Greenlight Debit Card: Can it Really Teach Kids About Money?
Teaching kids about money management can be challenging, especially because you don't want to give them too much financial freedom too soon.
But, hands-on experience is one of the best ways for kids to learn about money. The Greenlight debit card teaches kids valuable financial lessons around saving and spending money.
While some parents may be apprehensive about allowing their kid or teen to have their own debit card, Greenlight's debit card has many safeguards to prevent overspending and misuse.
The Greenlight debit card's features and benefits differ from traditional banks.
What is the Greenlight Debit Card?
The Greenlight card is a secured debit card for kids and teens that teaches them financial literacy.
Since the card is secured, money must be loaded onto it ahead of time. Parents can transfer funds via the Greenlight app, and teens can receive direct deposit paychecks if they have a job.
Included with the Greenlight card is the Greenlight mobile app, which parents and kids can access.
However, parents and kids have different experiences when using the companion app. For example, kids can view their card balances, check their spending, and create savings goals.
While parents can use flexible controls to set spending limits and monitor debit card use.
Parents also can transfer money from their existing financial accounts and set up allowance payments.
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Greenlight Debit Card for Kids and Teens: Features and Benefits
Features are essential when determining whether the Greenlight prepaid debit card is a good fit for your kids. However, what is even more valuable is how these features will benefit your family.
Here are some of the best features and benefits of the Greenlight debit card.
Spending Controls
Unlike a debit card from a traditional bank, the Greenlight debit card offers many spending controls for parents. This helps parents feel comfortable giving their children access to a debit card.
These parental spending controls include:
- Ability to turn the card on and off instantly
- Receive real-time notifications regarding child's spending
- Set spending limits and ATM withdrawal cash limits
- Ability to check the available balance and transfer funds to and from the child's account
With these safeguards, parents don't need to worry about their kids draining money from their online accounts.
These parental controls are similar to teaching your kids how to ride a bike but starting with training wheels.
Your child will feel like they are getting some financial freedom to manage their debit card account. However, to give parents peace of mind while their kids are learning about money, safeguards are in place to prevent unnecessary spending.
Saving Tools
To motivate kids to save money, Greenlight has other built-in features that make saving money automatic and easy. These tools allow kids to get rewarded for saving money.
Round Ups
There's an option to have purchases rounded up to the nearest dollar. The amount rounded up will be transferred into their Greenlight savings account.
For example, if the purchase was for $10.20, the rounded-up amount is $11. Therefore, the amount transferred into the savings account would be $0.80.
This may not sound like much cash, but over time adds up. This is an especially great option if your child makes frequent everyday purchases.
Savings Rewards
Depending on the Greenlight plan, cardholders can earn between a 1% to 5% savings reward on money in the savings account or part of the savings goals.
Rewards are paid out monthly and transferred into the savings account.
Cash Back Rewards
When kids make purchases, they'll get cashback rewards automatically transferred to their savings account monthly.
While the cashback is 1%, this can add up, especially if many purchases are made on the card.
The basic core plan doesn't offer cash back when making purchases. However, both the Greenlight Infinity and Greenlight Max plan include this perk.
Parent-Paid Interest
In addition to getting cash back and savings rewards paid out by Greenlight, parents can pay interest from their own money to their children to motivate them to save.
Teach Your Kids About Money With the Geenlight Debit Card
Where the Greenlight Debit Card Can Be Used
The debit card is accepted at most places that take Mastercard. It's also accepted in over 150 countries, and unlike many banks, you will not be charged foreign transaction fees.
Greenlight is one of the best debit cards for parents who travel often, as there is no need to notify Greenlight if you're traveling, giving you one less thing to worry about.
Custom Card
The Greenlight debit card is free unless you want a custom card, which is a $9.99 charge. With the custom card, you or your child can pick a photo to be printed onto the debit card.
Your kids will love receiving a personalized card instead of a standard one.
If you have multiple kids, it may be a good idea to have a picture of them on the card; that way, no one will mix each other's cards up.
