<p>A joint account makes life very easy. Make sure your bank allows free ATM withdrawals or has plenty of local ATMs.</p>
<p>We’re still waiting for our older son to notice that we are still on his account. He’s got more money in his account than we do in ours!</p>
<p>I have to chuckle about the son noticing who is on his account. H can still go online and view son’s statements if he wants to (therefore I can as well). One of these years he’ll get around to changing things. We did point his out to him more than a year ago and won’t bother again. Loosening the bonds of childhood takes a lot longer than you think.</p>
<p>We got a joint checking account and debit card linked to my brokerage account at Schwab when DS left for school. No fees, ATM fees are refunded and we even earn a tiny amount. It’s very easy to transfer money and check balances. The debit card gets the most use but DS was surprized to learn that some people still need checks or want cash. However. it’s a good idea for mom and dad to keep an extra debit card and checks because the checks get lost if seldom used and the loss of the debit card can mean loss of food. Also make sure you don’t forget the password on the debit card like I did and got into a kerfuffle with the bank which Schwab quickly fixed.</p>
<p>^^^
I had planned to have her use the Schwab Bank account, because the debit card refunds all ATM fees. However we were told that it wasn’t possible to separate her joint account from our other 4 brokerage and bank accounts at Schwab. They link every account in a household, so if she wanted to check balances etc. on her own she would have access to all of our accounts. I don’t worry about her doing anything inappropriate, but if she were to open the account on her laptop and leave it unattended someone could wreak havoc buying and selling stocks, transferring between accounts- I don’t even want to think about it. I suppose she could open her own account, but life will be much simpler with a joint account. One of the many frustrations I have encountered with Schwab.</p>
<p>My girls both need checks, living off campus and it does no harm to have a book of checks and a couple of checks at school. There are many times a check is handy</p>
<p>As for study abroad it was easy, I looked what countries my daughter would be in and saw citibank had sister banks there so we opened a checking savings account for her. /she also kept her b of a account as in other countries it was a better bank.</p>
<p>My senior daughter we have a joint account with her. My older graduated daughter opened up a new account in her name near her work and they have a branch close to us.</p>
<p>" There are many times a check is handy" - Once off campus, it may be the only method for paying rent. </p>
<p>My son does not use a lot of cash. Oh, he does spend money… but debit card covers much of what he needs. When he visits we give him some cash. He augments that as needed from Walgreens visits in his college town - they allow students to make a larger charge and get “cash back”.</p>
<p>At my college our student ID is linked to TCF bank so I keep some money in there. You never know when you’ll be on campus with just your ID and need money</p>
<p>D1 has had a checking account with debit card and her own savings account since HS, both linked to our accounts so we can deposit or withdraw money seamlessly online, if necessary, and because of our accounts all her banking is fee-free. Her paychecks are direct-deposited to her checking account but she moves most of it to savings, budgeting a monthly amount she transfers from savings to checking; it’s a form of budget discipline that prevents her from spending in excess of her monthly allocation. She prefers to pay for almost everything by debit card because that gives her an electronic record (and a written record if she wants it) of where her money is going. If she needs cash, there’s a local branch of our bank across the street from her college where she can do no-fee ATM withdrawals.</p>
<p>My D and I just returned from the bank, where she opened her first checking account. She didn’t get checks because the personal banker advised against it. The bank is encouraging customers to avoid the use of checks altogether because they have the full account number written on the front. She said that in the unlikely event that my D should need a check, she can just have one sent for free through online banking.</p>
<p>D has an account at a credit union here that we also use. I am joint owner on that account and can transfer money/pay her bills if I need to (haven’t had to this past year). She scans her paychecks using her ipod Touch and deposits them. Has never written a check! She has an ATM card and a credit card from the same account. Uses them sparingly. The credit union reimburses any ATM fees, so we are good.</p>
<p>I am thinking about doing the exact same thing for S who is headed to boarding school this fall (9th grade). Not sure if anything will be different since he is a minor - will have to check with the credit union. </p>
<p>Have folks gotten kids (especially minor kids) a credit card to use for emergencies? S will be thousands of miles away and flying back home for visits - so wondering if he needs a credit card purely for emergency use.</p>
<p>@arisamp. My son used a debit card in HS, not a credit card. Check with your bank. I would move money for free from my bank account into the card so there was always $50 or so in it for expenses. That way only the money actually loaded on the card was at risk if someone else used it.</p>
<p>^^
We added our daughter as an “authorized user” on one of our credit cards, hoping it will help her to get her own card one day. She is already getting junk mail soliciting credit card applications, so perhaps the companies are easing up again on issuing cards. </p>
<p>I had a big go-round with my bank to get her joint checking account set up with just paper checks and an ATM card vs. the VISA sponsored draft card. I thought the cautions with regard to draft cards mentioned earlier on this thread were valid. The bank seemed to think we were draconian for forgoing a draft card, but that’s their problem.</p>
<p>We will probably end up setting up a separate joint account for her in her college town with a limited amount of cash available and a draft card. That way she will have the convenience of a bank draft card without the risk of linking it to the Motherlode of cash to be used for tuition etc. </p>
<p>I am still unclear about legal issues regarding joint accounts with children/parents. For example if one of us is sued, the whole value of the account will be fair game in any settlement. Also, I wonder how adding a name to an account is viewed in the context of gift taxes? For example, if I put $20,000 in the joint account with the intention that it be used for a tuition payment, is this the equivalent of a cash gift to my daughter? Federal gift tax laws apply with cash gifts of around $12,000 or more. I know I can pay the university directly and not be affected by the gift laws, but not sure about the above scenario. </p>
<p>I suspect I’m just worrying too much so I don’t have to contemplate the real problem: How to fit 2 carloads of stuff into one car for the move next week…</p>
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<p>There really are times when you need checks. I’m really surprised any banker would say that. It definitely wouldn’t fly at my mom’s bank.</p>
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<p>I got my first credit card at 16. I think my mom was a cosigner or something but it was in my name and my responsibility. I think getting high school kids a credit card of some sort is a wonderful idea although I don’t know how a 9th grader would get a card unless he’s just tacked on to your account. There might be credit cards for those 16 and under but they might just be authorized users on the parent’s account.</p>
<p>^ The banker might have given different advice to an older person (like me ;)), but apparently, most of the college students she has dealt with are more like arisamp’s D – never written a check and not too interested in starting. She said that her college-age customers seem to need a check, at most, about once a year, and that a money order serves the purpose.</p>
<p>Of course, when my D gets older and wants to start putting big checks in all my birthday cards as thanks for the college tuition I paid…well then, I will encourage her to return to the bank. :)</p>