ATM withdrawals at the ATM on campus.
Personally, our family keeps accounts held jointly for ease of access in the event of an emergency. If the primary owner is incapacitated, the secondary owner can access the funds. Usually, though, the primary owner asks the secondary owner to deposit more money ;)</p>
<p>BB&T will allow a minor, it’s called a student checking account, they get the typical ATM/Visa debit card. All you need to do is go with your parent, since they will be on the account also.</p>
<p>I’m really surprised at all this difficulty. I opened an account for my son the summer before he left for college. He was only 17. They advised me to put it in both our names, just so I could deposit, withdraw, transfer money for him with no difficulty, but there was never any indication that it was because he was under 18.</p>
<p>Hmm. My son went across country to college at 17. BofA set up a checking account with ATM without me on the account in any way. One thing we have done to transfer funds since I do not bank with BofA is to use paypal. It’s cheaper than a traditional wire transfer.</p>
<p>Yes, ours was BofA also.</p>
<p>^^I went on the BofA website to see if it was possible to set up an account, and it wouldn’t go through because the owner (my son) was under 18. Maybe this is a new policy? Anyway, I’ll call them and Chevy Chase bank tomorrow and ask their advice.</p>
<p>Both my S’s got student checking accts. with debit card thru Wachovia when they were sixteen. these accts. are linked to ours. Younger S also has a credit card that is connected to ours. Older S got his own credit card when he was 18 or 19.</p>
<p>I think it is new, oregonianmom. Maybe even in the past few years, because a lot of my older friends talk about having bank accounts when they were under 18.</p>
<p>For the record, the BoA account I got here in Princeton was when I was 17. It’s a CampusEdge checking account - the free one - so maybe they just assumed that I was 18, or something. It’s certainly under my name alone, and I only got it in September, so either the requirements have changed in the last few months or the branch was asleep at the wheel when I was signing up. ;)</p>
<p>On that note though, I don’t exactly understand why under-18s wouldn’t be allowed to have bank accounts. It’s not like we’re talking about credit, here - it’s the kid’s money (presumably), so for what reason, policy or otherwise, should they not be allowed to take advantage of the same kind of services for keeping it safe as everybody else?</p>
<p>^That was exactly what we struggled to understand. ESPECIALLY since my dad was going to be the primary card-holder, so he would be responsible for the money. <em>sigh</em></p>
<p>DS’s BofA is the CampusEdge and they were well aware that he was 17. In our local area, some of the smaller banks won’t do a checking account for under 18s…even with the parent on the account.</p>
<p>I called Chevy Chase Bank and they said no problem, so long as he’s enrolled in college. He won’t get a credit card until he’s 18, though, but he will have the ATM card.</p>
<p>There are desirable bank debit cards should your son or daughter spend a semester abroad. Do a little research on converstion fees from Euros for instance…some banks come out ahead clearly with lower fees per withdrawal…and have more ATM contracts in parts of the world. Googling turns up articles on this sub-part of the discussion. Most students use cash in Europe with debit cards rather than charging things to a credit card…more advantageous to make well thought out withdrawals in the currency of where you are living.</p>
<p>At my d’s freshman orientation there were several banks set up to open accounts for students - it was tied to their university ID card. Very little information needed to open the account and fast procesing. You could also open it online during the summer with links sent by the school.</p>
<p>Geez. B of A gave my son a debit card when he was 12. I think they would have given my daughter one too (she was 7) but I didn’t want her to have it – though of course she got one later on. They were linked to their student savings account. My d. was living abroad at age 16 --that’s when I set up a joint checking account with her to make money transfers easier. B/A set it up so that her debit card was linked both to her savings and the joint checking - and my debit card is linked to my various accounts and the joint checking, but not to her savings. </p>
<p>The only thing that was a problem for me is that B/A refused to give my kids checking accounts when they were younger, which I thought was kind of silly given their liberal policy on ATM cards.</p>
<p>A lot of the rule tightening is, believe it or not, part of the post-9/11 environment. I don’t know if the changes are required or recommended by such things as the Patriot Act, but now everything banks do has to be documented three times to Tuesday. I think some banks just didn’t want the hassle of dealing with minors and individual checking accounts. And the bank that wouldn’t let my d open a checking account as a 17 year old wasn’t a small, local one - it was Chase.</p>
<p>momtn, my d’s school also had reps from various banks to open checking accounts at orientation. None of them would do it for a 17 year old.</p>