Guidance and tips
Let’s review some tips, lessons and common safety questions surrounding youth bank accounts.
Is a youth bank account safe?
Youth bank accounts can be a great way to teach valuable lessons. But it's important to choose an account that comes with security features. USAA Youth Spending accounts have features to help parents monitor activity by controlling spending limits, access to make deposits and transfers, fraud monitoring and the ability to lock and unlock cards that are misplaced.
Money lessons for every age
Whether your kids are early age or in elementary, middle school or high school, money is always an important topic, but having a different approach for each stage makes all the difference. Find ways to relate to your child at every stage of growing up.
Money-saving tips for families
Financial education isn't always taught in school, so children look to the adults at home to set the example. Be open and talk about how money is used and the importance of budgeting and saving.
Frequently asked questions
You must be the child's parent or legal guardian to open and manage an account. As the joint account holder, you'll be able to set up account alerts, parental controls, online access and more.
No. Your child must be younger than 18, but there's no minimum age. A USAA Youth Spending account requires a parent or legal guardian who's 18 years or older to be the joint account holder. When the child turns 13, the parent or legal guardian can give them secure access to account services on usaa.com and the USAA Mobile App.
After your child turns 13, you can help them set up their own logon details. This gives your child limited access so they can:
- View account balances.
- Transfer money.
- Use Deposit@Mobile. See note 4
When your child turns 18, their USAA Youth Spending account will automatically convert to a USAA Classic Checking account.
After they turn 18, the account could be closed if you haven't provided proof of identification documents for your minor joint account holder on the youth account. To comply with the USA PATRIOT Act, USAA Bank must verify the ID of all account holders. You can securely submit the following documents to us on our document portal:
- Social Security card
- Government-issued ID
- Proof of physical address