Saving accounts in banks for Children [Kids & Money #01]

In the recent times, we get to hear a lot about many Children saving accounts. These Children Saving accounts are very much similar to the normal saving accounts in bank, but are meant exclusively for the Children and can be fully operated by a kid. There will be a minimum and a maximum age limit to open these children accounts and also few additional facilities will be available for these accounts. We will list these facilities later.

Benefits of opening a Children Saving account:

The biggest benefit is saving for the kid. Even a small amount of money when saved in bank for years will earn a good amount of interest - which can be helpful for your child's education or other needs in the future.  When the kid operates the basic transactions in these accounts, they get to learn more about money and investments in the young age itself.

List of Banks offering Children Saving Accounts in India:

Here are few banks that offer Children Savings accounts in India. Children saving account facilities will be available even in other banks, please check your nearest bank branches to check if they offer these type of accounts

• HDFC Bank : Kids Advantage Account
• ICICI Bank : Young Stars Savings Account
• Axis Bank : Future Stars Savings Account
• United Bank of India : United Children Savings account
• Citi Bank : Junior Account
• IDBI Bank : Power Kids Account
• Karur Vysya Bank : Jumbo Kids Saving Account
• HSBC Bank : Junior Saving Account

Few things to analyze before choosing the bank:

• As mentioned earlier, the account holder for these children saving accounts should be below some fixed age limit - mostly 18 in many banks. Check what happens to these accounts after your child reaches that age limit. 
• Check what is the maximum transaction limits for children saving accounts. Normally they will be lesser than the normal savings accounts.
• These accounts have a fixed Average Quarterly Balance - if the amount in the saving account goes below this AQB that will lead to penalties.

Facilities provided for Children Saving's account:

• Few banks provide free insurance to certain amount in case of any uncertain events to parents.
• Options to set the limit for Debit Card withdrawals, Options to enable SMS alert for parents are available in few banks
• Few banks offer facilities to transfer the exceeding amount to Fixed Deposits which can earn more rate of interests. 

Documents for Opening a Children Saving account:

The documents needed might vary for each bank. the most commonly asked documents are:

• a photograph
• age proof document
• relationship document
• address proof document

Though it is good for children to know about money and investments in the young age itself, parents should also have an eye on the transactions happening in the kids accounts. Since these accounts can be operated by the kid themselves, it is always advisable to have SMS alert enabled.