Paying in cash is far less popular than it used to be. It’s now much more common to make purchases with a credit or debit card. Even kids are paying for purchases with cards these days.
Since you’re here, you’re likely ready to give your kid their first debit card—one you can easily monitor to ensure your child is spending responsibly. Copper and Jassby both offer great kids’ debit cards (and other useful account features), but there are some big differences between the two.
Today, I’m going to give you an in-depth look into both Copper and Jassby. For each account, I’ll provide an overview, costs, and notable features. I’ll also show their stats side by side for a quick comparison. Just in case neither card seems like the perfect fit for your family, I’ll also highlight a few other competitive kids’ debit cards worthy of consideration.
Table of Contents
Copper vs. Jassby Comparison
Copper Overview
- Available: Sign up here
Copper Banking is a fintech app with a prepaid debit card that provides digital banking for minors. While Copper Bank is entirely online, customer deposits are FDIC-insured through their banking partner, Evolve Bank & Trust.
Copper was founded on the belief that kids and teens should have equal access to financial education and should be empowered to learn by doing. Now, the company is on a mission to help children gain real-world experience by giving them access to their money in a way that traditional banks can’t.
The Copper app and debit card teaches your child how to make smart financial decisions by creating a platform where parents and their kids can connect. With the Copper app, you get easy snapshots of your accounts. And with the Copper Debit Card, it’s easy to shop in-store or online, including with Apple Pay or Google Pay.
Plus, users get exclusive access to engaging advice curated by a team of financial literacy experts who provide tips on how to take control of their financial future.
Copper is available to kids age 6 and older. A parent can add up to five kids (and thus five Copper Cards) with each subscription.
- Copper is the digital bank and debit card for teens built with the mission of creating a financially successful generation.
- Send/Request: Teens and parents can easily send and receive money all at the touch of a button.
- Spend: Pay with a digital wallet via Apple Pay or Google Pay or use the physical Copper Debit Card.
- Monitor: Get a snapshot of all your spending in an easy-to-read dashboard.
- Save: Gain quick snapshots of your savings and helpful tips on how you can save even more. Set up savings bucks and save for the things that you want.
- Learn: With the help of Copper's team of financial literacy experts, learn more about how to maximize your money and prepare yourself for your financial future.
- Allowance administration
- Financial education resources
- Network of 55,000-plus fee-free ATMs
- No chores tracking or assignment
- No parental controls beyond notifications
Related: 25 Best Jobs for 15-Year-Olds [In-Person + Online]
Copper Plans + Costs
Copper has two plans to choose between:
Plan | Monthly Fee | Features Offered Under Plan |
---|---|---|
Copper | $4.95 | - Copper Cards for up to five kids - Earn 2.00% on savings - Smart savings with Divvy and RoundUps - Automatic allowance - Instant P2P money transfers - Parental controls - Built-in financial education - Mastercard Zero Liability Protection |
Copper + Invest | $7.95 | Everything under the Copper plan, plus: - Investing for kids - Earn 5.00% on savings - Priority support |
In addition to a monthly fee, other fees may apply. For instance, you will incur a $4.95 fee any time you load cash onto the card via the Green Dot network of retailers. You will also incur a fee for instant debit transfers; the fee is 2.5% of the total amount + 30¢ per transaction.
Related: 7 Best Investments for Kids [Investing for Children]
Copper Features
Copper Card
The Copper Card is a Mastercard-branded debit card that can be used for shopping at physical stores or online, as well as for withdrawing cash at more than 55,000 fee-free ATMs. This means your kid can spend virtually anywhere—Mastercard is accepted in more than 210 countries worldwide—with the exception of any vendors flagged for “inappropriate content.”
Parents can put money onto their kids’ Copper Cards for free from their Copper wallet. Parents have two ways of funding their Copper wallet:
- Bank transfer: Transfers from a linked bank account are free and take three to five business days to clear.
- Debit card transfer: These transfers cost 2.5% of the total amount +30¢ per transaction and the money instantly hits accounts.
