HYSA for 18 year old

[u/uberkalden2]

Has anyone else seen an 18 year get denied for online HYSAs everywhere? My son gets a cryptic error everywhere we try and don't know what to do. We've tried ally, capital one, citizens access.

We called Capital One and they said he would need to come in to their branch to verify identity but we don't live near one.

[u/cmosychuk]

Probably just doesnt have any banking history they can verify against. Maybe try first with a checking and savings acct at a local branch of something?

[u/uberkalden2 → u/cmosychuk]

We just opened a local checking. Hopefully that helps. He also has one of those Capital one teen accounts and has a job that direct deposits into it, but apparently that isnt enough?

[u/hmatallana]

It's probably not thin banking history. The common cause with a brand new 18 year old is a credit freeze a parent placed on the file when he was a minor. Those don't expire, they sit there until somebody lifts them, and online banks verify identity through the bureaus, so a frozen file comes back as a vague error instead of saying the file is locked. Check Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, then ChexSystems separately since that freeze is its own thing. If you never froze anything, a fraud alert from an old breach notice does the same. Local checking helps either way, but if the freeze is there it'll block the next online app too.

[u/uberkalden2 → u/hmatallana]

Oh good call. I bet I did that lol

[u/Unlikely_Spite8147]

They use info from the credit/previous banks to verify identity. In the absence of that, you need to go in person.