For the record: I did not receive an iPod or any other promotional item when I signed up and I think it's kind of lousy that the other reviewer does not offer any other explanation for his 1.0 rating.

There is a $50 opening deposit but there is no minimum required balance after that which is very useful for students who usually do not have much money to work with. KeyBank does not pay you interest on your checking account balance.

It's true that you will be charged an overdraft fee ($39, I think), but since I can view my account information online and my deposits go through in a timely manner, I've never had to really deal with that. I hate to be the person that says, "Well, you should have balanced your checkbook before buying that and then you wouldn't have bounced your account," but...it's true. Honestly, as long as you pay just a little bit attention and remember what you have going through, you probably won't have to deal with overdraft fees.

Very rarely do I write checks. I use Key's online bill pay system and have always had good experiences -- everything always went through correctly. But when I do write checks, they are scanned and show up in my online account and I can view a copy of the check for free, which is nice to have. You are able to view all of your KeyBank accounts online so I'm able to easily transfer money from my checking to my savings and it goes through immediately. I also love that I can view old statements online. I know that banks and companies want you to use 'paperless statements' because it saves them a few bucks in paper and stamps, but I do find it very convenient and hasslefree so I would not go back to receiving my statements in the mail. In fact, I never really looked at statements that came in the mail since I could keep track online anyway, so the statements would just get shredded anyway.

With KeyBank Student Checking, you get a debit card (mine is a Mastercard, don't know if they have Visa, etc.) that works as an ATM card or an ATM-only card if you are under 18. I have been told that some people are concerned about having a card of any kind and so will request that their account is 'checks only'. KeyBank will charge you $4/month if you do not want either the debit card or the ATM card. I don't know if this applies to the student account or only the "grown up" accounts, but since I have a debit card, I'm not worried about this. If you do not want a debit card or ATM card but you are considering a KeyBank account, you should check to see if there is a fee. I think that fee is ridiculous, but like I said -- I've never been in that situation.

KeyBank has many locations around Ohio, though it may be more difficult to find KeyBank branches/ATMs in other states. I know Key is in 13 other states, but I'm not sure which ones. With a student checking account, Key does not charge you a fee on their end when you use another bank's ATM. However, the other bank probably will charge you. KeyBank will refund that money but only in certain circumstances. The only way KeyBank will refund that fee is if you are (A) enrolled in online statements, (B) use your debit card to withdraw, and (C) obtain a Key credit card. Even if you fit that criteria, you can only be refunded up to $6 per month. If you have a debit card, you can use that to make your purchase and skip the ATM altogether since there are no point-of-sale fees with the student checking account.

You will be charged an early account closure fee of $25 if you close your account within 180 days of opening it.

I would recommend this account to college students and high school junior/seniors who need an easy to open and use account. Students under 18 will also have to have a parent/guardian sign up along with the student. When the student turns 24, the student account is automatically rolled over into a basic adult checking account. I'm not sure how much things change with the adult account since I'm not there yet, but if the terms are basically the same, I will probably stick with Key for a very long time.

If all you had to do was sign up for the checking account I think this might be a pretty good deal, in fact I would probably do it. However, most of us shouldn't be making decisions about credit cards based on an ipod that is really only worth $75.