To this point, my 3-year-old daughter's savings has been stagnant in our local credit union's "Kiddie Savings" account. They call it a "Moolah Moolah" account, which I find ironic. As it pays only 1.4% interest, the likelihood of this account ever generating any sort of return that might reasonably be called "Moolah" is pretty much nil. Given what's happened with interest rates over the last few years, I have a difficult time terming lowball-rate savings accounts like this anything other than RIP-OFFS.
So finally I did something about it. I opened an ING account for my daughter this morning, using a reference code from this month's issue of Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine to get her an opening bonus of $25.
My opinion is that ING sets the standard for account opening ease. Today's task was no exception. I input my kid's info, assigned her as the primary account holder, and selected my wife as the joint holder. (My wife and I each have our own ING savings accounts.) I made the linked account for my daughter's ING account the same checking account as is linked to my wife's ING account. Thanks to this "already verified link account," the entire setup process took maybe 5 minutes. Immediately my kid's ING account was open, viewable over the 'net, and funded with our opening deposit, plus the bonus $25. Folks, this is how it should be.
I'll note that when it comes to joint (adult) holders for a minor's account (it's a requirement, by the way), ING also allows you to select someone who's not yet been an ING customer. I suspect that doing it this way would take more time, given all the account verification that has to take place. But I bet it'd be easier than most every other online institution.
The few that offer it, I mean.