You can manually initiate transfers or set up Auto-Reload to add money any time funds fall below a predetermined threshold.
Kids with Copper accounts can also send money to each other. So if a sibling borrows money, it’s easy to pay it back.
Cardholders benefit from Mastercard Zero Liability Protection. This means you and your child aren’t held responsible for any unauthorized transactions as long as you used reasonable care to protect the card from loss or theft and promptly reported any fraudulent charges to Copper.
Savings
Copper accounts also have a savings area. Kids can create savings goals and put money away toward those goals. Copper will help that money grow faster by paying interest in any money saved. The annual percentage yield (APY) varies by plan: Copper users get a 2% APY on savings, while Copper + Invest users get 5%.
Related: Best Automatic Savings Apps + Accounts
Parental Controls + Card Limits
Copper has adequate parental controls. Parents get real-time alerts on children’s transactions, so they’re always up-to-date on kids’ spending habits. The adults also have the option to freeze the card at any time to stop spending.
Copper has its own card limits in place as well, including the following restrictions:
- Daily deposit limit (debit card or ACH): $500
- Monthly deposit limit (debit card or ACH) $2,000
- Daily spending/transfer limit: $2,000
You can, of course, instruct your child that you have stricter limits, if you so choose. But no matter what, your kid won’t be able to exceed these limits, even if there’s an emergency.
Copper also has a “merchant shield” so your kids can’t make purchases with any vendors flagged for inappropriate content.
Investing (Copper + Invest Only)
With Copper + Invest ($7.95 per month), your child also gets access to an easy starter investment platform that uses automatically curated smart portfolios built with their preferences in mind. While I personally prefer self-directed investing (you pick whatever stocks and funds you’d like), smart portfolios allow people with little investing knowledge to start putting their money to work in an effective way. Thus, they’re perfect for children.
Your child is given a questionnaire that helps Copper determine a portfolio based on their age, income, net worth, investment objective(s), and investment horizon. Copper then recommends one of three ETF portfolios—Moderately Aggressive, Aggressive, and Extra Aggressive—made up of thousands of stocks. Parents can review the portfolio to ensure it matches with not just your child’s preferences, but your family’s. (Portfolios can be changed later by accessing the Support chat.)
Your child can begin investing for as little as $1, then add more contributions down the road. Copper will automatically rebalance the portfolio as needed to make sure it always keeps up with your child’s investment preferences.
Related: Best Micro-Investing Apps
Allowance
Parents also can pay their kids an allowance using Copper. You have the choice of an automatic allowance or one-time payments when your kids need or request them. (And if you set up an automatic allowance, but your kid hasn’t exactly been on their best behavior, you can skip payments as needed.)
Tasks + Earn
Copper also has a chores feature called Tasks. To teach your kids the concept of earning, you can set up Tasks, such as cleaning, homework, or babysitting. Once the Task is marked as complete, the child gets paid. Tasks can be set up on a one-time basis or made to repeat.
Kids can also get paid through the Earn feature. When they complete surveys, they collect “creds” that can be cashed in for real money. (Parents don’t have to foot this cost—Copper covers it!)
Related: 40+ Ways to Earn Money as a Teenager
RoundUps
Copper’s round-up feature, RoundUps, helps children and teens save money every time they make a purchase. It’s simple: Every purchase is rounded up to the nearest dollar, and the change is put toward your kid’s savings goals. (Example: If your child spends $2.50 on candy, 50¢ will be put into their savings.)
Related: Best Round Up Apps + Savings Accounts
Financial Education + Literacy Development
Copper wants kids to build the financial literacy skills they’ll need to succeed. To help them, it has hired financial literacy experts to develop their literacy development content, including:
- Liz Frazier, Copper’s Executive Director of Financial Education. Frazier is the author of the book Beyond Piggybanks and Lemonade Stands.
- Lily Lapenna, Copper’s Financial Literacy Advisor. Lapenna has been recognized by Queen Elizabeth and the World Economic Forum for her work in personal finance.
