Steps to open a savings bank account for teenagers

Opening a savings bank account for your teen can help him or her in many ways.  Firstly, it will help them understand the concept of saving. Secondly, it is something that they need to do in order to make a place for in society.

Trying to open a bank account on their own will put them in a lot of trouble. If you want to make life easier, its best that you do the job of introducing them to your bank. There are a number of complications in trying to open a bank account without an introduction.

The first step that you need to take is to find an institution that provides the sort of account with the sort of features that you are looking for. Do you need a savings account or a checking account? do you need online banking? Do you need a zero balance account? These are things that you need to think about. After choosing or short listing a number of banks, the next step is to go out and talk to the bank people. You must also get your kid acquainted with them personally so that he or she can handle any issues without your help later on.

You will need to provide certain information to the bank when you open an account. You can co-sign on the account if your child does not have a social security number or SSN. The other details are general such as name, address, phone number and birthday. You will also need to accept banking regulations regarding liability for loss and other issues. Ensure that it is a zero balance account, these are fairly common nowadays. Also check whether there is an annual maintenance fee, avoid the bank if there is one. Your child will not require frequent flyer miles or any other bonus points since it is a low activity account. You will need to make a minimum deposit at the start and then you can withdraw the amount if it is a zero balance account.

After holding the account for a period of around six months, the kid can go ahead and apply for a credit card. This should be fairly easy if he or she has an SSN by that time. A bank account with no overdrafts or negative balances will help the cause of getting a credit card which will eventually help to set up a credit record.