Best Student Bank Accounts for April 2025

• Monthly Fee: $0
• Minimum Balance to Open: $0
• Minimum Age: 8

Capital One’s MONEY Teen Checking account is a great pick for young people. Kids as young as 8 can join with their parent or guardian, giving them a chance to get a big head start on financial education. No monthly fee, no money transfer fees, and no minimum balance requirement make it easy to open and keep an account for years. 

MONEY comes with debit cards for both the parent and child. You’ll both have access to the account online and through the Capital One mobile app. You can send rewards or allowances, and keep track of your child’s account activity and transactions with text alerts or email notifications. Your  child can deposit checks, set up savings goals, and do many other things adults can do with a checking account.

Capital One doesn’t have many branch locations, so you’ll likely be limited to digital transactions with this account. But there are quite a few in-network ATMs—over 91,000 through Capital One, MoneyPass, and Allpoint.

• Monthly fee: $0
• Minimum balance to open: $0
• Minimum age: 8
• Maximum age: None
• Parental controls: Yes
• APY: 0.10%
• Cash back: None
• Overdraft fee: $0
• ATM network: Capital One, MoneyPass, Allpoint; 91,000+ ATMs
• ATM out-of-network transaction fee: $0
• ATM out-of-network fee reimbursement: None

• Monthly Fee: $0
• Minimum Balance to Open: $0
• Minimum Age: 18

Earning cash back can add a bit of fun to banking (as long as you don’t spend frivolously with the excuse of earning cash back). Debit card rewards can be a good introduction to credit card rewards, and Discover provides a solid onramp with its Cashback Checking account.

You’ll earn 1% back on debit card purchases, up to $3,000 spent per month. That gives you up to $30 in cash back each month, depending on your spending. Cash-back checking accounts typically have limits like that, or monthly deposit requirements to earn rewards. 

Discover is an online-only bank, but you can fund your account through direct deposit or ATM deposit, or fee-free at Walmarts. Discover earned the highest overall Investopedia customer satisfaction rating among financial institutions included in our research, with 4.9 out of 5. This rating aggregates a variety of customer review scores from different sources.

• Monthly fee: $0
• Minimum balance to open: $0
• Minimum age: 18
• Maximum age: None
• Parental controls: No
• APY: None
• Cash back: 1% cash back on up to $3,000 spent per month
• Overdraft fee: $0
• ATM network: Allpoint, MoneyPass
• ATM out-of-network transaction fee: $0
• ATM out-of-network fee reimbursement: None

• Monthly Fee: $0
• Minimum Balance to Open: $25
• Minimum Age: 18

If you frequently visit ATMs around town or while traveling, you know how expensive out-of-network fees can be. LendingClub’s Rewards Checking account makes it so you never have to worry about that again, with no ATM fees and unlimited ATM fee reimbursements from any other bank, credit union, or ATM provider. When out-of-network ATM fees are charged by other banks, they’re often at least $3; if you typically visit 15 out-of-network ATMs per year and pay those fees, this account could save you $45+ per year.

And that’s before you count the cash-back rewards. Rewards Checking account holders earn 1% cash back on qualified debit card purchases by meeting one of two requirements each month:

• Maintain an average monthly balance of at least $2,500
• Receive at least $2,500 in qualifying direct deposits

You have to jump one of those hurdles each month to get the cash back. This cash-back rate is unlimited—that’s a better deal than some other accounts that only provide rewards up to a certain amount of spending per month.

• Monthly fee: $0
• Minimum balance to open: $25
• Minimum age: 18
• Maximum age: None
• Parental controls: No
• APY: 0.10%–0.15%
• Cash back: 1.00% with $2,500 average monthly balance or recurring deposits
• Overdraft fee: $0
• ATM network: MoneyPass, SUM
• ATM out-of-network transaction fee: $0
• ATM out-of-network fee reimbursement: Unlimited

• Monthly Fee: $0
• Minimum Balance to Open: $0
• Minimum Age: 6

If you prefer to bank in person or want your child to understand how to do so, you’ll have to work with a financial institution that offers this option. With around 5,000 branches across the country, Chase bank likely has a branch nearby. If you prefer working with older, more established banks, Chase will be a good fit as well. 

Chase offers three youth bank accounts that may be ideal for teaching your child about money as they grow into a highschool student and then a college student:

• Chase First Banking: Designed for kids 6–12; simple features and parental controls
• Chase High School Checking: Designed for students 13–17; adds direct deposit and Zelle
• Chase College Checking: Designed for students 17–24 enrolled in a college or vocational, technical, or trade school; adds Chase Credit Journey to help manage and build credit

Students can progress from one account to another as they’re ready. The College Checking account will convert into an account with a monthly fee after graduation or after five years, whichever comes first.

Some details may vary depending on the account, but all of the above accounts have no monthly fee and no minimum balance requirement.

• Monthly Fee: $0
• Minimum Balance to Open: $0
• Minimum Age: 13

There aren’t many checking accounts with low age requirements that also provide interest, but Alliant’s Teen Checking is the best of the lot. This isn’t a high-yield account, however—you’ll only earn 0.25% APY, and you must have at least one direct deposit of any amount per month to earn that rate (you typically only find high rates on checking accounts that have several more stringent monthly requirements).

Still, it can be nice to see your balance grow, and if you can earn a bit of interest for no monthly fee, why not?

You must be a member of Alliant Credit Union to open this account, although it’s free to join—you’ll just need to open a savings account. And take note that this account is only available until the student turns 18; at that point, the account converts to a basic Alliant checking account.

• Monthly fee: $0
• Minimum balance to open: $0
• Minimum age: 13
• Maximum age: 17
• Parental controls: Yes
• APY: 0.25%
• Cash back: None
• Overdraft fee: $0
• ATM network: Alliant
• ATM out-of-network transaction fee: $0
• ATM out-of-network fee reimbursement: $20 per month

• Monthly Fee: $0
• Minimum Balance to Open: $0
• Minimum Age: Under 14 allowed

Virtual Wallet Student is actually three accounts in one. You can move money among the accounts as you see fit:

• Spend: A checking account that doesn’t earn interest
• Reserve: A checking account that earns interest
• Growth: A savings account that earns interest

Virtual Wallet Student is a great way to learn about the most basic types of bank accounts, and to see how your money can grow (or shrink) depending on your actions. Students 18 and up can open this account online on their own; 14 to 17 year-olds can open an account online with a joint owner; and those under 14 must schedule an appointment at a bank branch with a joint account owner. Virtual Wallet Student accounts will automatically convert to basic Virtual Wallet accounts six years after account opening.

PNC doesn’t have as many branches as some other banks—only 2,332 across 27 states and D.C.—so if you’re thinking about opening an account for someone under 14, it’s a good idea to look for your nearest branch first. But anyone over 14 can join online, and the bank earned one of the highest overall Investopedia customer satisfaction ratings, coming in at 4.8 out of 5.

• Monthly fee: $0
• Minimum balance to open: $0
• Minimum age: Under 14 allowed
• Maximum age: 6 years after account opening
• Parental controls: No
• APY: 0.01%–0.03%
• Cash back: None
• Overdraft fee: $36.00
• ATM network: PNC, Allpoint, MoneyPass
• ATM out-of-network transaction fee: $3 at domestic and Canadian ATMs; $5 at foreign ATMs
• ATM out-of-network fee reimbursement: 2 PNC fees and $5 of other banks’ fees per month