Money Moves
Learning financial skills is helpful, but the process isn’t always fun. But Copper keeps things light via its = Money Moves—short videos that are organized into the following categories:
- Debt
- Budgeting
- Investing
- Saving
Each video answers a question children are likely to wonder about, such as “How do debit cards work?” and “What is the lottery?”
Direct Deposit + Divvy
Teens with their own jobs can take advantage of the direct deposit feature. Their paychecks will be instantly deposited into their Copper accounts—and by using direct deposit, they can get paid up to two days early.
Copper also offers a feature called Divvy that allows you to automatically put aside a percentage of each paycheck toward savings and/or investing.
You can sign up for Copper here.
Related: Best Investment Apps and Platforms
Jassby Overview
- Available: Sign up here
Jassby is a mobile wallet app that families can use to manage chores, allowance payments, and money spent on the company’s flexible virtual and physical debit cards.
When you open a Jassby account, you receive digital debit cards that can be used online, as well as in-store anywhere Apple Pay, Google Pay, or Samsung Pay is accepted. But for extra flexibility, parents can order physical debit cards for their children that are good to use anywhere Mastercard is accepted.
Parents transfer money to their children’s Jassby debit cards via a linked bank account or debit card. Parents can receive real-time spending notifications, monitor the account, track purchases, block certain spending categories, and instantly lock or unlock their kids’ debit cards as needed.
The app also allows parents and guardians to share money with their kids while teaching them valuable financial literacy skills. Jassby offers courses, videos, games, and more through its Jassby University feature.
Jassby has an easy-to-use allowance function—just pick the amount, distribution (Spending and/or Saving account), frequency, and day of the week or month. Kids can also learn the merits of earning through Jassby through Activities (chores), or they can earn Jassby Rewards by logging into their accounts, receiving allowance, or even by completing Jassby University courses. (100 points = $1, which can be automatically transferred to the Jassby Spending account.)
There is no minimum age requirement to use the Jassby card, but Jassby says most kid members are between the ages of 8 and 17.
- Jassby is a mobile wallet that families can use to manage chores, allowance, and virtual debit card spending.
- Digital and physical debit cards can be used anywhere Mastercard is accepted, in-store and online. Digital debit cards can be used through Apple Pay, Google Pay, or Samsung Pay.
- Parents can limit certain types of transactions, monitor spending, receive notifications, and lock and unlock Jassby cards.
- Offers a strong suite of features, including courses, videos, games, and more, that help kids learn valuable financial literacy skills. Progress is measured through a proprietary Jassby Financial Literacy score, and kids are rewarded with points as they learn.
- Earn Jassby Rewards points through simple actions such as logging into your account and receiving an allowance, or by completing Jassby University courses. Points can be redeemed for cash, deposited into your Jassby Spending account.
- Chore management
- Rewards
- Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay
- Excellent lineup of financial literacy tools
- Can't be used to withdraw cash
- Relatively expensive
Related: Best Savings Accounts for Kids [Children’s Bank Accounts]
Jassby Plans + Costs
Jassby has just one paid subscription tier.
Plan | Monthly Fee | Features Offered Under Plan |
---|---|---|
Jassby | $5.95/mo. | - Jassby card for up to six family members - Parental controls - Financial literacy materials - Giving/donating capabilities - Rewards program |
The monthly fee is waived for the first month of service. Those who created Essential Plan accounts before April 1, 2023, are grandfathered in at a rate of $3.95 per month.
Replacement cards cost $4.95 plus tax.
Related: 25 Best Jobs for 15-Year Olds
Jassby Features
These are some of the most prominent features of Jassby. The account aims to be easy to use for both kids and adults.
Jassby Card
The Jassby card you receive upon opening your account is digital-only—you can receive a physical Mastercard debit card for free, but you must request it. Both forms are accepted anywhere Mastercard is accepted.
The digital card can be used online, and it can also be added to Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay for use in stores and other in-person locations. The physical card can be used both online and at in-store locations.
