Banking--at school or at home?

Parents Forum
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<p>S continues banking via home bank while at college 800 miles away. He has online billpay, online account access, 4 free foreign ATM uses a month, direct deposit of his pay. Don't see any need for a local bank at the college. It has worked nicely for 3 years, and is continuing to work over summers at his job locations. Plus, he has created a long term relationship with one bank rather than short term w/many different banks.</p>

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<p>Jym, yes we use USAA and have been using it for years. I gave up doing the bills when we switched. I know that there some occasional grumblings from dh regarding some nitpicky stuff about how it tracks payments and how long you can access information on line. (They've changed the interface a couple of times I think.) If you send me an e-mail I'll get more details from dh tonight. For my son it's worked out very well, he has a joint account with us so we can look over his shoulder if we need to and also so we can deposit directly into his account. (Mostly we don't look, but we did look occasionally at the start of last year.) They have a program for credit cards for the students as well.</p>

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<p>I use a local bank here at home and have a US Bank account on campus. They are located in the bookstore oncampus. Since I went to school, they have also opened a US Bank location in my hometown. I will keep the local bank for the time-being just because my mom's connected to my accounts there.</p>

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<p>Thanks, mathmom-- will do.</p>

<p>I looked at some websites about banking regulations for minors. It looks like there may be some state by state individual differences. This site, directed to other banks/bankers Policy</a> On Accounts For Minors and Bank</a> account question? Minor? - Yahoo! Answers seems to suggest that banks can set individual policy if their state allows it (and directs them to read the fine print). Reading the yahoo questions and answers, such as Can</a> a minor open her own bank account wihtout a parent or guardian's consent? - Yahoo! Answers seems to suggest that an adult signatory is required. One other link (which I cant currently find) said that it is possible that a bank might open a savings account for a minor, but unlikely to open a checking account without an adult guarantor. FWIW</p>

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<p>Yes, jym, that's exactly what I mean, and I didn't think it was legal either, but the bank manager assured us that it was, and it is not linked to any account of ours at all (we don't have any business with that bank). Could be the guy doesn't know of what he speaks, but he sounded confident (like the bank itself was willing to be responsible if something went wacky and our son started making out checks he couldn't pay, and maybe that's really what it is...the bank is willing to take the risk of essentially being his "co-signer"). It's not even like our son is an emancipated minor, where I could more see it perhaps being legal. We were told the same as you at our local banks, and indeed, had some trouble finding a bank locally that would grant him a checking account even with my name on it in addition to his. But our son is signing all sorts of stuff without us cosigning (patent paperwork, right to publish stuff, etc. and again, people asking him to sign know his age and seem to not care less). I think when he spoke at Microsoft at age 10 and had to sign something saying they could make use of any ideas he presented there, they had us co-sign, but that's about the only time I can recall being asked to co-sign something for him other than setting up stuff at the bank before he moved out of state.</p>

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<p>And again, our son had a checking account without us being co-signers. I don't believe his ATM card is a debit card, so I can't say if they would grant him one of those (though truly, that seems safer to me than giving him a credit card, as at least with a debit card, you should only be able to spend what you have in the bank and not get in over your head). He has a money market account with the bank at school, too.</p>

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<p>I am in Ca and found that it varies by bank regarding checking accounts and minors. We checked with a local bank that we use for our business. They would not do a checking and on the savings account would only do an ATM that worked at their banks. No Debit. The credit union would give a debit but only to me as the co- owner of the account. We thought it was an impossible task. Son was still 17 when he went away to school.
Someone suggested Wells Fargo and they had no problem opening a checking account complete with Visa logo Debit card to a 17 yr old.</p>

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<p>Thanks <em>very</em> much for all of the great information/advice. I got thinking about this when I noticed there will be local bank representatives available on move-in day, but I hate to wait that long. I would probably tend to think a local bank but I do get cranky about ATM fees (even $1-$1.50). I wasn't aware (until this thread!) that some banks allow a limited number of withdrawals from other ATMs without charging--I'll definitely look into that.</p>

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<p>Some banks also do not charge fees for using their ATM's "out of network". Check out TD BankNorth but I am sure there are many others.</p>

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<p>My kids all have USAA accounts - checking and savings. It has worked out very well for us. They have a debit card with the checking account and hardly ever write a check - almost never. They get 3 checks a month on their savings account and write big checks out of there.<br>
They also have a USAA credit card with a low credit limit.</p>

<p>I have joint accounts with them and transferring money as well as "monitoring" is simple. They have learned to keep most of their money in their savings to earn interest and transfer it to checking when needed.
No bank fees - ever!</p>

<p>I also have a checking account at a local bank and have it set up to transfer money into any of my USAA accounts with a click of the mouse - very simple!</p>

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<p>Justamom-
How do you link your outside cking accout to USAA's? I have that kind of thing with INGDirect, and they also have an Ichecking deal, but if USAA is easy, it offers a better deal with the waiver of the ATM fees</p>

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<p>I just did it on the website - I think my outside account had been registered to pay my credit card bill. I am pretty sure I just put in the routing and account number. Once you do that the information is saved.</p>

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<p>Thanks justamom! I'll look into it. If I can transfer money from my primary bank into a USAA student account that'll be ideal!</p>