I Found the BEST Checking Account for Teens and Kids - YouTube

My two kids have had an allowance for  a long time but at ages 12 and 13,  

it's getting to the point where they're kind  of outgrowing their method of managing money  

keeping it in a jar. They're getting interested in  managing their own money with real bank accounts.  

I'm going to tell you what I was looking for,  which banks I found, and which one I think is  

definitely the winner. My must-have criteria were  they had to have accounts for kids under age 18,  

with a debit card, no monthly fees, no minimum  to open or maintain. I also wanted them to have  

mobile check deposit and free ATMs. Those were  my non-negotiables but I had a few things that I  

would like to have if I could find them. I'd also  like them to allow accounts for kids under age  

13 so that my 12-year-old could have one. Most  bank accounts, even for teenagers start at 13,  

so that's a little tricky to find. I'd also like  access to deposit in cash and to branches if  

we ever needed one. It'd be nice if it earned a  little interest. I'd also love it if as an adult  

the bank account converted to a bank account that  my kids would like to use when they're in college  

and adults. Unfortunately, I didn't find any  banks that fit all of my preferred criteria but  

I did find three that met all of my must-haves.  So first off, the Chase high school checking.  

The major pros of it are you can easily deposit  cash at branches or ATMs and they have branches  

all over the country but they had a number of  cons. The first is the Chase requires that a  

parent has a Chase checking account in order to  be able to open one of the high school checking  

accounts for their children. It also has no  interest and at age 19 it automatically converts  

into a Chase Total Checking account that has a  fee of 12 dollars a month unless you meet certain  

requirements or you can choose to convert it to a  college checking account which is free with proof  

of enrollment at college. Next up, the Wells Fargo  Clear Access account. It does have some pros in  

that you can also deposit cash at branches and  ATMs and they do have branches and ATMs in most  

of the country but they are not in my area so  it wasn't really an option for us. You do have  

to go in person to open an account at Wells Fargo.  Some other cons are they do offer no interest and  

at age 24, the type of account stays the same but  it does start charging them five dollars a month  

to maintain this account. Finally, the Capital One  Money account. The pros are it can be opened fully  

online, when the other two do require you to go  to a branch in person and they allow access for  

kids ages 8 and up which is really good news  for my 12-year-old and it even earns interest.  

It currently has an interest rate of 0.1. That may  not sound very great but it's actually higher than  

a lot of savings account including Chase's.  Chase's savings accounts are currently .01.  

Why don't they just say zero? That's ridiculous.  Anyway. They also do not require the adult to have  

a Capital One account to open a Money account for  their child, which is really nice, and at age 19,  

the account can convert into a Capital One 360  account or they can choose to keep it as a Money  

account and all the spending limitations are  removed. Either way, it turns into a really nice  

adult account when it's time. The only con for  the Capital One Money account is that there is  

no way to deposit cash unless you have a Capital  One branch or ATM near you and those branches  

and ATMs are only in a few cities so there aren't  any near me and chances are there aren't any near  

you either. For us, the winner was definitely the  Capital One Money account. We decided it wouldn't  

be a big deal to deposit cash into my account  and transfer it into theirs if we needed to.  

I opened a Capital One Money account for both  of my kids. I did have a little bit of trouble  

getting the online access set up for the kids, but  I called their customer service and they took care  

of it really quickly so they definitely get bonus  points for good customer service. In addition to  

the Capital One money account, my 13 year old  also has a Step account, which we reviewed in  

a separate video. She's actually going to keep  both of them because the advantage of the Step  

app is that she can use it to build credit as a  teenager. So next, check out my full review of  

the Step app that I did together with my teenager.  I'm going to leave the link right here for you.