One Jassby account allows you to have up to six cards. And unlike many accounts that provide one parent card and all remaining cards for kids, you can spread Jassby’s six cards across multiple children and multiple adults.
Parental Controls
Jassby has several parental controls worth mentioning.
Jassby automatically restricts kid spending for anything categorized as dating services, liquor stores, lottery/gambling, and money transfers. Parents can also manually restrict certain spending categories, including clothing stores, digital goods, restaurants, and retail stores.
Parents can monitor transactions, receive spending notifications, and quickly lock and unlock the card from the app.
Jassby doesn’t offer dollar-amount controls. But because kids can only spend what’s in the account, parents can limit spending simply by managing how much money is in their children’s accounts.
Financial Literacy
Jassby University is the app’s robust financial literacy feature. Lessons include topics on saving, budgeting, and more. This all feeds a proprietary Jassby Financial Literacy score that reflects their progress, and kids are rewarded with points as they learn.
Rewards
Speaking of points, Jassby Rewards are a great motivator. Kids can earn points by doing basic financial actions such as logging into their accounts every week, making transactions, and receiving allowance. Plus, as I just mentioned, they can also earn points by learning about money. Jassby’s points system allows a kid to redeem 100 points for $1, which is put into their Jassby Spending account.
Giving Back
Through Jassby, kids can see how donating small amounts of money to a charity can make a difference, helping parents teach their children the importance of giving back. (Note: When kids go to the Charity section of the app, they will be sent to an external link listing charities—so don’t be surprised when it seems like you’re exiting.)
You can sign up for Jassby here.
Related: Best Teen Checking Accounts [Banks for Teens]
Copper vs. Jassby: Our Editors’ Choice Is …
When looking at these two cards side-by-side, we think that Copper provides more value for most families. Kids earn interest on their savings. To save even faster, they can enable Round-Ups and/or Divvy. Those with Copper + Invest can even use the investing app for teens to invest in smart portfolios. None of this is offered through Jassby.
This isn’t to say that Jassby is a bad option. Like Copper, it promotes financial literacy and makes it easy for parents to pay an allowance or for chores. Plus, the fee is waived for the first month, so you can try it out without fully committing.
However, Jassby simply can’t match all of the features Copper offers, so Copper is the winner here. If you’re interested in trying it out, you can sign up for Copper here.
4.4
|
3.7
|
Related: 26 Best Online Jobs for Teens [Earn Money at Home, Age 13+]
Other Debit Cards for Kids to Consider
If you’re still not convinced on Step or GoHenry, you might want to look at these other highly rated options:
Related: 13 Best Money Apps for Teens [Invest, Spend, Budget + Pay]
1. Fidelity Youth™ Account (Best Free Debit Card With Teen Investing)
- Available: Sign up here
- Price: No account fees, no account minimum, no trading commissions*
- Platforms: Web, mobile app (Apple iOS, Android)
- Promotion: Teens get $501 on Fidelity® when they download the Fidelity Youth™ app and activate their Youth Account; parents get $100 when they fund a new account
Is your teen interested in jumpstarting their financial future? Do you want them to build smart money habits along the way?
Of course you do! Learning early about saving, spending and investing can pay off big when you start on the right foot. And one tool that can help your teen get that jump is the Fidelity Youth™ Account—an account owned by teens 13 to 17 that’s designed to help them start their money journey. They can start investing by buying most U.S. stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and Fidelity mutual funds for as little as $1!⁴
Your teen will also get a free debit card with no subscription fees, no account fees³, no minimum balances, and no domestic ATM fees⁵. And they can use this free debit card for teens to manage their cash and spend it whenever they need.
And as for building smart money habits? You and your teen can access your account through the Fidelity Youth™ app, which has a dedicated Learn tab packed with materials developed specifically to help teens develop good financial habits. Not only will Fidelity’s interactive lessons, videos, articles, tools, and calculators accelerate their learning—but for every level they complete, reward dollars will be deposited into their account to use however they want.
We’ll note that Fidelity Youth™ Account isn’t a prepaid card nor a banking app, but it’s still strongly worth considering.
