If your goal is to teach your child how to manage money, then a kid’s savings account is the great place to start.
Below you’ll find our top picks for kids’ bank accounts. Our favorite accounts require no minimum opening deposit or monthly service fees. Some also come with additional perks — like solid interest rates or debit cards — to help you manage the account.
Why it stands out: The Chase First Banking℠ Account doesn’t require a minimum opening deposit or charge monthly service fees. The account also has useful management features for both kids and parents. Kids can create savings goals and track how much they’ve saved on the bank’s mobile app. Parents may set up alerts or limitations on how their child uses the bank account.
Chase also has more than 4,700 branch locations and 16,000 free ATMs, which is beneficial if you’re looking to bank close to home.
What to look out for: The bank charges out-of-network ATM fees if you don’t use a Chase ATM. You also won’t earn interest on the account, so it’s better as a money management tool than a long-term savings option.
Bear in mind that to open the Chase First Banking℠ Account, parents must also already have a Chase checking account.
Why it stands out: The Capital One 360 Kids Savings Account embodies online banks’ strengths — no monthly service fees, a competitive interest rate, and 24/7 live chat customer support. This will be a strong contender if you’re looking for an online account that’s easy to manage since you won’t have to worry about standard bank fees.
What to look out for: The Capital One 360 Kids Savings Account is an online account that can be opened from anywhere in the US, but your banking experience may vary depending on where you live. The bank has branch locations in Connecticut, Delaware, Louisiana, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Texas, Virginia, and Washington DC. If you don’t live nearby any of these areas, it might not be easy to deposit cash.
Why it stands out: Opening an account with a credit union usually entails specific membership requirements. But Alliant lets you join online from anywhere in the US if you donate $5 to Foster Care to Success.
The Alliant Credit Union Kids Savings Account stands out from other children’s accounts because it pays a high interest rate if you keep a daily balance of at least $100. It also comes with an ATM card, so your child will be able to review their account balance or make transactions at Alliant ATMs.
What to look out for: Once your child turns 13, they’ll have to open a new bank account.
Alliant has savings and checking account options when they reach this age, so you may not mind this if you’d prefer to switch up some bank account features.
For instance, the Alliant Credit Union Kids Savings Account doesn’t reimburse out-of-network ATM fees, and the ATM card doesn’t work for any in-store or online purchases. If you open a checking account for your child when they’re older, they’ll get ATM reimbursements and a debit card.
We researched many financial institutions to find banks and credit unions that offered kids’ savings accounts. The following are other banks and credit unions we considered for top picks but didn’t end up choosing. While these institutions weren’t picked, you may still want to explore them if one appeals to you.
Also, note that we narrowed down our choices for online banks and online banking platforms since many don’t have special kids’ savings accounts.
First and foremost, we wanted to provide you with options. We researched the biggest financial institutions to find the best brick-and-mortar banks, online banks, and credits unions in the US that offer kids’ savings accounts.
Then we compared different account features and bank services to find the standouts of each type of institution. For our best brick-and-mortar institution, we looked for an account that required minimal bank fees and came with a widely accessible branch and ATM network. For online banks and credit unions, we looked for an account that was easy to open, paid high rates, and charged little to no fees.
At Personal Finance Insider, our goal is to create useful content that helps you make good decisions about your money. We recognize that every person has distinct preferences, so we provide ample options for you to find the most suitable financial product or account for you.
We research extensively to make sure that you know the standout features and limitations of a financial institution.
A kids’ savings account is a special type of joint bank account. Most accounts will include parental monitoring features that put limitations on how much a minor may withdraw from an account or ATM. Several kids’ savings accounts come with special features like a debit card or budget tool to help your young one learn to manage your money.
The best bank for you will depend on what your preferences are. There are many banking options — online banks, national banks, local banks — so you should explore a lot of choices before settling with one financial institution.
If you’re searching for a bank with a national presence, Wells Fargo, Chase, and Bank of America have the most branches in the US.
For high savings rates and low fees, you’ll likely find online banks or credit unions more appealing.
