Bank Accounts for Kids: A Parent’s Guide

The first bank account is a teaching tool disguised as a financial product. Choose it for the lessons it enables, not the rate it pays.

What Age Can You Open a Bank Account for a Child?

There is no minimum age. A newborn can have a savings account opened the week they come home. What changes with age is not whether an account is possible — it is which account, and how much of it the child controls.

The reason a parent has to be involved at all is contract law, not banking policy. People under 18 generally cannot enter a binding contract, so a bank has no legal recourse against a minor who disputes one. Every account for a child therefore has an adult attached — as a joint owner (you and the child both own it, both can transact) or as a custodian on a UTMA (the money is legally the child’s from the moment it lands, but you control it until the transfer age).[1] At 18 in most states, that requirement simply falls away.

The one age worth remembering is 13. Below it you are choosing between savings accounts. At and above it, checking, a debit card and a real investing account all become available at once — which is why 13 is the age most families should be planning toward rather than drifting past.

Start With a Savings Account — and Usually Only That

The short version: open a savings account and skip the checking account. A child does not need one. Nearly every bill a young person will ever pay moves electronically, and checking is the account that tends to carry a monthly maintenance fee unless a balance minimum is met — a balance a nine-year-old will not be holding.[2] A fee-free kids’ savings account does everything the early years require, and it does the thing that actually matters: it makes the money visible and the deposit deliberate.

Ask whether the savings account includes an ATM or debit card, because many now do, and that single feature removes most of the reason to open checking at all. Where a card is offered, set it to decline rather than overdraft — a declined card is a lesson, an overdraft fee is a tax on a child.

Checking earns its place when there is a paycheck to direct-deposit and real bills to pay, which is a teen milestone rather than a childhood one. That step is covered in Teen Checking & Building Credit Before 18.

The Step-Up at 13: One Account That Also Teaches Investing

Around thirteen the useful question changes from where does the money sit to what can the money do. Exactly two accounts answer both at once — no fees, no minimum, a debit card, and the ability to actually buy a share of an index fund and watch what happens. They are the Fidelity Youth Account and the Schwab Teen Investor Account, both for ages 13–17, and the full head-to-head is in Fidelity Youth vs Schwab Teen Investor.

The difference that decides it is ownership. The Fidelity Youth Account belongs to the teen alone — a parent monitors it, and must hold their own Fidelity account to do so, but the decisions are the teenager’s.[3] Schwab’s account, new as of March 2026, is a joint account: the teen invests, and the parent is a full co-owner with visibility into every transaction, control of the debit card, and the ability to close it.[4] Sole ownership teaches faster because nothing stands between the decision and the result; joint ownership teaches more safely, and for a thirteen-year-old — or a parent who would otherwise open nothing — the safer account is the one that actually gets opened.

The underrated advantage is administrative, and it is where Fidelity in particular pays off. Holding the youth account at the same brokerage as the child’s UTMA and custodial Roth IRA means one login shows all three balances side by side — spending money, invested money, and retirement money in a single view, which is a better financial-literacy lesson than any lecture. The custodial accounts then pass directly into the child’s own Fidelity account at the age of majority, without moving institutions or reopening anything, and the platform they have been using for years is already familiar.

Schwab handles the transition differently: at 18 the teen can open a full individual brokerage account and move the assets across, and the joint account itself can stay open until 21, when it locks until the new terms are signed.[4] There is no forced conversion. Schwab also fences off the instruments that ruin beginners — no options, margin, futures, leveraged or inverse ETFs — and pays a $50 bonus, $10 into each of the five largest S&P 500 stocks, for finishing its Quick Start to Stock Investing course within 45 days of opening.[4] It makes the account’s first act learning rather than buying, which is the right order.

Savings, Checking, or Credit Union: Which First?

What Actually Matters in the Choice

Joint/custodial titling (you’re on the account until majority), zero fees (a $5 monthly fee on a $50 balance teaches only despair), a branch nearby — because the deposit ritual is the product: walking in, handing over the jar money, watching the number change. Interest rates on kids’ balances are financially irrelevant and pedagogically priceless — the first “the bank paid ME” statement line does more than any lecture.

The Setup That Teaches

1. Open it with the child present, around age 5–7 — teller, paperwork, first deposit, the whole ceremony.
2. Keep a paper register or app they check — tracking a balance is pre-budgeting.
3. Deposit on a rhythm (allowance splits, gift money) — the habit of money arriving at the bank beats any single amount.
4. Let them watch interest post, then explain it with the compound calculator.
5. Around 13, add the checking/debit layer; around first-paycheck age, the investment accounts take over the long-term money.

How to Open a Bank Account for Your Child

The appointment takes about half an hour, and it goes faster if you walk in with the paperwork already gathered. Banks and credit unions ask for essentially the same things.

What to bring

• The child’s Social Security number. Non-negotiable at nearly every institution — interest is reportable income and it has to be attached to a taxpayer.
• The child’s birth certificate (or passport, or Social Security card) to prove identity and age.
• Your own government photo ID, plus proof of address if you are not already a customer.
• The opening deposit. Often $0–$25. Let the child hand over their own money for this if at all possible.
• The child themselves. Not required by any bank. Required by the lesson.

The five questions to ask at the desk

1. Is there a monthly maintenance fee, and what waives it? If the answer is a balance minimum a child will not hold, walk.
2. What is the minimum balance to avoid any fee or to keep the account open?
3. Does this account come with an ATM or debit card, and can I set it to decline rather than overdraft? A declined card is a lesson; an overdraft fee is a tax on a child.
4. Is this joint or custodial, and what happens at 18? You want to know now, not in eleven years.
5. Do you run a youth savings rewards program? Credit unions frequently do, and a stamp card turns depositing into a game.

Opening online is possible at many institutions, but for a first account the branch is worth the trip. The ceremony is the point — and a teller explaining interest to a seven-year-old will do it better than you will, because it is literally their job.

Common Questions

What is the minimum age to open a bank account for a child?

There is no minimum age for a savings account as long as a parent or guardian is on it — a newborn can have one. The age that matters is 18, when a young adult can open an account entirely on their own, and 13, when teen checking and a debit card typically become available.

Can a parent open a bank account for their child?

Yes, and in almost every case a parent has to. Because people under 18 generally cannot enter a binding contract, a child’s account is opened either jointly with a parent or as a custodial account with a parent as custodian.

Can a 16-year-old open a bank account?

A 16-year-old can have a checking account, a savings account and a debit card, but not open one alone — a parent or guardian still has to be on the account until 18 in most states. The exception is a court-emancipated minor, who can contract on their own.

What age can a child get a debit card?

Around 13 at most banks and credit unions, attached to a teen checking account a parent co-signs. Before 13 the practical options are a parent-subscribed kid-card app or a credit union willing to issue a card against a savings account — worth asking about specifically, because policies vary more than you would expect.

What bank account should I open for my child first?

A fee-free savings account, usually at a credit union, and usually nothing else. A child does not need checking; checking earns its place when there is a paycheck to direct-deposit and real bills to pay.