Huntington Service Lets OSU Students Link ID Cards to Checking Accounts

Building on its landmark partnership with the Ohio State University, Huntington Bancshares Inc. is launching a new service on campus this week that will allow students to access their bank accounts with their school identification cards.

The $54 billion-asset Huntington said Wednesday that, starting this week, students can link their ID cards to Huntington checking accounts and subsequently use their ID cards at Huntington automated teller machines and to make purchases from both on- and off-campus merchants using their personal identification numbers.

"The ability to link to [a student's ID card] Huntington checking account is the first of many convenient benefits Huntington will offer the Ohio State community," said Dave Schamer, a senior vice president who leads Huntington's university banking.

The service is part of a 15-year, $125 million partnership Huntington and the university, both based in Columbus, announced last month. Under terms of the exclusive arrangement, Huntington intends to more than double its number of ATMs on campus, to 24, over the next couple of months and open as many as four branches on the grounds of the state's largest university.

In exchange for this access to roughly 600,000 students, faculty and alumni, Huntington will provide $25 million to the university to be used for scholarships and academic programs and provide up to 20 paid internships to Ohio State students for each year of the partnership.

The exclusive partnership is a first for the school and is believed to be the largest arrangement between a bank and university in the country.