Student Checking Options
While a free online savings account is certainly a good idea for most students, unquestionably a checking account is most important — a checking account allows students to access money at ATMs, write checks for dues and fees, buy products on a debit card, and more.
The last thing a college student wants to worry about, though, is their checking account. Unfortunately, you’re always going to be responsible for making sure that you have enough money and not overdrawing. However, there are enough checking options out there that a student should never have to worry about maintenance or service fees — not monthly account fees, not check processing and image fees, not any of it.
Some Things To Consider
In my experience, there are a couple of important questions to consider when picking the right student checking account:
- Where are the ATMs? Probably one of the most important factors; with most accounts, it costs money to use an ATM that does not belong to your bank — and those fees can add up. Pick a bank that has plenty of ATMs around where you frequent (school, home, work, etc.)
- What are the fees? Preferably, there should be as few fees as possible. Without question, if you behave yourself, you should not have to pay any fees. However, if you overdraw your account, use a non-bank ATM, etc, expect to pay regardless of where you go.
- Where are the branch locations? Besides ATMs, are there convenient branch locations if you need to deposit a check?
- Can mom and dad make deposits? Some bank accounts make it exceptionally easy for parents to transfer money into their child’s checking account — for example, if you have a Bank of America CampusEdge checking account and your parent’s have a Bank of America account, they can easily transfer money into your account. Almost all banks, however, will let a parent deposit money at the branch if they know the account information. Make it easy on them!
In reality, given that most major banks offer similiar student checking accounts, ATM/branch locations are likely to be the most important factor.
Student Checking at Major Banks
Almost all of the major banks offer some sort of checking account designed specifically for students; these accounts are nice as they are usually fee-free, low maintenance, no minimum balances, etc. — in other words, perfect for a college student. From the bank’s perspective, it is the chance to get a young customer for life (a relationship they are dying to exploit). Without a doubt, the benefit of using a checking account at a major national bank is that they have branch locations and ATMs everywhere — whether you’re at school, home, traveling, or more, it is usually not hard to find a Bank of America, Chase, Citibank, etc. ATM.
Of the major banks, Bank of America’s CampusEdge Checking account seems to be one of the best. In brief: no minimum balance, online access, plus a one-time fee refund if you overdraw the account. From the fine print:
Your account will initially be opened as CampusEdge® Checking with no monthly maintenance fee. After the first 5 years, your account will be converted to MyAccess Checking with no monthly maintenance fee. Student status will be validated upon account opening.
So unlike many other student checking accounts, they won’t convert you to a checking account with fees automatically after a few years, which is nice, as your bank account classification will likely be one of the last things on your mind when graduating.
Chase also offers their own checking account designed for both college and high school students. Standard details: no monthly service fee while a student, for up to 5 years, online access and debit card, etc. Unlike Bank of America, Chase requires you to be under 24 years old to get the checking account, and also does not spell out what happens when you reach your expected point of graduation.
Finally, Citibank offers their own Student Checking account, although it can be somewhat hard to find on their website (try going to http://www.citibank.com/campus/). Again, it is similar to Chase’s: no maintenance fees, online banking access, debit card, etc. You also get to earn ThankYou Network points for debit card purchases. Citibank is fairly explicit about what happens after your expected date of graduation: you get converted to the Citibank Account, which has fees under certain circumstances.
Other options: Local, Cyber
There are other options besides major national banks:
- Go Local - Many local banks cater to area college students by offering very attractive, simple checking accounts for students. Depending on your circumstances, these might be a good fit. However, keep in mind that it can be difficult using a local-bank checking account when you are away from the area. Do you have a future with the bank?
- Go Online - This will likely be covered more soon in a separate post, but there are several online-only checking accounts, including one offered by ING Direct called Electric Orange. These take the branch location out of the equation and often involve you depositing checks via mail. Still, with a little flexibility they can be an attractive option.
Regardless of what you go with, just make sure you choose a checking account that will not add stress to your life — money can be difficult enough to deal with in college without having to worry about the bank complicating things. Have fun!
-
Subscribe to Student Scrooge
-
Badges
