Kids and Banking??

[kichan]

Does anyone know if there are any kid-friendly banks in the NY area?? I remember when I was younger, the local bank would come to our school, and we could deposit any amount into an account. I would love for dd to have a bank account, but it seems that most of them don't offer any incentives for them. Any ideas??

 

[ChristyJ]

I'm near Saratoga, NY. We have school banking in our schools-the name of the bank just changed and I don't remeber what it is...let me know if you're in this area and I'll find out the name for sure!

 

[JobeeC]

we just got a note home yesterday about the school banking program. i'll try to see if i kept the note & post the name of the bank when i get home.

 

[disneysteve]

We made our own, First National Bank of Dad. DD deposits the money. I record it in a ledger we made. She gets a generous interest payment each month so she learns the benefit of saving and compound interest. As the balance gets higher, I'll trim back the interest rate so I don't go broke. Once she has enough saved to make it worth opening a real bank account, we'll probably do that.

 

[missmulan]

I did research on this about 6 months ago because I wanted to find a Savings Bank that still uses the passbook for record keeping. Many banks did away with passbooks but I wanted my kids to see their interest grow every month. I wanted them to see their small but significant deposits. I did find one bank that have no plans of getting rid of passbooks....they keep it around just for the kids and that is Downey Savings Bank out here in California.

Good luck in your search

 

[Forevryoung]

Apple Savings Bank was my first bank in NY and they still use passbooks (or you can get a statement account). I just moved my money out of there over the summer to Commerce (which is wonderful!!!)

Goodluck

 

[Skatermom23]

Check out your credit unions in the area.

 

[LisaNJ25]

I remember doing that in school as a child.

I use ingdirect with my kids. When they earn money I log into their account and they watch me tranfer money to their accounts. Whever they ask what they have I just pull it up. Plus the interest is so much better than a local bank.

 

[Lucky4me]

We opened an account for dd when she was a baby. When she was old enough to understand, she got the passbook and has been adding money to it almost monthly.
She's 10 and very proud of her saving ability.
I think a school banking program would be great.

 

[tammy/mom of two]

I don't know exactly where in NY you are, but in Western NY we have a great local bank(now it is gettting more branches and yikes today i got the dreaded machine) but still great bank. sorry I digress. They still use passbooks and even last time we opened an account an incentive for the kids. The name of the bank is Lakeshore Saving and Loan and their westfied number is (716) 326-4414. They can direct you to more branches and send you more info. Tammy

 

[lc1965]

Commerce is very kid-friendly in that they are very patient & eager to please w/ lots of things that would interest kids -- coin counters, lollipops, plastic banks. They'll provide a passbook, but then you can't do anything online. I don't know why that is -- seems sort of silly. The kid-problem w/ their savings account, though, is that you have to keep $100 in it. They might have a special plan for kids, though. No kids myself, so I never had to ask! Good luck & congrats on the idea.

 

[mom23boys]

My boys have passbook savings at Commerce Bank. They have a Young Savers Account. They only require $10 to open and they do not charge a fee.

When we opened the account I had change to count (they have a free coin counter) they offered me $20 for each account if I opened a new accounts.

So I split the change three ways and they each earned an extra $20. They love to see their money grow.

On their website www.commerceonline.com they seem to have many banks in NY.

 

[Az Pirates]

Just be sure to read ALL the fine print on whatever account you decide on.

We got a note home about the banking program at our kids' school. We were all ready to let them sign up. BUT, the account is set up in the childs' name only. Mom and dad not only cannot withdraw $$ on the childs' behalf, but cannot even request a balance. They will not talk to anyone but the child about the account. No option to select another authorized user.
Also, no snail OR e-mail notifications about balances. Everything is done on school banking day.

Might be OK if the child only wants to put in a few dollars and can't open a regular account somewhere - but I sure wouldn't let them put much $$ in - just doesn't sound like a very good idea.

Wonder how much money gets left in forgotten about school accounts?

 

[ChristyJ]

It's First Niagra Bank in this area-up to $999 yields something around 4%, but once you go over that amount, the interest decreases. To make withdrawls, the child has to sign something, and be present (I think-we've never taken money out, but inquired about it once). In some ways, I don't like that policy, but I know it's in place to prevent the account from being the parents' account.

Both DDs have an account-over the summer, they encouraged children to make deposits by having a contest (after 10 deposits, the child's name would be entered into a drawing for a gift certificate to a local shopping mall). I think they do some similar things on a monthly basis during the school year too.

 

[D L and K's Mom]

Our school uses a local credit union. They come in once a week and the children DO have passbooks. The parents names are on the account and the children cannot make withdrawls at school. They can on ly deposit. Any and all withdrawls must be made at the local branch. The children get stickers each time they deposit and a prize when they hit certain pre-arranged ammounts (small bank, pencil etc.) The kids love this. It cost $5.00 to open the account and a minimum of $5.00 must be kept in the account to keep it active. Maybe your school can work something like this out with a local credit union??? Good Luck

 

[mamalle]

our is starting this very thing this year for the kids. we are going to open an account for dd. she already has one thru our bank but I thought this was a good concept for her to start with in kindergarten.

 

[JobeeC]

i looked for the note from school & it was a commerce bank. funny, i've never heard of this bank.

 

[Forevryoung]

i looked for the note from school & it was a commerce bank. funny, i've never heard of this bank.

They are sort of new but they are awesome. They are even open on Sundays and they have really late hours too (till 5 or 6 most days i believe). They have free ATM usage as well (although not Kid relevant).

 

[disneysteve]

They are sort of new but they are awesome. They are even open on Sundays and they have really late hours too (till 5 or 6 most days i believe). They have free ATM usage as well (although not Kid relevant).

One thing Commerce does that is kid-friendly (and grown-up friendly too) is they have free coin counting. You bring your coins in and dump them in a self-serve counting machine. Before you count, you can enter a guess for how much you have. If you guess within $2 you win a prize - stuff like a Commerce t-shirt, change bank, coloring book, etc. Nice incentive for the kids to save their change. Then the machine prints a receipt. You take it to a teller and get your money and prize if you guessed right. (And yes, you can cheat by counting your money at home first.)

 

[lc1965]

JobeeC -- Commerce is fairly new to NY. I'm not sure where they're based. They are opening HUNDREDS of branches in NY. My mom jokes, "Oh, look, Commerce is dropping another branch" because they just seem to fall from the sky, these cookie-cutter little buildings. I hope they continue to be so good - they actually remind me of Disney customer service. How terrific is THAT?