I got my student checking account in the 7th grade. No fees, no minimum balance. I got a few checks at a time. The bank kept my extra printed checks that I could pick up when needed.
I still remember the thrill when mom taught me how to properly fill out a check. I was 12 yrs old and felt so proud. I put part of my allowance and money I made mowing yards in that account every month. Learned how to manage my money and it was an important life skill.
Do local banks still encourage student checking accounts?
Checks in the US aren’t nearly as passe as they are in Europe and Australia. I pay my rent by check every month, which is the only check I still write. Many older folks pay for groceries using their checkbook here.
My hometown’s local bank has a junior checking program. I don’t live there anymore, but just checked online. I don’t know if every local bank does this anymore, but they do. They will actually put $5 into the account for every A you get, up to some annual maximum of course. Pretty quaint notion!
A “checking account” is the US equivalent of a current account in the Commonwealth. I have a “checking account” but I haven’t had a chequebook in years.
Bank of America had free student checking accounts when I was in college 10 years ago. I assume kids are eligible.
Getting the first checking account was a major milestone for kids when I grew up. That was our first grown up experience in handling our finances.
I guess it would still apply today with a checking account and debt card. But that’s more scary. It’s so easy to overspend with a debt card. If I had young teen kids today they would start with a few checks like I did.
I went into our local bank (a tiny one, FDIC insured but with only two branches) and asked to open a checking account for the staggering amounts of money my daughter’s grandparents were giving her. I can’t remember the exact details of how it played it, but basically we had to open another account under our name to put her money in, then transfer it when she got older.
My own memory is that while I had a bank account beginning at the age of ten, the bank wouldn’t allow me to take money out of it without one of my parents being present. Not even when I was seventeen, driving a car, working a job, and making regular deposits. Turning eighteen magically stopped that nonsense.
Nope, they don’t unfortunately. I tried to get my brother a checking account (he has a savings account with grandparent $$) when he was 16. Something in the CARD act or a byproduct of the CARD act prohibits those under 18 from having any kind of plastic. I was told this at two regional banks as well as one national bank. Had nothing to do with a minimum balance, or getting one of my parents on his account, nope. They asked his age and that was the end.
So subsequently, he has to carry around lots of cash for gas, food, etc, much like the un-banked Americans, with zero practice time on how to use a debit card and manage money until he goes to college.
It’s stupid and it’s backward and it’s the result of government intervention by crusty old out of touch men who don’t know how to use ATM’s.
Really??? Heck, my grandmother opened a savings account in my name 5 days after I was born. She made the very first deposit and made more deposits every year on my birthday.
My mom kept the passbook. Back then, you took the passbook to the bank and they made entrys in it for deposits and withdrawals. I was maybe 16? When mom trusted me with my savings account passbook. But, there would have been hell to pay if I had withdrawn money without asking her first. That was part of my college fund.
There are two local banks in my town that offer bank accounts for children. I don’t know the details, since I don’t have children of my own, but I know the accounts are available because people are always asking on our neighborhood listserv about where to go to get their kid their first bank account. I wouldn’t be surprised if the accounts are pass-book savings rather than checking/ATM card accounts.
I put part of my allowance and money I made mowing yards in that account every month. Learned how to manage my money and it was an important life skill.