Greenlight offers a prepaid kid's debit card that links to your bank account or debit card. Your child's card also includes an app that lets them create savings goals, earn interest, and read educational material.
The Greenlight Prepaid Debit Card could be a good option if you want to teach your child about personal finance and monitor their activity, especially if you want to use savings and investing tools. There isn't a free option, though. Some of the best kids' debit cards may offer free plans or lower monthly fees.
up to $14.98 monthly service fee
up to 5.00%
$0
- Separate accounts for parents and children
- No overdraft fees
- ATM access
- May waive the initial deposit
- Can assign chores
- Earn 1% to 5% on daily savings balance (up to $5,000) through Greenlight Savings Reward
- Max and Infinity plans offer 1% cash back on debit card purchases
- Save for individual goals
- Parental monitoring features to limit spending
- Can set up an allowance (weekly, biweekly, or monthly)
- Monthly service fee depends on plan
- No refunds if you're charged by an ATM provider
Greenlight is a prepaid kids debit card that links to your bank account or debit card. Greenlight could be a good option if you want to teach your child about personal finance and monitor their activity, especially if you want to use savings and investing tools. There isn't a free option, though. Some of the best kids' debit cards may offer free plans or lower monthly fees.
- Use any ATMs that have a Mastercard, Visa Interlink, or Maestro logo
- Debit Card FDIC inusred up to $250,000 through Community Federal Savings Bank
- Max and Infinity plans offer 1% cash back on debit card purchases
- Earn up to 5% on daily savings balance (up to $5,000) if you have a linked bank account
- Monthly fees ($4.99, $9.98, or $14.98)
What is the Greenlight Debit Card?
The Greenlight Prepaid Debit Card is a kid's debit card.
Both parents and kids can manage the Greenlight Debit Card through the Greenlight app. Parents and children will have separate accounts. Parents can also set limits on how often kids can use their cards and assign chores or allowances. Meanwhile, kids can use the app to establish individual savings goals or learn about personal finance.
Greenlight Debit Card Key Features
Parental Controls and Spending Limits
Parents can limit where their child can use the Greenlight Debit Card and how much money they can spend. If your child tries to spend more money than they have for a specific category and you have spending controls set, their debit card will be declined.
Parents can also get notifications for spending and temporarily freeze a debit card.
Chores and Allowance
Parents can create a list of chores for their child to complete. You can also set up automatic dates for allowance based on a flat rate, partial payment, or all-or-nothing payout.
By selecting a flat rate payout, the allowance occurs on a routine basis (weekly, biweekly, or monthly) and isn't dependent on whether any chores are completed. By choosing partial payment, the child's allowance will be based on the chores they've completed. Lastly, an all-or-nothing payout requires kids to finish all their chores, or they won't get any allowance.
Savings and Spending
Kids use the Greenlight Debit Card to make purchases. They can also set savings goals to help save money for something in the future, like a trip or upcoming event.
You can earn up to 5.00% APY on Savings Goals and General Savings (for average daily balances of up to $5,000) through the Greenlight Savings Reward. The exact rate you'll receive will depend on the plan that you choose.
Greenlight Level Up
Greenlight Level Up is an educational resource that teaches kids and teens about money concepts, like saving vs. investing and debit vs. credit. The education tool has videos and quizzes to make learning about personal finance more interactive and also offers rewards for progressing through the curriculum.
Banking Services
Greenlight is a fintech company, not a bank. The Greenlight debit card is issued through Community Savings Bank, which is insured by the FDIC. Keep in mind that you won't be opening a new bank account. Instead, you'll be managing the debit card through a mobile app with savings features.
Greenlight Debit Card Pros and Cons
Pros
- Prepaid debit card for kids or teens of any age
- App with a variety of tools so parents can monitor kids
- Max and Infinity Plans offer 1% cash back on debit card purchases
- Earn 1% to 5% on daily savings balance (on up to $5,000) if you have a linked bank account
Cons
- Access to certain features depends on your plan and accounts
- Monthly fees ($4.99, $9.98, or $14.98)
- No reimbursements if you're charged by an ATM provider
Greenlight Debit Card Subscription Plans and Fees
Overview of Greenlight Debit Card Fees
The Greenlight Card doesn't have an initial sign-up fee, but after the one-month free trial, you'll have to choose between three plans — Greenlight Core, Greenlight Max, or Greenlight Infinity — to utilize the app's features.
There isn't a reload fee for transferring money from an external bank account or another debit card. However, you'll want to be mindful of potential ATM fees. Greenlight won't charge you a fee for using an ATM, but it also won't refund you if you have to pay a fee from an ATM provider.
Overview of Greenlight Subscription Plans
The Greenlight Core plan is the app's basic offering. You'll be able to teach your child about money management by allowing them to use a debit card. Through the app, you'll be able to monitor their usage and help them establish individual savings goals.
