Totally OT, but may be somebody from MA can help me.

[Mass]

My youngest son has turned 16 this week. Until now, he had a prepaid Visa Card issued by AAA (low entry fees, no monthly fees, so it was perfect for the few hundred dollars he owns).

We wanted to update this card with the money he got for his bday, but we found out that they are not carrying this anymore).

We went to our two banks, but, even if they are ready to open a joint checking account with his name on it, they do not want to issue a debit card with his name on it, which is the purpose of the operation, avoiding that he carries to much cash in his wallet. Does anybody have gone through this question already and can give me some directions where to go.

[MBS]

1. AAA card was better when it was owned by MBNA

Now that MBNA credit cards have been taken over by the evil B of A, things have gone downhill.
Weird that the banks won't give him a debit card. Can he open an account in his own name, and you can just deposit $$ into it? You might be able even to do that electronically, if your account and his account are in the same bank. .

[Mass]

3. We could, but it does not solve the problem. He still needs to be able to access his

money when he goes out and want to spend some. Before he had this card, we kept his money in our account and kept a separate balance for him with what he was spending and how much remained, but now, we are not always with him when he goes shopping and we want to avoid that he carries too much cash in his wallet if he goes to the mall or something like that.

[MBS]

4. I just meant that maybe they'd give him a debit card if he had an

individual account. WEL's idea is good, if you belong to a credit union. Unlike most banks, credit unions really do try to help people.

[WildEyedLiberal]

2. Is there a credit union he can join?

I got a student credit/debit card through my dad's credit union when I was 16.

[whometense]

5. My kids all opened their own

checking/savings accounts when they started working.

It doesn't solve the problem if you were transferring money directly to him for his own use, but they did get their own debit cards to use. Citizens Bank offers special low fee student accounts. Some of the local savings banks might do this as well.

The other thing we did is get the kids their own credit cards on our Visa/MasterCard. That's really easy to do.

Of course, you have to be able to trust that they won't go crazy, ;) but it's worked well for us.

[MBS]

6. this approach worked for me, too. n/t

[europegirl4jfk]

7. I don't know if this helps much because my experience with US banks is limited

But when my daughter spent a year in the US at the age of 15 she had no problem to open a student account with Bank of America and got a Visa Debit Card that she still uses (in the US to pay with and in Europe only to withdraw money). Actually we made it a joint account for me to use too but my daughter is the main owner and as a student pays no fees. As the card expires this fall it will be renewed but Julie is 19 now, so officially an adult. I was astonished at the time how easy it was in the US to open a bank account and get a credit card for a 15 year old girl that had come to the US with a school visa for just one year. In Europe that would probably not have been possible. And at the bank they even asked us if she wanted a debit or credit card. But as I didn't want her to endebt herself, even with a low amount and especially in a foreign country, we opted for the debit card.