Controls parents want and need
A parent or guardian must have or open a brokerage account with Fidelity® to open a Fidelity Youth™ Account. For new Fidelity® customers, opening an account is easy, and there are no minimums and no account fees.
Parents and guardians have plenty of tools they can use to monitor their teen’s activity: They have online account access, can follow monthly statements and trade confirmations, and can view debit card transactions made in the account.
To make it even easier, you can set up alerts to notify you of trades, transactions, and cash management activity, keeping you firmly in the loop on actions your teen takes across the Fidelity Youth™ Account’s suite of products.
If your teen has an interest in learning about investing and taking their first steps toward building their financial journey, you should consider downloading the Fidelity Youth™ app and opening a Fidelity Youth™ Account. The account comes custom-built for their needs, which will help them become financially independent and start investing for their future.
Read more in our Fidelity Youth™ Account review.
- Your teen will get a $50 reward once they download the Fidelity Youth app and activate their Youth Account.
- The app is free²—plus, no monthly fees or account minimums to open.³
- They can invest in stocks for as little as $1 with fractional shares.⁴
- Your teen can learn to save and spend smarter with their own debit card with no domestic ATM fees.⁵
- Teens can link their account to mobile payment apps like Venmo and PayPal.⁶
- Parents can set up alerts and monitor their teen's account activity online, and through statements, trade confirmations and debit card transactions.
- The Fidelity Youth app will have a dedicated Youth Learn tab to help jumpstart your teen's financial learning and build better money habits.
- No monthly account fees
- Signup offer available to new users
- Comprehensive financial suite for teens
- Parent must be a Fidelity account holder
- Account balance doesn't accumulate interest
- No chore or allowance system
Related: Best Banking Apps for Kids & Teens [Teen Banking]
2. Greenlight (Best-Rated Debit Card for Teens)
- Available: Sign up here
- Price: Free 1-month trial. Core: $4.99/mo. Max: $9.98/mo. Infinity: $14.98/mo. (All plans include cards for up to 5 children)
The Greenlight debit card allows kids to begin spending, but provides parents with peace of mind by giving them control over where their kids can spend money. Parents also can choose to receive alerts that tell them when, and how much, money is spent on the Greenlight debit card.
Greenlight works like a prepaid debit card, allowing you to transfer money onto the card for your child to pay for expenses at approved locations. You can choose how much money to load onto the card, and your child will be cleared to make approved purchases so long as a money balance backs up the card.
If your child asks for extra money to get added to the card, you can have them take a photo of the purchase they want to make and receive your approval. This gives you control and allows you to have discussions with your child about why a purchase might be a good or bad idea. And if your child has a job, they can add their own funds to the card as well.
The Greenlight debit card is a good choice for parents looking to teach their kids the importance of saving money and making prudent financial decisions. This financial product can be an effective learning tool for helping kids to understand why saving should be a priority and how to simplify paying an allowance or tracking chores. Greenlight has no minimum age requirements for this card, but recommends starting at age 6 or older.
Greenlight boasts numerous other features, too.
For instance, parents can open an investment account for kids to get their children investing in stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) for the first time.
Greenlight offers monthly savings rewards based on your tier: 1% per annum for Core members, 2% per annum for Max, and 5% per annum for Infinity. You may set up “Parent-Paid Interest” between you and your child. This allows you to foot the bill and pay interest on accounts for up to five kids.
Any Greenlight subscription also lets users qualify for the cash-back Family Cash Card. Parents can add their teenagers as authorized users to this Mastercard help them learn how credit cards function and establish a credit history. This credit card offers the following cash-back rewards:
- 3% cash back when you spend at least $4,000 in a billing cycle
- 2% cash back when you spend at least $1,000 (but less than $4,000) in a billing cycle
- 1% cash back when you spend less than $1,000 in a billing cycle
There is no limit to the cash back that can be earned, and users can also auto-invest the cash-back rewards.
