Can a minor (13-17years) have a checking account WITHOUT a adult on the account? Would the contract have to be different? My understanding is a minor cannot be liable in a contractual agreement. Thanks

My understanding is that this is up to your bank policy. You can do it, but beware that if there are any problems with the account, the account holder may use the defense that s/he was not old enough to enter into a valid contract.

(205 ILCS 5/45.1) (from Ch. 17, par. 356)
Sec. 45.1. Accounts for minors. A state bank may accept deposits made by a minor and may open an account in the name of such minor and the rules and regulations of such bank with respect to each such deposit and account shall be as binding upon such minor as if such minor were of full age and legal capacity. The receipt, acquittance or order of payment of such minor on such account or deposit or any part thereof shall be as binding upon such minor as if such minor were of full age and legal capacity.
(Source: Laws 1965, p. 2020.)

As both people above have noted, while a minor has no defense to the deposit contract under state law, whether to accept such deposits is entirely a bank policy decision. However, be aware that many of the largest banks in the state now market checking accounts with debit cards to students as young as 13. Many parents, and most kids, want the convenience of a debit card. Not offering these types of accounts could cause competative issues.

Thanks MyBrainHurts for the cite. There's always something to learn in compliance.

Three years later and I'm adding on a question to this thread. We had an individual want to add his son to his checking account as joint owners in case anything would happen to the dad. Sounds pretty okay, right? The son is six. Yes six. He can barely sign/print his name. So my question is this, should we have allowed this? Our policy has always been if a child wants and account an adult must sign with them. But this dad's reasoning besides if something happens to him was saving for college. They why not open a savings. If I could use another poster's name just to explain how I feel it would be MY BRAIN HURTS. Does anyone have an experience like this or handled it differently? Thanks.

Since the six year old will likely need a court appointed guardian to manage these funds if something happens to dad, dad's efforts to bypass probate court by having a joint owner won't work very well here.

As bankers we should never venture into the estate planning business, and I agree that this was a bad idea from the start.

Thanks Brian for your response. It really comes down to asking customers the right questions and not being order takers. This is a constant struggle at our bank. Have a conversation with the customer, determine if they are in the right account etc, but no, we do as we are told. UGH!

BTW, your tag line was my mantra last year when my husband was gravely ill. It got me through some very dark days. Thanks for reminding me.