If you want to live a financially stable life, you must stay on top of all aspects of your credit, savings, and expenditure. And, while taking control of your finances is vital at any age, students need to improve the essential financial management skills that will come in useful all through their college years and later life. Here’s our recommendation of the seven best banks for students in 2021,
- Ally Bank
- Bank of America
- Axos Bank
- Capital One 360
- PNC Bank
- Chase Bank
- Discover Bank
Even if they do not work full-time, students frequently require their bank accounts. College students benefit from opening accounts, mainly if they receive financial aid or loans, and teenagers can use them. Recognizing this, many financial institutions provide student-specific funds. In addition, many financial institutions cater to college students by providing deposit accounts. Some of them are excellent, while others are not.
As a college student, take a glance at the best banks for students with basic specifications: no or easily prevented monthly payments, solid overdraft policies, high interest rates, extensive ATM networks, and online banking. The accounts offered by the banks, as mentioned above, include all or most of those functions. So let’s dive into it.
Ally Bank
Ally Bank is an excellent online bank with no monthly fees. Unfortunately, Bank does not have a student checking or savings account, but its Interest Checking and Online Savings accounts are excellent options for university students.
You must be comfortable with a company that does not have physical locations because it is an online bank. However, with its Interest Checking account, you will have access to over 55,000 ATMs worldwide via the All point network.
If you use an ATM that is not part of the network and incur a fee, Ally Bank will pay back you approximately $10 per statement cycle.
Overdraft transfers are accessible at the Bank. Ally will automatically withdraw funds from a linked savings account to cover the difference. However, if your savings are insufficient, you may be charged a $25 overdraft cost up to that once each day.
Bank of America
If having support when needed at a physical bank is essential to you, a retail bank with many places maybe your best option. For example, Bank of America has over 4,400 branches and 16,000 ATMs throughout the United States.
However, you will typically pay higher fees for that convenience than what online-only banks offer. Nevertheless, Bank of America provides a few options for avoiding them, as long as you carefully read your fee structure.
Bank of America ATMs will charge you at least $2.50. For enrolled college students under 24, the Bank’s Benefit Safe Balance and Benefit Plus checking accounts waive monthly maintenance costs.
You will lose that benefit when you reach 25, but you can avoid paying maintenance costs if you meet specific requirements.
Axos Bank
Axos Bank, formerly known as Bank of Internet USA, is an online bank. It provides a Reward Checking account with most of the lowest fees in the bank industry. In addition, college students will advantage from the repayment of ATM fees and the absence of overdraft fees. Furthermore, you can obtain higher interest on the money you maintain in the account if you do the following:
- Every month, you earn a direct deposit of $1,000 or more.
- However, you will not be able to get in-person assistance at bank branches.
- You have used your debit card at least ten times.
- You use your debit card five more times.
Capital One 360
Capital One, an online option for students and non-students, offers 360 Checking and 360 Achievement Savings accounts with low fees. In addition, there is no requirement for a minimum opening deposit, and there are no monthly service fees. The Capital One 360 Checking account offers several overdraft protection options, such as the ability to quickly decline all transactions for which you do not have sufficient account funds. This means you won’t have to pay any overdraft fees.
This is an excellent online bank to use during and after college because its features make it a marketable choice for ongoing banking.
PNC Bank
PNC Bank’s Virtual Wallet Student provides three accounts to college students: 2 checking accounts, including one that earns interest, and a savings account that also interests made.
PNC’s student accounts have several factors that distinguish it from other central banks: It provides coverage of 2 of its own non-PNC ATM fees per month and will contain extra costs of up to $5 per month at other ATMs.
However, PNC’s out-of-network ATM fees are $3, especially compared to $2.50 at Bank of America and Chase. In addition, it charges $36 in overdraft fees, which are also high, but PNC will money back your 1st overdraft fee.
Chase Bank
Chase Bank’s College Checking account agreed to waive monthly maintenance fees for college young people between 17 and 24 for up to 5 years. In addition, if you are a new Chase client and make ten eligibility transactions within 60 days of opening the account, you will receive a $100 sign-up bonus. However, keep an eye out for additional fees.
Overdrafts cost $34, and Chase can charge you three times per day on products costing more than $5, signing up for a linked Chase Savings account, which can be used as a backup to cover overdrafts. In addition, after five years in college, or when you are no longer a student, you can avoid paying maintenance fees by having direct deposits deposited into your account or maintaining a daily balance of at least $5,000.
Discover Bank
Discover Bank does not have any products specifically designed for students, but its rewarding checking and savings accounts are ideal for people of all ages. In addition, there are no monthly fees for checking or savings.
Discover’s checking, savings, and money market accounts have no insufficient funds or overdraft fees. Otherwise, the overdraft transaction will be declined unless you sign up for free overdraft transfers from a linked account. In addition, discover’s savings account offers a competitive interest rate. Unfortunately, its checking account does not pay interest, but it does offer 1% cash back on up to $3,000 in monthly debt spending.
There are over 60,000 fee-free ATMs throughout the country. Discover is an online bank, but its customer service representatives are accessible by phone 1 hour a day, seven days a week.