Each monthly Greenlight subscription includes debit cards for up to five kids. Replacement cards cost $3.50 each but are free the first time. If you need to replace your card quickly, you can get express delivery for $24.99. The company also offers a personalized debit card for kids, with your own photo or design, for $9.99.
Read more in our Greenlight card review.
- Greenlight offers flexible parental controls for each child and real-time notifications of each transaction.
- Greenlight is the only debit card letting you choose the exact stores where kids can spend on the card.
- Parents can use this app to teach them how to invest with a brokerage account through Greenlight Max and Greenlight Infinity plans.
- Unlike many apps that simply provide features and controls, Greenlight is also designed to spark discussions with children about spending, investing, and more, fostering more education.
- Best-in-class parental controls (can prohibit specific stores)
- Can add brokerage account to invest in stocks
- Intuitive Parent + Kid apps
- Competitive cash back & interest rates
- Parent-Paid Interest
- High price points
- No cash reload options
- No parent / child lending
Related: Should You Open a Child Bank Account With a Debit Card?
3. Step Banking (Best for Building Credit)
- Available: Sign up here
- Price: Free (No monthly fees)
The free Step Visa Card is a unique “hybrid” spending card that functions like a debit card, but also boasts some of the features of a Visa credit card—including the ability to build your teen’s credit history. In our overall review of the best cards for teens, this option truly stuck out as a one-of-a-kind product worth mentioning in this article despite it not technically being a debit card. When we personally tested the product, we found it to be a powerful option to set up teens for a strong financial future.
Parents add money to this FDIC-insured account and can determine how their teen can spend. A regular Step account allows a child to have both a physical spending card as well as a virtual card in the Step app, while a Parent Managed Account only allows the teen to spend via a physical card. Either way, they can use their card anywhere Visa is accepted. Teenagers can also use their cards to withdraw money from more than 30,000 ATMs for free.
And parents needn’t fear that their teen will overdraft—they can’t spend any money they don’t have.
Further, the Step Card comes protected by Visa’s Fraud Protection and Zero Liability guarantee. That means if your teenager’s card gets lost or stolen, or misplaced and fraudulent charges crop up, you can dispute the charges within a certain time frame to avoid liability for paying.
The Step Card also boasts a great savings tool for teens. Any money up to $250,000 saved in a Savings Goal can generate 5% in annual interest (compounded and paid monthly) with a qualifying direct deposit*. And with Savings Roundup, small purchases are rounded up to the nearest dollar figure; that extra money is put toward a savings goal. (Example: Your teen buys a cup of coffee for $2.75; Step rounds up to $3.00 and puts 25 cents toward a goal.)
Step even features an “invest” function that allows teens age 13 and older to buy and sell Bitcoin for a small transaction fee. They can also earn Bitcoin (or cash) rewards when they opt into offers from companies like Hulu, Chick-Fil-A, CVS, and The New York Times. The app is not a pure crypto wallet, however—your kids currently can’t spend Bitcoin directly at vendors.
One of the most unique and powerful features of the Step card is its ability to build your teenager’s credit history. With this optional feature, Step will report the past two years’ worth of information—transactions, payment history, and more—to the credit bureaus when your teen turns 18. That can greatly improve their chances of starting adult life with a better credit score, which can help lower the cost of things like student loans and auto insurance.
Lastly, Step is absolutely free: No monthly fees, no subscription fees, no account minimum fees, and no ATM fees within Step’s network of 30,000+ ATMs.
- The Step Visa Card is a one-of-a-kind "hybrid" spending card that can help you to build your credit history via everyday purchases, even before you turn 18.
- Earn a high 5% annual rate on up to $250,000 in your Savings Goals with qualifying direct deposits.*
- Buy and sell fractional shares of stocks, ETFs, and Bitcoin for as low as $1.
- Earn cash and crypto rewards when you use your Step Visa at participating merchants.
- Send and receive money instantly, spend with Apple and Google Pay.
- Pay allowance weekly, bi-weekly or monthly.
- Track your card balance from the Step App.
- Banking services, provided by Evolve Bank & Trust, are FDIC-insured for up to $250,000.