You'll earn 1% through Greenlight Savings Rewards, which works similarly to how you would earn interest on a traditional bank account. The interest will be deposited at the beginning of each month based on calculations of average daily savings on General Savings and Savings Goals. The interest is only offered if you have a linked bank account instead of a debit card.
You can also invest with your child through a brokerage account in the parent's name. If you have a Max or Infinity Plan, kids will be able to submit recommendations on ETFs and learn more about investing. The Greenlight Max and Infinity Plans also offer more access to the app's features.
Here's a more detailed overview of the three plans:
| Greenlight Core ($4.99 per month) | Greenlight Max ($9.98 per month) | Greenlight Infinity ($14.98 per month) |
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How to Set Up a Greenlight Account
Parents must open a Greenlight Account first since they are the primary account holder. When applying for the account, you'll provide basic information about yourself, income, full name, Social Security number, and address. You'll also add your kid's information (you can register up to 5 kids in a parent account). The last step to setting up a Greenlight Account is linking your debit card or bank account. You must load money into your Parent's Wallet, because that's how Greenlight offsets fees and verifies your banking information.
Greenlight Debit Card User Experience and Accessibility
Greenlight offers a kid's debit card and app that lets both parents and kids manage the card.
It also offers a cash-back credit card for parents that allows them to add their teen as an authorized user to help build their credit. The Greenlight family credit card currently has a waitlist, though. You can enter your email here if you're interested in getting a notification once new applications are available.
If you have any questions about the Greenlight debit card, you may call, email, or text a customer service representative 24/7.
Greenlight's mobile app is rated 4.8 out of 5 stars in the Apple store and 4.7 out of 5 stars in the Google Play store.
Is Greenlight Trustworthy?
We use ratings from the Better Business Bureau to help determine how a business deals with customer issues. The BBB gave Greenlight a B rating because it has received a high volume of complaints.
A strong BBB rating doesn't necessarily ensure your relationship with a business will be perfect. You'll also want to talk to customers or read online customer reviews to get a better idea of whether Greenlight may be suitable.
Greenlight hasn't been involved in any recent public controversies.
Greenlight Debit Card Review
The Greenlight Debit Card is a good choice if you want to use Greenlight's savings, investing, or educational tools. Greenlight has strong parental monitoring features to place limits on kid's debit card usage. Kids can also get hands-on experience for budgeting, by learning to manage debit card usage while setting up savings goals.
You'll likely prefer other options if you want a kid's debit card that doesn't charge subscription fees. The best debit cards for kids have plans with lower costs monthly subscriptions or do not charge any subscription fees.
Greenlight Alternatives
Greenlight vs. FamZoo
Greenlight and FamZoo both offer kid's prepaid debit cards. If you're looking for a way to help teach kids about managing without adding them directly to your bank account, you might like FamZoo or Greenlight.
Your preference between these two options may come down to your preferred method of payment.
At FamZoo you can either pay $5.99 per month or choose one of the app's annual plans, which help you save between $9.95 and $59.95 on your subscription. Greenlight currently only offers monthly service plans, but if you choose the higher-tier plans, you'll have the ability to invest in addition to managing a debit card.
Greenlight vs. Chase First Banking
We also compared Greenlight to Chase First Banking, another debit card offering. Your decision between these two debit card options may hinge on each company's opening requirements and whether you're willing to pay a monthly service fee.
Only current Chase checking account holders may open Chase First Banking. If you don't have a Chase bank account or don't want to open a new bank account, you may favor Greenlight.
You may prefer Chase First Banking if you're looking to avoid monthly service fees. Greenlight currently only offers a one-month free trial, and after that, you'll need to choose between three plans to keep using the app's features.
Why You Should Trust Us: How We Reviewed Greenlight
For the Greenlight review, we rated the prepaid debit card using a scale of 0 to 5 stars. To determine our rating, we looked at registration fees, card limits/reload fees, monthly service fees, ATM accessibility, customer support availability, and the ethics of the company.
Greenlight FAQs
Yes, Greenlight is a legitimate company. Its debit card is facilitated and issued by Community Federal Savings Bank which is an FDIC-insured financial institution. The cardholder agreement states the funds in your card are FDIC-insured for up to $250,000.
Greenlight has an educational tool called Greenlight Level Up. It teaches kids about personal finance using interactive features and videos.
Greenlight doesn't have age requirements, so you can get a Greenlight Debit Card for kids of any age.
Parents can control where a child spends money and how much. They can also temporarily freeze their kid's debit card.
The differences between Greenlight's subscription plans include access to investing features, cash back for debit card purchases, priority customer support, identity theft protection, cell phone protection, purchase protection, family location sharing, and crash detection.
The Greenlight app has received generally positive ratings in the Google Play and Apple store.
Yes. You may use a Greenlight card at any ATMs that have a Mastercard, Visa Interlink, or Maestro logo. Greenlight won't charge you any ATM fees, but it also won't reimburse you if you're charged by the ATM provider.
No, Greenlight doesn't allow you to directly deposit cash. You'll have to initiate a transfer from an external bank account or debit card.
