If there’s a teenager in your life, that means they’re just a few short years away from being on their own. Are they ready?

There are a lot of things teens need to be comfortable with before heading to college or into the workforce. Managing money is one of them. Luckily, we can lend a hand.

Most teens have some source of income whether it be from an after school job or an allowance from mom and dad. Regardless of how much they have, now is the time to teach them to responsibly use a debit card and manage the money at their disposal.

That’s where a Student Checking My Way account at VCNB comes in.

VCNB Student Checking is designed for teens ages 14-17. There is no minimum balance requirement and your student will have access to all the benefits of online and mobile banking including internal transfers, Online Bill Pay and Account Alerts. They can easily log in to develop the habit of monitoring their transactions and balances so they always have knowledge and control over their money.

While a standard debit card is free, there is a $5 annual fee for a custom debit card or an optional upgrade for a school spirit debit card for $10 annually. Of that fee, $5 is donated to their school each year!

Students can learn how to find and use an ATM nearby through the MoneyPass network which has 32,000 surcharge free ATMs nationwide. This tool will help them access cash or make deposits at the ATM no matter where life takes them after graduation.

Parents can monitor activity by setting up account alerts via text or email, making it easy to know how teens are spending their money. Account Alerts can be received when a debit card is used or even when the account balance falls below a certain amount.

Learning to responsibly use these tools will give your teen a strong foundation for managing their money for a lifetime. That’s why we encourage parents and teens to work together so they are prepared to manage their own money after graduating high school. This very simple step can make a huge difference to a young person heading out into the word.

A Student Checking account can be opened online but a parent or guardian must be made a joint owner of the account for students under the age of 18. We recently wrote about understanding credit, another topic important to teens. Click here to read that story today.