- Helps build credit
- Free secured card for kids, teens, and young adults
- High yield on money held in Savings Goals
- Free investment account for stocks, ETFs, and Bitcoin
- Fractional investing for as low as $1
- FDIC insurance
- High-yield savings only available with qualifying monthly direct deposit*
- Can't directly deposit checks into a Step account
Related: Best Teen Credit Cards for Building Credit
4. Revolut <18 (Best for Parent-Paid Bonuses)
- Available: Sign up here
- Price: No monthly fees
Revolut <18 is a prepaid debit card for kids designed to teach them money skills for life. Aimed at building healthy money habits from an early age, the unique, customizable card empowers parents to have full insight into their kids’ card activity through providing instant spending alerts and parental controls.
You can choose to freeze the card, set controls on how they use the cards online and with contactless payments through your Revolut app. Further, you can set spending limits on how much your child can use with the prepaid card.
Parents use the card and accompanying app to teach kids about earning, budgeting, saving and even investing money (depending on the plan chosen). You can also use the card to manage chores and allowance, set savings goals as a family and help your children manage their money.
And if your child did something deserving of a reward? You can send parent-paid bonuses when they complete specific tasks. Simply add money to their digitized piggy bank through the app. You can send and receive money in seconds through Revolut’s Payments feature, which allows instant transfers between account holders and also global transfers at transparent rates.
Of note: You must have a personal Revolut account before you can open a Revolut <18 account for your children. You can add up to five Revolut <18 accounts per parent account.
To learn more about Revolut <18, consider visiting their site and opening an account for yourself and your child.
- Revolut <18 is a prepaid debit card for kids designed to assist parents teach kids ages 6-17 about money. Families can handle chores and allowance, create budgets, set parental controls and more.
- Revolut <18 comes with unique, customizable cards that parents can use to set up tasks and goals to work on together as a family.
- Special Offer: New and existing Revolut customers can enjoy 2% cash-back rewards on qualifying purchases when you join between Nov. 20, 2023, and Nov. 27, 2023.*
- Prepaid debit card for teens
- Parental controls
- Round-ups
- Chore and allowance management
- Customizable designs
- Children can't load funds, only parents can
- Parents need to have a personal Revolut account
Related: Best Credit Cards for Kids [Start Building Credit Early]
5. Current (Great No-Monthly-Fee Teen Card)
- Available: Sign up here
- Price: Free (No monthly fees)
The Current mobile banking app is designed with families in mind. It offers both adult and teen accounts, with the latter acting like prepaid debit cards that parents load for their children.
Current allows you to track your teen’s spending in real-time, set limits on how much your children can spend, and even block specific merchants on its Visa-enabled debit cards. You also get the peace of mind that comes with knowing your children’s money is safe because it’s not cash—no temptations, just a tool parents can use to help teach teens financial responsibility and sound money management skills.
Among Current’s features:
- No minimum required balances, no fees on transfers to other Current accounts, and no hidden fees.
- Create Savings Pods, or Giving Pods, that allow you to save up for various goals.
- Round-Ups allow you to round up purchases to the nearest dollar amount and store the difference in Savings or Giving Pods.
- Buy and sell more than 30 different cryptocurrencies with zero trading fees.
Teens will love easy allowance deposits, a card they can use in stores or online, instant gas hold removals when buying gas, and access to more than 40,000 fee-free Allpoint ATMs nationwide. They’ll also have the opportunity to learn about financial responsibility and financial independence through Current’s Budgets feature, which allows them to track their spending and even receive alerts when they get too close to (or exceed) a predetermined limit.
Current doesn’t specifically state a minimum age requirement, but the company’s marketing suggests teens are the target audience. Still, you might be able to open an account for a younger child.
- Current is a financial technology platform that lets teens enjoy not just traditional banking basics, but numerous features meant to simplify spending, streamline saving, and set them on the path toward more organized finances.
- Teens can spend with the Current Visa debit card, which allows them to purchase in-store and online, as well as withdraw money fee-free from more than 40,000 in-network Allpoint ATMs.
