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Step 1
Contact your local bank. The best place to start is the bank where you currently have an account. Ask for what options they have for children's savings accounts. The downside to this approach is that the interest rate may not be as high as you may want it to be.
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Step 2
Broaden your search to look for the highest rates around. One way to do this is to use bankrate.com, where you can search either by state or the 100 highest yield accounts in the country. Dollar Savings Direct and the ING Orange Savings Account are among the highest interest rate accounts in the country (see Resources below).
Many of the highest interest rate savings accounts are online direct banking accounts. They are able to pay high interest rates because they do not have brick-and-mortar offices that would increase their overhead costs. -
Step 3
Call the bank and find out what you would need to open a savings account for your child. If you have chosen to go with your local bank, go in with the required documentation, which almost always includes identification as well as a check for the amount you will like to deposit.
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Step 4
Go to the website and register if you chose to go with an online direct banking account. Make sure you have social security and state-issued identification ready. Some of the online direct banking accounts will want you to open the account in your name and name the child as a beneficiary. Others, like ING, will allow you the child to be the primary owner, but there has to be a joint account owner who is at least 18 years old.
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Step 5
Fund the new account by linking it to your checking account. Your linked account is also how you will make future deposits and withdrawals.
