It is never too early to start talking to your children about the importance of saving. You can help your child take their first steps to developing financial understanding by opening a bank account. This article will introduce 4 banks with savings accounts for anyone under the age of 18.

Capital One: Kids Savings Account

Capital One offers services to send kids on a saving adventure with their very own account.

Capital One Kids Savings Account financial responsibilities:

• No fees. With no fees, this account allows all the money your child puts in the account to stay there.
• No minimum account balance, there is no required amount of money that needs to be in the account.
• The everyday rate for this account is .075% APY (Variable Annual Percentage Yield).

Once the account is set up, Capital One offers kid friendly tools like the Automatic Savings Plan to make savings fun and interactive. The Automatic Savings Plan allows you to set saving goals and track your progress. This can be done on a computer or smart phone application.

Learn more about Capital One’s Kids Savings Account. 

US Bank: Star Savers Club (kids) START Smart Savings Program

US Bank Star Savers Club offers a bank account for kids. This savings account grows as the child does. It is designed for children 17 and younger. This account is aimed to teach positive money management skills to children.
START Smart Savings Program opening requirements:

• An adult needs to open a Silver Checking Package
• Silver checking must be linked with a package Money Market Savings account.
• You can apply to open this bank account by visiting your local branch. Find your local branch online at https://www.usbank.com/locations/

US Bank Star Savers Club START Smart Savings financial responsibilities:

• The minimum opening deposit for this account is $25,
• no monthly maintenance fee.

This account will convert into a standard savings account when the minor turns 18. A standard savings account at US bank, has a monthly maintenance fee of $4, with a $300 daily balance requirement to waive this fee.

You can find out more about the US Bank Star Savers Club (kids) account here.

Chase High School Checking

The Chase High School Checking account is designed for students 13 to 17 years old.

To open this account:

• the child must be with a parent/guardian,
• guardian must be a co-owner. A co-owner of a bank account has equal access to the account.
• and the guardian must have a separate existing, qualifying Chase checking account.

Chase High School Checking account financial responsibilities:

• a $6 monthly service fee
  • The monthly service fee can be avoided ($0 monthly fee) if there is a direct deposit made to the account, or $5000 average ending day balance.
• a requirement of $25 minimum deposit to open.

When the student turns 19, the Chase High School Checking account will become a Chase Total Checking account. Chase also offers a College Checking account for students 17 to 24, with all the same features of the high School Checking account. There is no co-owner requirement for the College Checking account.

Learn more about these Chase Banks Bkids bank accounts.

USAA Youth Savings Account

USAA offers a bank account to help parents teach financial responsibility to their young. This account has many features to allow parent and child monitoring of saving and spending.

USAA’s Youth Savings financial responsibilities:

• no monthly fees,
• no minimum balance requirements,
• and free access to ATMs nationwide.

The adult in control of this account:

• will be able to set ATM withdrawal limits,
• sign up for text alerts,
• choose if the child can transfer money and make deposits,
• and give the child limited, secure access to usaa.com online banking.

There are several ways to add money to your child’s USAA savings account.

• You can transfer money from one of your accounts,
• deposit cash and checks at some ATMs,
• and deposit checks with their free mobile depositing app.

Learn more about the USAA Youth Savings programs.

More about kids bank accounts

These bank accounts are FDIC insured. FDIC stands for Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, they insure the bank accounts of people in the United States up to $250,000. This means that you will always be able to get your money back from a FDIC insured bank. 

Author: Kerice Robinson