If you prioritize customer experience and close ties to the community, local banks will be your best bet. For instance, FDIC-designated minority depository institutions (MDIs) often address barriers in disadvantaged communities like language or access.
Something to keep in mind is that kids’ savings accounts aren’t always available at financial institutions.
Many online banks and online banking platforms won’t let you open an account for someone under 18. Some brick-and-mortar institutions may let you open a regular joint bank account with someone under 18, but the accounts won’t come with special interest rates or distinct parental monitoring features.
The Better Business Bureau assesses businesses based on responses to customer complaints, honesty in advertising, and transparency about business practices. Here are the BBB ratings of our top picks:
Chase has received a B+ rating from the BBB due to government action taken against the business. In 2020, the Department of Justice required Chase to pay $920 million in a settlement that accused the bank of being involved in wrongful trading.
We talked to banking and financial planning experts to inform these picks and provide advice on finding the best banks and credit unions for your needs.
To learn more about what makes a good bank account and how to choose the best fit, four experts weighed in:
Here’s what they had to say about bank accounts. (Some text may be lightly edited for clarity.)
Tania Brown, CFP:
“Obviously, you want to make sure it’s FDIC insured. Also, your banking experience — do you like walking into a bank? Well, then you need someone local. Do you just not care if you ever see your bank? Then you’re okay online. Do you write checks? Do you not write checks? So it’s thinking through how your experience with it is going to be before you make that decision.”
Laura Grace Tarpley, Personal Finance Insider:
“I would look for the bank that charges you the least in fees. This means either no monthly fees or you qualify to waive the monthly fees. If you never overdraw from your account, then a bank’s overdraft fees won’t matter much to you. But if you occasionally overdraw, then I’d look at the fees or overdraft protection options.”
Tania Brown, CFP:
“How can that bank grow with you? If you are 25, single or newly married, and all you need is a checking account, that’s going to look very different 15 years from now when you may have had a couple of jobs, you may have an IRA rollover, or you may want a financial adviser.”
Mykail James, CFEI:
“How accessible it is. So where are the branches? And if I am to go out of town or something, how accessible is my money to me?”
Tania Brown, CFP:
“With an online bank, absolutely online customer service, because you do not have the advantage of walking inside and talking to a human being. How often are you able to get them? What are their hours?”
Roger Ma, CFP:
“How onerous the transfer process is, transferring money in and transferring money out. Is it same day, next day? Is it pretty easy to sync a brick-and-mortar checking account to this particular high-yield savings account?”
Mykail James, CFEI:
“When it comes to online banks, you want to be a little bit more strict about what type of interest rates they’re providing. That’s the biggest thing, because online banks are supposed to have the higher interest rate because they don’t have the overhead of the brick-and-mortar. You want to make sure that it’s well above the national average. What type of securities do they provide? Do they have two-factor identification? If it’s an online bank, they should definitely have — at the bare minimum — two-factor authentication in how easy it is to change your passwords and things like that, because you want to be a little more hypersensitive about the cyber security for a strictly online bank.”
Roger Ma, CFP:
“It might not be as seamless to get your money out of an online savings account as it is a brick-and-mortar, but you don’t want to have so much friction where it’s such a pain to get the money out when you need it.”
Mykail James, CFEI:
“Anything with a fee is not a good high-yield savings account. Anything that restricts how much you can save is, to me, not very good. If I can’t save more than $10,000 in this account, and then I have to move it over somewhere else — to me, that’s not a really good savings account, because it’s not really prepared to help me expand and grow, which is what a savings account is supposed to do. I also look at interest rates, definitely. I look to see when the interest is paid. Is it quarterly, or is it monthly? How often do they pay out interest, and what are the interest rate stipulations?”
Chase First Banking: $3.00 for inquiries, transfers and withdrawals while using a non Chase ATM in the US, Puerto Rico and US Virgin Islands. Fees from the ATM owner/network still apply. $5 per withdrawal and $3.00 for any transfers or inquiries at ATMs outside the U.S., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Fees from the ATM owner/network still apply.
Editorial Note: Any opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any card issuer. Read our editorial standards.
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