I read the previous threads about Banks at Harvard square and they are all pretty old. My child currently has a Chase account which I believe is not in Boston, so we are thinking about opening a Bank of America account. Is it best to open the account here before she goes to Harvard ? If so, what address should we put on the application ? We plan to get a student account with one of us as a co-applicant on it. Are there any cons to this ? Any BTDT advice will be appreciated. Thanks.
That is what I am planning to do. Open BofA account and get ATM card. Keep no more than $300 in the account any day (just in case).
FWIW: There’s really no need to open a separate bank account in Cambridge.
When my son and daughter were in college, they each went to school with an ATM card linked to their home account in NYC (one was Chase; one was TD Bank). Their ATM cards were accepted everywhere in Cambridge and Boston. If they needed more money, we were able to deposit the cash into their home account without any difficulty. In their junior and senior years, Venmo came along, so we just Venmo-ed them what they needed, and then they “cashed-out”: https://venmo.com
Thanks gibby. ATMs charge fees to withdraw if it is of a different bank. Is that not the case in Boston ? Venmo looks interesting and similar to paypal. We have a paypal account. Are there any special benefits to Venmo compared to paypal ?
There are at least 3 Bank of America ATMs around the Yard. That’s the reason I want to open a BofA account for my son.
@books4life: Yes, banks in Boston charge a fee when withdrawing cash at an another bank’s ATM, however most stores in Cambridge and Boston will accept an ATM card for purchases, including small items like a cup of coffee or a slice of pizza. So, there’s really no need for a student to use cash, or withdraw cash and incur those fees.
FWIW: As seasoned adults, we are very used to having cash in our wallets, but millennials (at least my kids and their friends) don’t use cash. It’s all electronic transfers either with an ATM card or an APP like Venmo, PayPal etc. (Paypal owns Venmo, so it’s really the same thing.)
My D chose to get a BoA account. There is a storefront right near the Coop. Gibby is right: students can survive without a local account, but it has been convenient a few times. For example, she received cash and checks for her birthday from indulgent grandparents, and she didn’t want to leave over $100 in cash in her dorm room, so she went to the brick-and-mortar bank and deposited the money. (This was a first for her.)
There are also TDBank (for sure) and Chase (I think) ATMs very close to the Square so students wouldn’t need to incur fees at those banks. There is also a Harvard credit union if I remember correctly. She uses our home address for her address, and the statements come to our home.
BoA does not have a presence in our town besides one inconveniently located ATM, but it has a pretty good online interface, and I have linked my checking account to her account and can transfer money to her immediately, but I don’t do this very often. She ('20) and her brother ('17) earn their own spending money.
This would be a great question for the CC Harvard Parents’ Thread! I encourage you to post these sorts of inquiries there so more people are able read the answers.
No Chase. BoA has the most, but there is also TD, Citizens, Harvard Credit Union, and a couple of smaller ones.
Honestly, it comes down to personal preference, as well as what each bank offers/charges. I have BoA for no reason other than it was convenient when I went to boarding school and remained so when I went to college. My account address is my permanent address, and with online banking, the address or where one opens the account is not important. As @gibby mentioned, there is not a major need for ATM withdrawals as most places accept debit cards.
Sadly, not as active as the Yale counterpart. 
Thanks everyone for your input. It helps. I wanted to post it in the parent thread, but it’s not so active like skieurope said. I’ll try it next time though.
Helicopter parents. 
To be fair, and I’m certainly not the rah-rah Yale person on this site, while there are many helicopter parents here, the parents, at least the more loquacious ones, on the Yale thread, seem very down-to-earth to me. 
We have a local bank that will refund ATM charges, anywhere in the world. It’s great! The fees in Lebanon can be 3 or 4 dollars, so this service has been very helpful for my son who is studying there.
Ah, @skieurope, down-to-earth, possibly because their helicopters have just landed. 