Greenlight Kids & Teen Banking

Name: Greenlight Kids & Teen Banking
Rating: 4.8017 (287741 reviews)

Finance

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Greenlight Kids & Teen Banking

Finance

4.8

287.7K ratings

Age Rating

Seller

Greenlight Financial Technology, Inc.

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User Reviews for Greenlight Kids & Teen Banking

Wanna love it 100%… but don’t

The concept of these cards are amazing. My kids love having their own debit cards. They customized their cards, and love being able to spend their own money without needing cash. However, a constant reoccurring problem is that Greenlight will not take money out right away. You can’t see pending transactions, and if it takes a few days to update, the days in between you can still spend the same amount of money. For example, my daughter had $10 on her card, she spent $5 one day, a couple days later she checks her account and has $10, so she buys something for $6. Now she’s overdrawn, but it doesn’t take that money out. You can keep “spending” that remaining $5 until it updates. These accounts won’t ever technically allow your child to go negative, which is great until your kid spends money they thought they had then suddenly the parent owes. Very frustrating to deal with. I’ve also had to deal with my son adding money from my bank account to his own card, there are no passwords, no codes, nothing to keep my children, or anyone else for that matter, from moving money. It’s also not a simple return and put it back on my bank card unless you call. All in all, great idea, there’s great features, I just wish it was closer to an actual bank card.

ACW1478, Aug 03, 2023

Great ideas, great app!

My daughter is 11 (received her card at 10) and loves having her own debit card! The app is easy to use and functions well. I love that it reduces the likelihood of her losing cash. I do wish there were a kids version of the app she could have on her phone to keep track of her account balance without allowing the full level of access parents have to the accounts. But my biggest complaint right now is the time it takes for funds to deposit from a funding acct into the parent account. It used to be shorter and now it takes almost a full work week. We have definitely reduced use of the program for this reason as some spending decisions are made in a smaller time frame and there isn’t time to wait for the slow funding process. There have also been times when my child was on a field trip and did not have enough money for something, but I could not add money directly to her account unless it was already in my parents account. Funding it from my bank at that time to my parents account would’ve taken days when I only had minutes. In those situations she had to go without, because I was not present and the process takes too long. Please change this back to the immediate funds access you used to have.

Ayms1027, Apr 16, 2019

Company can’t be bothered to explain anything

Update: I have been advised that the hold is because I linked a bank account, instead of a debit card. I am very frustrated because the app strongly encourages linking a bank account—there is no indication that a debit card is necessary (or even preferred). At a bank, I can read disclosures to avoid situations like this. Because Greenlight is not a bank, the only way to find out their rules and preferences is by blindly triggering a hold that takes 1 week to resolve. My wife and kids like the app, so I’ll give it one more chance. I expect that we will not maintain the service for more than a few weeks, considering the poor quality thus far. Still keeping the 1-star rating because the company staff are very unconcerned about any of this—it’s like they have heard these complaints already. 👎👎👎Company locked kids’ cards because I (the parent account owner) manually transferred money to the wallet. No notification about the lock until a card was declined several hours later. Then a phone call resulted in no explanation, and a vague promise to send an an explanatory email within 4 business days. Company says they’re available to assist 24/7, but they won’t provide any additional information for me. Unless they have a VERY good explanation, I’ll be closing account. I strongly recommend avoiding this awful company and its lack of concern for providing a usable service.

Biomedicalphd, Jun 20, 2023

Everything was fine in the beginning

Until my funding source (debit card) expired So I ordered a new debit card shortly after with the same card number and same name but it had a different ccv and expiry date. (A NEW DEBIT CARD) this app won’t accept it and Im not giving Greenlight my bank account number or a credit card number. Your app doesn’t recognize that my card is new and valid so your app says I have to contact customer service. Your app is broken. Also last month I tried to cancel my account. I “signed the form” and after a few days a customer service rep emailed me back saying that I had to add a funding source to the app so that they could refund my remaining money back to me ~$4. I couldn’t enter in my debit card and I didn’t want to go through the hassle of entering in my bank account for four dollars. (idk why they couldn’t just cut me a check?) PLUS you have to add $20 or more to reload, which I didn’t have at the time so I did not respond and they emailed me saying that “this issue has been resolved or ticket closed” so I’m like cool account closed…NO now they charged me my monthly fee instead of canceling and I assume they will just keep doing that until I owe them big time. Guess I gotta give them my bank info so they can STOP CHARGING ME A FEE AND CLOSE MY ACCOUNT Don’t do Greenlight - BROKEN APP/HASSLE TO CANCEL/FEES.

buffalowagon, May 11, 2022

Good, but could be better.

I do not want to draw this review out very long so I will get straight to the point. I do enjoy using the app and setting up each child account so they can spend money using a card but also practice on saving and giving money to local charities that they are familiar with too. The number one thing I DO NOT like is the cost. This app will cost you $60 a year to operate. I do understand it is unique and offer you some flexibility but I can see within a matter of a year another app will come out for free. But at the same time this is not a dealbreaker just know I will not hesitate to go with another business that offer the same thing for free or low cost. Secondly which is fairly a big deal to me is notifications. Yes you do receive notifications on when your child has spent money on something or their card has been declined because of insufficient funds. Once you view the notifications you are UNABLE to view them again. Vanish forever never to be seen again. I wish there was a way to review notifications similar to how you can review their account transaction history. Once again not a dealbreaker but, it seem like this was a no-brainer when it comes to practical uses for an app, especially when dealing with children spending money using a "real" debt card for the 1st time.

