<p>I wanted to pass on a warning about debit card limits on student accounts.</p>
<p>My daughter, who is a college junior, needed to pay an unusually large bill online yesterday (for summer housing at a college in the city where she will be doing a summer internship), and she attempted to pay the bill using her check card. Even though she had more than enough money in her checking account, the payment would not go through, and the online system kept saying that there was a problem with her card. Evidently, student accounts have rather low limits on the amount that can be charged on a check card in one transaction or one day -- lower than most of us are accustomed to.</p>
<p>We solved the problem by paying the bill with my check card, which is associated with a different (non-student) account at a different bank and has a higher limit. But this might not always be practical.</p>
<p>For the future, my husband and I are going to get our daughter a credit card on our account, to be used only in emergencies or in situations where her debit card does not work. If your student might need to make large online transactions, where only a debit or credit card can be used and a check won't work, you might want to do the same thing. Admittedly, the particular bill my daughter needed to pay yesterday was an unusual one, but problems could also arise with more common purchases such as airline tickets or laptop computers.</p>
<p>Generally speaking, if you call the bank that issued the card and let them know that you will need them to make an exception to their daily limit ,they will allow it for a particular transaction</p>
<p>Yes, we have heard that. My daughter didn’t attempt it in this instance because it was a weekend evening. </p>
<p>Do you know whether she needs to be concerned about the bank thinking that her card has been stolen and freezing other transactions? Does she need to contact the bank when it opens on Monday morning to assure them that the card was not stolen? She needs to pay her off-campus apartment rent within the next three days, and it would be very undesirable for that check to bounce.</p>
<p>The bank that we use ( TD) has phone reps available every day, even on weekends. Has she checked the back of her card for a customer service number ? She may be able to reach them before the bank opens on Monday. My husband was just visiting his family in Sweden ,where you cannot use credit cards that do not have a PIN. He used a VISA check card that is rarely used, since it was the only card he had with a PIN. The bank’s credit card fraud dept called me to verify , and I am pretty sure it wasn’t a rep that was actually from our local bank ,but an outside source.
My daughter just had to do the same thing as your daughter did as she made a deposit on an apt for Sept.
If she can call before the bank actually opens to alert them, I would recommend that she does…banks can be pretty tricky with their fees these days !</p>
<p>Even adult Debit cards usually have a limit that is much lower than your balance in the beginning. I learned the awkward way when my debit card was declined buying furniture.</p>
<p>She can call the 1-800 and speak with a rep. All she has to do is identify herself and explain what she was trying to do so that they keep her card active. They can make it right so she can use the care this week. They or her bank can up her maximum daily amount, but that is set lower as a safety net against fraud, so doing so comes with risk. It might be time for her to have a credit care for large purchases like these. If she is under 21 you now have to co-sign. But setting guidelines on how to use it and building some credit would be a good thing. Or you can add a card with her name on it to your account TO BE USED ONLY FOR EMERGENCIES, or things like this. My D went off last year as a 17 yo freshman and we got her an American Express linked to our account for emergencies. She has been great about it. And I have peace of mind. And once, when she was terrible stressed, I called and told her to go have a massage on me. </p>
<p>All banks have a 1-800 that is answered 24 hours a day printed on the card. She can call even on a Sunday.</p>
<p>D1 always had one of our credit cards with high credit limit for large purchases. She used it to pay for her summer housing in NYC, which she will pay us back once she starts getting paid this summer. D1 rarely uses it without giving us heads up. We also signed up for text message notification every time the card is used. We literally get a buzz as she is swiping the card.</p>
<p>When my son set up his checking account they asked him if he would like a limit on how much can be taken out on one day. He set it at $300. He can change it any time with a call. He was concerned with theft of the card. Made sense at the time.</p>
<p>He also has a credit card linked to our acct. for emergencies and he has had to use it.</p>
<p>Discover told me that he would gain our credit rating being on the account. A free credit check shows that he has a credit report so maybe this is true. I have read different things on this.</p>
<p>Interesting note: He bought a new horn ($3000) that was fed ex’d to him. When he went to sign for it they said he had to be 21 to sign even though everything was in his name.</p>