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USAA Federal Savings Bank
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USAA Youth Spending
Help your child learn to manage money with a checking account.
Let’s review some tips, lessons and common safety questions surrounding youth bank accounts.
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.
Child identity theft — it's a thing
Scammers unfortunately are out there — and when it comes to picking and choosing targets for identity, cybercriminals do not exclude kids. Whether you're an adult or a child, you could be at risk, and in the case of your child, it could take even longer to realize there might be a problem.
How to spot the red flags
Some of the warning signs of fraudulent activity are bills addressed to your child, denial of government benefits, preapproved credit cards in your child's name or if your child applies to student loans and is denied for poor credit history. If you suspect something, check to see if a credit report in their name exists. If so, notify the Federal Trade Commission or place a security freeze on their credit report.
Steps to help protect your child's identity
To stay protected, it's important to keep Social Security Numbers and sensitive information secure. You'll want to pay attention to online activities and ask questions. It's also good to understand privacy policies and be mindful of oversharing your information. Educating yourself helps both you and your child stay aware of the potential risks and vulnerabilities of the financial system.
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.
Early age — Start with the basic building blocks. Try incorporating counting and using a toy bank into playtime sessions.
Elementary — Many parents build a foundation for money lessons by establishing chores and allowances, reinforcing the idea that money needs to be earned, not given.
Middle school — At this stage, it's a good time for a first-time banking experience. Start with a USAA Youth Spending Account or USAA Youth Savings Account. With parental controls, you can give your teen financial freedom as well as guardrails to help them along the way.
Older teens — Now is the time to talk about savings goals for the long and short terms, account features like direct deposits and automatic transfers are tools to help teens achieve financial success.
Aim high to save better
As kids grow up, their financial goals should get bigger too. It's good to have your children save up for something big before they leave the house. Maybe it's a trip or an expensive tech device. USAA Youth Spending and USAA Youth Savings accounts are great ways to set up your children for financial independence and create opportunities to learn.
Stay consistent
Being a parent is tough, and it's okay to know you're not always going to get it right. Allowing your kids to make their own decisions and their own mistakes can also be helpful lessons. The key is to keep the lessons consistent; with that, you'll give them advice they can trust and a strong foundation on which to build their future financial independence.
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.
Why is saving money important?
Saving money is important because it helps you reach your short-term and long-term goals. It's important to help children understand the difference between needs and wants. Creating these good habits now will help them as adults when their long-term goals are an emergency fund, buying a home or saving for retirement.
Saving money starts with positive reinforcement
Create rewards for saving and smart financial decisions. Encouraging wanted behavior and acknowledging achievements is often more effective than giving unwanted behavior attention with punishment or criticism. That's tried and true for lots of things — including building great money habits.
How to get your kids started
Having a savings account for your children also helps give them valuable hands-on experience. USAA Youth Savings account is designed specifically to help children get banking experience and learn how to manage their money.
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:
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: