The savings account child has the objective of teaching minors the culture of saving. Despite being a financial product intended for the little ones in the house, the adult responsible for the minor must have a “positive” financial history as a requirement to obtain the account.
In addition to presenting a document evidencing economic solvency or account statement of the father, mother or guardian, their identity card, passport or residence card is required, in case of being a foreigner, and a copy of the minor’s birth certificate. .
The opening requirements are the same as the requirements to open any other financial product, the difference is that the name of the boy or girl will be listed on that product, whose objective is to be their savings mechanism to buy something for which they have saved their money. “allowance” or payment for collaborating in an activity suitable for their age, explains Lía Vargas, advisor and coach of finance.
Vargas highlights that the product is a tool to cultivate the culture of savings that is identified with the name of the boy or girl, which generates a feeling of ownership and commitment. It is not advisable to use it to save the adult’s own funds, because then it would lose the nature for which it was created.
According to the regulation that governs the policies for the use of financial products, it is only adults who can carry out transactions in the entities, so children are excluded from using the services of companies in the economic sector.
However, Law number 5897 on savings associations and housing loans establishes in its article 27 that minors who have reached the age of 14 may make direct deposits of savings and dispose of them freely.
It also indicates that you can dispose of the amounts that are made or have been made in your name at any time. But savings deposits made by parents or guardians in the name of the minor child or ward can only be withdrawn during the exercise of parental authority or guardianship, by the parent or guardian, provided that these modalities are stated. in the contract signed before opening the account.
For Vargas, the importance of the financial intermediation entities have a product of this category is that it serves as a mechanism to create a rapprochement of the child with banking institutions to promote savings and financial formality with the services of banks, associations and cooperatives, among other savings and credit societies.
Prepaid cards
When minors are over 13 years old, the need for independence begins to emerge and the word applies to managing their finances with the decision to distribute their expenses and manage the money they receive from their parents or guardians.
During this stage and even before reaching the age of majority (18 years in the Dominican Republic) people can use the prepaid cards to teach the teenager how to use that type of product that works just like the debit card.
The difference between the debit card and the prepaid card is that you do not need to have an account to have it, so it is simpler and more practical for young people, who can use it in commercial establishments and ATMs to withdraw money.
Far from granting complete independence, adults can monitor the adolescent’s use of plastic and how often he requires money for his daily activities.
This type of account is not a credit product as such, but it can serve as support for a constant flow of income that in the long term would serve as information for banking agents when the young person requires another product when he meets the majority of age like a credit card.