- Current Teen Accounts also come with Savings Pods, which earn 0.25% APY and allow you to round up purchases (overages are funneled into your savings).
- Parents can monitor their kids' spending, adjust maximum ATM withdrawal and spending limits, and even toggle spending categories (and the Current debit card itself) on and off.
- Parents can also automate allowance payments, pay for chores, instantly transfer money to their teens, and more.
- Free account (no monthly maintenance fees)
- Good parental controls
- Fee-free ATMs
- Cash reloads
- Gas hold deposits
- 24/7 email and live-chat support
- No direct deposit
- No paired investment account
- No card customization
Related: Best Investments for Beginners
What Is a Debit Card for Kids?
Children generally can’t open their own bank account until they reach the age of majority in their state—often 18 years old. Thus, parents often look for other paths, such as opening a sub-account from their own bank account so they can provide their children with a card to use. In that event, your child likely will need to be at least 13 years old before receiving a card.
Unfortunately, these accounts might not come with the custom spending controls, parental oversight, or feature-filled mobile apps provided by many new debit cards for kids. These new apps provide numerous controls over your children’s spending, including spending notifications, limiting where your child can use the card, and even allowing you to quickly lock and unlock the card. And in many cases, you simply fund your child’s debit card, so it effectively functions as a prepaid debit card.
Traditional banks or prepaid debit cards might not allow you to do this beyond keeping the account balance at a certain level.
Related:
- Best Credit Cards for Teens [Build Credit]
- 4 Best Ways to Save Money for Kids [Children’s Savings Plans]
- Should You Open a Child Bank Account with a Debit Card?
Terms and Conditions for Fidelity Youth™ Account
The Fidelity Youth™ Account can only be opened by a parent/guardian. Account eligibility limited to teens aged 13-17.
* $0.00 commission applies to online U.S. equity trades and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in a Fidelity retail account only for Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC retail clients. Sell orders are subject to an activity assessment fee (from $0.01 to $0.03 per $1,000 of principal). Other exclusions and conditions may apply. See Fidelity.com/commissions for details. Employee equity compensation transactions and accounts managed by advisors or intermediaries through Fidelity Institutional® are subject to different commission schedules.
¹ Limited Time Offer. Terms Apply. Before opening a Fidelity Youth™ Account, you should carefully read the account agreement and ensure that you fully understand your responsibilities to monitor and supervise your teen’s activity in the account.
² The Fidelity Youth™ app is free to download. Fees associated with your account positions or transacting in your account apply.
³ Zero account minimums and zero account fees apply to retail brokerage accounts only. Expenses charged by investments (e.g., funds, managed accounts, and certain HSAs) and commissions, interest charges, or other expenses for transactions may still apply. See Fidelity.com/commissions for further details.
⁴ Fractional share quantities can be entered out to 3 decimal places (.001) as long as the value of the order is at least $0.01. Dollar-based trades can be entered out to 2 decimal places (e.g. $250.00).
⁵ Your Youth Account will automatically be reimbursed for all ATM fees charged by other institutions while using the Fidelity® Debit Card at any ATM displaying the Visa®, Plus®, or Star® logos. The reimbursement will be credited to the account the same day the ATM fee is debited. Please note, for foreign transactions, there may be a 1% fee included in the amount charged to your account. The Fidelity® Debit Card is issued by PNC Bank, N.A., and the debit card program is administered by BNY Mellon Investment Servicing Trust Company. These entities are not affiliated with each other, and Fidelity is not affiliated with PNC Bank or BNY Mellon. Visa is a registered trademark of Visa International Service Association, and is used by PNC Bank pursuant to a license from Visa U.S.A. Inc.
⁶ Venmo is a service of PayPal, Inc. Fidelity Investments and PayPal are independent entities and are not legally affiliated. Use a Venmo or PayPal account may be subject to their terms and conditions, including age requirements.
Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC, Member NYSE, SIPC, 900 Salem Street, Smithfield, RI 02917
Step Disclaimer