A bank account designed for your college-aged kid
has introduced Virtual Wallet Student, an online bank account aimed at the college-aged student who is still financially tethered to the Bank of Mom and Dad.
I have elementary school aged kids, so I haven't tried this out, but it looks like something worth looking into.
According to the press release put out by PNC Bank, "Virtual Wallet Student, with three accounts in one, is designed to give parents peace of mind by helping students help themselves as they transition to financial independence."
It's a spin-off of a popular service that PNC Bank aims at its twenty-something customers, called Virtual Wallet.
Some of the features Virtual Wallet Student has include:
Those aforementioned three accounts -- one for spending, saving and investing.
A calendar for important financial dates, like when certain bills are due.
Not surprisingly, there's a "send money" feature, where parents can easily transfer money from their bank account to the student's account.
But the best feature, from what I see, is that parents will get text or email alerts when there's a risk of overdrawing, and regardless, the Virtual Wallet Student press release promises that they have overdraft protection, which is encouraging and interesting, given how much of a money maker overdraft fees are for banks.
In fact, I think it's wonderful that PNC offers this type of money management program to college students. My only gripe is that they ought to think about offering the same financial protections and financial education tools for the rest of us.
