<p>S will be a college freshman so he will need a way to access cash. I'd like to find a reloadable card that can be loaded from different sources. Extended family would like to be able to give graduation $$ as well as $20 here or there.</p>
<p>the AmEx Pass can have only one funding source so that one is out. Hope to avoid fees as much as possible.</p>
<p>What has worked for you? Open to suggestions!</p>
<p>If there is another thread on this, please point me in that direction. Thanks!</p>
<p>My kids used Visa Buxx when they were in HS. But in college, they have a debit card tied to their checking accts. I can transfer money from my checking account at another bank if I want. I would assume that anyone could transfer $ directly if you give them the account info.</p>
<p>Also, most colleges have their own reloadable accounts through their dining plan. My mother deposits money into D’s “bucks” account every month. She can use the money for laundry, dining out around the campus and in town, at CVS and in the campus bookstore. Check to see if you kids school has an account like this (no fees!)</p>
<p>Yes, get him a checking account, preferably one tied into yours so you can transfer money easily (and with no fee). If he’s not yet 18, Chase has a “high school” account, which will work if yours is Chase. My dilemma is I’d like to use the bank that provides the ATM in the student center, to avoid fees, but it’s not my bank and it will be a pain to go out of my way to make deposits.</p>
<p>My D’s acct is Capital One, mine is Chase and I can make online transfers to her acct with no trouble at all. They don’t charge any fees either. Or maybe they waive them for me - but I haven’t noticed any fees!</p>
<p>a lot of banks allow on line transfers to other banks – you can link the accounts thru one of the banks on-line access – you may have to be an account holder on both accounts – so if you have a joint with the student you can arrange transfers from one account to the other at different banks.</p>
<p>a lot of banks also have college checking accounts with no fees.</p>
<p>with loadable cards you have to be very careful about fees. debit card from checking account may be best – relatives can always give gifts as checks to deposit to the account. just try to make sure student doesn’t waive the new protections that prevent bank from allowing the debit card to be overdrawn with resulting enormous fees – banks will try to convince the depositor that it is better to have the ability to overdraw without emphasizing the fees involved if it happens.</p>
<p>college is a good time to start learning about handling money – ie - checking account, debit card. you need to know your kid and how savy they are as to how closely you try to watch/control things as they learn – emphasis on “as they learn” – ultimate goal is for them to know how to handle money without you as the safety net.</p>
<p>D has a Paypal student card – it’s like a MC debit (can be used at ATM for $1 fee). Money can be sent to her from my linked PayPal account. Not a credit card, so can’t go over limit. Can’t overdraw at all, and can be monitored online. She also has a checking account, and I plan to put some $$$ on her AllCard (or whatever the school calls it).</p>
<p>I’ve made bank-to-bank transfers, but they charge $3 and it takes a couple of days to clear. Transfers between accounts at the same bank are instantaneous and free.</p>
<p>Encourage kid to keep some cash on hand (stuffed in a sock in the drawer?). It can happen that the wallet or card is lost and sorting out the replacement process can take some days. </p>
<p>We use a credit union and set the kid up with a standard checking/debit card plus a Visa card with a top limit of $1500. We were assured that this Visa would go towards building the student’s credit rating – I am glad we did that because he will be apt. hunting before long and it is good to have a rating in hand.</p>
<p>We use a USAA debit card (family’s of former military members are eligible). It is treated as a credit card and we can reload it when necessary or asked for. There are no fees.</p>
<p>My D has an upside Visa-her paychecks can go there as well as funds gifted from other sources</p>
<p>I have linked Debit cards for my kids. They are called “The College Card” and they get 5 free withdrawals per month from any ATM so so “withdraw” fees at the ATM. I can reload them on-line from our “linked” accounts. The Paypal card sounds interesting for my recent grad. He closed his account in his college town and currently has no bank account but has “graduation money”…</p>
<p>Have your S open an account at whatever bank is most convenient for his college campus. Then, you can transfer money from your bank account to his bank account at a different bank using PayPal, and pay no fees. Someone here on CC gave me that tip last year, and it works great. Your S will be able to use a debit card or the ATM to access the money.</p>
<p>Can you set up an ATM/debit card to NOT allow overdraft? Is that possible? It seems like it could be a huge issue for many kids. Like mine, who already let it happen once. :(</p>
<p>Lots of helpful ideas. Thanks! Now I think it will be easier to open a chking Acct with a debit card. BofA ATMs are all over so that will be convenient. I will make sure to disallow overdrafts with his card and link the Acct to ours.</p>
<p>This is a very helpful discussion. Thanks all.</p>
<p>Is it OK to rely on our State Employees Credit Union (NC) even though my S will be out of state? If so, that will certainly be the simplest approach. My S already has an account there.</p>
<p>lhenkin–
My son has a debit card and bank account which is linked to mine and I bank at a credit union. He has not only used his card all over the US (his college is several states over from me), but also in England, Spain and other countries. It has the Visa logo on the card, but it is a debit card. I can transfer money between his account and mine whenever I want. I find my credit union very easy to deal with and they have all the services I need.</p>
<p>Look on the website of your credit union (or call them) and see which of the various cooperative ATM organizations they are members of. They all have multi-letter acronym names. It will tell you which ATM’s he can get money out of with no fees. He just needs to look for the little signs with those partners listed.</p>
<p>Thanks so much! That would be a great solution. I will check with our credit union.</p>
<p>Going through the same dilemma,what kind of debit,credit, checking etc for soon to be oos.S has looked into ING ,it’s online only but I don’t know if I’ll be able to transfer funds from my (bricks & mortar) bank . Anyone have experience with them , good or bad? Or alternatives?
Thanks, I love this site!</p>
<p>We’ve had good luck with son having checking/debit account at our credit union. He has used it in Europe (I think we had to make prior arrangement) and at college in Boston 2000 miles from home. I think he could have gotten cash from ATM (for small fee), but he never needed more than his cash brought from home.</p>
<p>I have set up my account so that I can “push” money to his account as needed. It’s really easy for me to do.</p>
<p>A recently released report from the Federal Reserve shows both good and bad information about universities and charge cards. The amount of applications for individual credit cards has gone down significantly. 2010 was the first full year since the 2009 CARD act went into impact. Regardless of these limitations, credit card businesses are still making profit off of college pupils. Last year, companies paid out $73 million in profit-sharing to colleges and alumni associations. I found this here: [Colleges</a> still receive $73 million from credit card companies](<a href=“Personal Money Network”>Personal Money Network).</p>