Minor accounts

Overview

Minor accounts are checking and savings accounts available to customers under the age of majority. These accounts are owned and managed by a parent or guardian responsible for the account’s activity, with the minor able to make transactions as the account signer.

Minors with checking accounts can also make transactions using a debit card, subject to Helix card controls, allowing the minor to manage a bank account and debit card in a controlled environment.

Prior to using this feature, clients must receive approval from the bank of record.

Opening a minor account

To open a minor account, the parent or guardian acting as the account owner must initiate the account opening process and pass full KYC onboarding. For information on the KYC process, refer to the following documentation available on the Q2 Customer Portal:

  • Helix Process Guide

  • Socure Process Guide

  • IDology Process Guide

Once the parent or guardian has been verified, they must provide the minor’s demographic requirements, determined by the bank of record. Your program may require more or less demographic data, such as:

  • Name

  • Date of birth

  • Social Security Number

  • Address

With this information, the client calls the /customer/create endpoint in Helix. Once the customer is created, the client calls the /customer/onboard endpoint to initiate onboarding of any necessary modules, determined by the bank of record. The client then calls the /account/editAccess endpoint to add the minor as an authorized signer on the account.

Identification documents

Minors are required to provide identification documents prior to becoming an authorized signer. The type and number of documents are determined by the client and bank of record, and may include:

  • Birth certificate

  • Social Security card

  • School ID

In the Helix API, use the customerDocument/upload endpoint to upload the documentation.

Manual review

All minor account applications are sent to the manual review queue for individual validation before opening the account.

After the account passes manual review and is created, the minor can make deposits to or withdrawals from the account via ACH and make transactions on a checking account using a debit card.

Account restrictions

The minor account can be linked only to the parent or guardian’s external account. Helix does not allow minors to add an additional external account.

The minor cannot make any fundamental changes to the account, such as adding an account holder, closing the account, or changing the phone number or address. These actions can only be performed by the parent or guardian acting as the account owner.

Debit cards

Ordering a card

After the minor account has been opened, the client can order a debit card in the minor’s name by calling the /card/initiate endpoint. Debit cards in a minor’s name are regulated by Helix card controls.

Helix Card Controls

As the account owner, the parent or guardian is responsible for any transaction made on the minor account. Minor checking accounts with a linked debit card can be restricted using Helix card controls, which protects against fraud and account misuse.

Using card controls, the parent or guardian can restrict card use by parameters including transaction amount, transaction location, and type of merchant. For more information on card controls, and for a full list of parameters that can be restricted with that feature, see Helix card controls.

To enable Card Controls, submit a request to Helix support. After the feature is activated, card controls can be applied and adjusted via the Helix API.

Reaching age of majority

When a minor reaches the age of majority, Helix sends an event notification alerting the client. If the minor wants to open their own account after reaching the age of majority, they must first pass full KYC onboarding.

If they choose to leave the account as a minor account, or if they take no action, there are no regulatory repercussions. The customer is still a signer on the account and the parent or guardian remains the account owner.