Security
Besides being able to set up controls, there are other safety features Greenlight offers that'll put parents at ease, including:
- Logging in with touch or face ID for extra security
- Mastercard's Zero Liability Protection
- Blocking unsafe spending categories
- Debit cards are FDIC-insured up to $250,000
- Customer support is available 24 hours, 7 days a week
Direct Deposit
Teens who have a job can receive direct deposits to their Greenlight account. With all the saving and budgeting tools the Greenlight account offers, teens can easily budget their paychecks.
Learning about budgeting at a young age will help them become financially responsible adults.
Chores and Allowance System
Parents can set up chore schedules and check off lists within the Greenlight App. Then, when kids complete their chores, parents can pay them through the app. It's a terrific way to organize kids' chores in one place, and parents can set up recurring chores, saving them time.
Another practical option is for parents to enable notifications to remind their kids to complete chores. Kids can also keep track of their allowance, learn how to budget, and track their spending in the app.
Having such a fun chore system is a win-win for parents and kids. Parents will be thrilled with how easy it is to set up chore calendars, and kids will feel a sense of independence and pride.
Greenlight Card Plans and Fees
There are three plans to choose from when signing up for the Greenlight card. Each plan differs in price and offers various features. Before signing up for the Greenlight card, parents should compare plans, so they pick the right plan for their family.
Fee Transparency
While the Greenlight debit card has no hidden fees, it does charge a monthly fee that ranges from $4.99 to $14.98 per month, depending on the plan chosen.
Some hidden debit card fees that traditional banks charge that Greenlight does not are:
- Overdraft fees
- International fees
- ATM fees
- Minimum spending bank fees
Greenlight Core
- Cost: $4.99 per month
Greenlight Core is the most basic plan offered. This plan is smart for parents on a budget since it's the cheapest and still offers all the essential features to help teach your kids about money.
Greenlight Core Features include:
- Debit Mastercard for up to five kids
- Financial tools
- Greenlight app
- Parental controls
- 1% Savings Rewards
- Parental Investing (lite)
- Cash back credit card for parents
Greenlight Max
- Cost: $9.98 per month
The next tier plan, Greenlight Max, has all the features of Greenlight Core, plus even more perks, including as a 2% reward on savings, up from just 1% in the basic Core plan.
Greenlight Max features include:
- 1% Cash Back
- Investing for both kids and parents
- Priority customer support
- 2% savings reward
- Identity theft protection
- Purchase protection
- Cell phone protection
- Greenlight Black Card
Greenlight Infinity
- Cost: $14.98 per month
Finally, the Greenlight Infinity plan has everything the Core and Max plans offer, except you receive a 5% savings reward plus some additional features, which include:
- SOS alerts
- Family location sharing
- Crash detection
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Greenlight Sign-Up Process
To sign up for the Greenlight debit card, you'll need to provide the following:
- Physical address
- Cell phone number
- Legal first and last name
- Date of birth
- Kid's name(s)
- A current debit card or bank account from a financial institution
- Social security number
Once you enroll and are approved, your card will be mailed in seven to ten business days. If you need the card sooner, there is a $24.99 fee to get it shipped to you faster.
Also, there is no minimum or maximum age limit for kids to have an account.
Greenlight Card Review
There are other ways to give kids access to money, such as giving them cash or Visa gift cards. However, the Greenlight debit card is the only one that teaches them money management skills.
The downside of giving your child cash versus access to a debit card is that kids can lose money.
In contrast, parents can quickly turn the card off through the app and call customer service to prevent fraudulent charges if the Greenlight card is stolen or lost.
In addition, cash is not accepted online or through apps and, in general, is becoming less of a preferred payment method.
Whereas the Greenlight Mastercard debit card is accepted practically anywhere and can be connected to Apple Pay and Google Pay. It's also better than giving kids a Mastercard or Visa gift card, which typically requires an activation fee.
Is the Greenlight Debit Card Worth it?
So while the Greenlight debit card has a monthly fee, it offers more valuable financial literacy tools and convenience than other options.
The Greenlight card fee is worth it when you consider that financial education learned at a young age will be the foundation of spending and budgeting habits into adulthood.
Signing up for the Greenlight Debit Card free one-month free trial is a risk-free way to see firsthand how the card will benefit your kids and family.