Comments on: Can we give minors bank accounts?

By: GingerYellow

GingerYellow — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 12:46:22 +0000

If it’s just a savings account with no overdraft and they don’t have cheques or a debit card, why would a bank need to enforce a contract against a depositor who happens to be a minor?

By: slowlearner

slowlearner — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 21:25:52 +0000

I am not aware of any specifi legal restriction preventing minors from opening bank accounts. Under U.S. contract law generally, however, agreements are not enforceable against minors (with certain exceptions, such as contracts for the provision of necessities). It may be bank policy for this reason not to allow minors to open accounts in their own names.

By: GingerYellow

GingerYellow — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 13:48:35 +0000

Not sure what if any legal restrictions there are in the UK, but I’ve had a bank account in my own name since I was about 8, into which I duly put the meagre savings from my allowance. They even gave you a range of piggy banks for hitting savings milestones. I’m pretty sure I didn’t get a cash card until I was about 14, and you’re not allowed a debit card until you’re 16.

By: bidrec

bidrec — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 12:51:31 +0000

I believe that Bank of America encouraged school children to open accounts under A.P. Gianini. 90 years ago.

Hartford Insurance had something similar around insurance though I don’t remember what.

By: lemarin

lemarin — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 02:25:36 +0000

Felix, now that you make me think of it you should really read up on Desjardins’ history, since you seem to have an interest in the subject. It’s the first and the biggest credit union in North America and makes for something like 40% of Québec’s consumer banking, probably more than any other place in North America.

By: lemarin

lemarin — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 02:12:03 +0000

I signed up for my first bank account in the first grade at 5 or 6. Every Friday in class we would fill out little envelopes and send they would send it to the local credit union, free of fees. I and most of my friends still have that have that very same account. It is, of course, great marketing.

It’s true that Desjardins is something like a religion in Québec, even though it’s no longer run like the social business it once was. I’m not sure I would let my kids sign up for a BofA account at the same age.

By: TFF

TFF — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 01:27:38 +0000

Did a little research and it sounds like it is up to the bank if they wish to allow a passbook account without a custodian. Checks are a little more problematic because a minor’s signature is not binding, but some banks will shrug and do it anyways.

My kids know that my name is on the account (as UTMA custodian), but they also know that the passbook and the money represented is THEIRS. As long as I don’t disillusion them on that point, I don’t imagine they will care.

By: KidDynamite

KidDynamite — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 00:56:11 +0000

TFF – I had a Schwab account in my own name before i was 18. i’m POSITIVE of that… no approvals by parents needed.

By: TFF

TFF — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 00:52:27 +0000

I’m pretty sure that your parents were always custodian on your childhood accounts. Certainly that is the policy today.

Deposits can be made by anybody, so that isn’t a problem. Withdrawals require a signature, I believe, though a local bank may be willing to overlook that.

I’ve been investing in stocks since I was 16 or so (not much, just my own earnings). I would visit the broker, my mother would okay the transaction by phone. Worked fine and was a great way to get started.

By: STORYBURNthere

STORYBURNthere — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 00:23:24 +0000

CDC_finance – I agree with you completely. Kids want money today to buy an iPad and that’s it. The latest gadget has got their fancy….wait a minute, I was the same way 25 years ago

By: CDN_finance

CDN_finance — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 21:56:40 +0000

Kids can get interested in anything you teach them… trouble is they get taught to watch TV and fool around on the internet (not judging parents – it is what it is). If we teach them about banking early (like at 8 or 10) then it is something they will handle with ease later on in life hopefully. Either that or it will become like algebra and something they dread terribly *shrugs* I suppose finally it’s the teacher that gets the kid engaged, not the subject.

By: Steve12

Steve12 — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 21:42:25 +0000

I grew up in small town midwest — Watseka, Illinois, about 6000 people. In the 1960′s, one of the local banks gave all the 8th graders a passbook savings account with one dollar in it. Every year. The kids would walk over, they’d talk about how banks work, and they’d show us the big electromechanical time and temperature sign controller. They put a big photo in the paper. It was a tradition. Many years later I cancelled the account and got about $1.50.

By: KidDynamite

KidDynamite — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 21:31:49 +0000

growing up i remember i had a “passbook” savings account. i had literal passbook that every entry (deposit, withdrawal, interest, balance) would get recorded in by the bank (via a dot-matrix printer). I think there was a novel concept back then – in the early 80s, which was “you don’t spend money you don’t have,” so “overdraft” wasn’t even an option.

are you telling me, Felix, that this is now illegal, that a 10 year old can’t get a SAVINGS account? (not a debit account/checking account/credit card)… that does indeed stink…

or are you telling me that it’s always been illegal and that my parents must have had their name on my account ? (i do not think that’s the case – i’m almost positive it was mine alone)

By: klhoughton

klhoughton — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 21:28:53 +0000

I had one when I was young, many, many years ago.

My kids, apparently, can only have one as a UTMA account until they are 14, when they can take control.