Businessman395, Dec 26, 2020

Great idea, terrible customer focus, lacking functions, data privacy

For a younger kid this is ok though one could quibble about the monthly fee. But for older kids, I find this service frustrating especially as my 16 year old started to run errands for me. I quickly found there were unadvertised limits not only on his card, but what I could transfer from my own bank account. These were hard limits that couldn’t even be overcome with a call to customer service. Now, as my son is old enough for his own normal account with no fee, I went to close my GL account today. Again, functionality is lacking. I can’t cancel or close my account online. I have to submit a request via a form. This should be fundamental functionality and feels manipulative that it is not available. I am also unable to remove my bank account as a funding source from the system because it requires at least one. Why? This also feels manipulative to customers. This is a privacy nightmare and I have no idea when my “close/cancel request” is taken care of on their end if my bank account is unlinked or removed or what? The monthly subscription should be separate (with the ability to enter a debit/credit card/use Apple subscription) from my bank account as a funding source for use in the functionality of the system. I can change / get a new card easy, but its much more difficult for me to change my actual bank account. I don’t appreciate it being linked to this app without any control to remove it.

Cool jey, Nov 10, 2021

Better off giving your kid a debit card

The only way to manage your account is thru this useless app which even the most basic options are a struggle to use. No web portal option. Trying to find the record of funding activities into my kid’s account - can’t find it. It only allows to view history of Spending, Giving or Saving. No options to view when they received money. Trying to setup funding was as painful as can be. I setup two sources, checking and debit card. Every time I try to fund from Checking it gives me an immediate error saying that I maxed my daily limit. But I haven’t transferred any money today?? I still don’t understand what the point is of having gone thru the hassle of linking a checking account if I can only move funds from a debit card. What I also don’t understand is why does tell me that I maxed my Daily amount regardless of the amount entered. In one occasion I moved money into my daughter’s account and when she tried using her card it declined. I never received any notification. I had to call support to find out it’s a safety mechanism for fraud prevention and spend 5-10 minutes answering questions to unlock it. Save yourself time and hassle and give your kid a debit card. Much easier to use and manage with mature fraud prevention mechanisms if they use it as a credit card.

Dee9974, Jul 03, 2021

Not super impressed

I downloaded this for my grandchildren and great grandchildren, and I think the concept is great but Im not impressed because I began having issues right away with the first two cards I ordered. Of course, its the weekend so no one is around to assist me. The first two cards I received were crossed somehow. I entered the info on the back of the card and it linked the wrong child, then when I tried to put in the next child's info it wouldn’t accept it. The monthly charge was also unexpected since it doesn’t explain it clearly anywhere when openly the accounts. Customer service was kind the one time I reached them but they didn’t fix the issues with the cards that had already been glitching in their system prior to me receiving them. I would look at the app and the childrens names would be switched and then I’d go back in and they would be fixed. I told them I didn’t want any issues with the cards because of this and they assured me it would be okay once we received the cards but it obviously was not. I will continue with this until I find a free service. This is like paying a yearly fee for a credit card the company is already making money from. This is not a good way to start your children off learning about good financial choices.

Domimique Scalia, Jun 21, 2020

Great app!

Great idea but I do not like paying $60 a year to use this. Took 1 star away for cost and 1 away because I can’t access the money in the parent wallet or transfer it back to my account.This has been great so far for my 3 boys who make money doing their chores. It’s much better than cash and they are learning how to save for specific things and not just spend money so freely. They feel very proud and excited when using their debit cards! Their ages are 12, 11, and 7! We have an account for my 4 year old daughter just to have a place to save birthday money she has and such. It’s easy on us too. They are more willing to do their chores knowing they will be paid for sure a specific amount each Friday! We had no system before this and kept losing track of how much we owed them or how much they spent on something. The only downfall is the $5 charge monthly. $60 a year and I still have to pay the interest on my children’s savings myself. If I only had 1 child I would not pay $5 a month. I also don’t like that I can’t transfer the parent wallet money back to my bank account. There should be a card like Venmo or PayPal for the parent wallet. If Venmo and PayPal can be free, this should be free as well. As soon as I find a different free version of this elsewhere I will go with that! When I first signed up I wasn’t aware that it was only free for 30 days. I found that out when the cards arrived. I’ve never seen the monthly fee advertised so I felt mislead.

leesh11245, Aug 10, 2020

Write up needs to change

I have used this card for my three kids for quite a while. For the most part, I like it. There is one area that is NOT true on the write up - as I search for a new card. The write up says “the kid can’t charge if they don’t have the money” - or something like that. NOT true. Just today, the kids account was overdrawn and pulled from the parents account. I don’t care about the $21, the money was there - it’s just teaching the kid it’s ok to spend more than what you have. I called customer service and they told me that if the spend anywhere is used, it will pull the overdraft from the parents account. If not enough there- it then pulls from the funding account on file. I want my kid to get denied and have to contact me if he needs more money. He needs to learn to budget. This card is not doing this AND the write up is WRONG. Don’t believe it if this is important to you. Customer service said I could set specific limits on different stores for spend anywhere;however, I want him to have the ability to spend his money wherever he wants - but only the amount he has available. Very frustrated and not hacked off that they didn’t keep to what they had stated. Normally I’d give a good star rating. Based on the aspect they don’t do as I thought and just confirmed in their write up, I lowered the rank quite a bit. Hate not being told how things are really handled.

mssteg, Apr 14, 2021

Description

Greenlight is the family online banking app¹ where you learn to earn, save, and invest together. Join 6+ million parents & kids learning about money and navigating real-world money decisions with debit cards of their own. FAMILY MONEY MANAGEMENT. - Receive & send money instantly.

Set up direct deposit for working teens - Kids banking¹ & teen banking¹ with flexible parent controls - Set savings goals & earn up to 5% in rewards² - Teens build credit and parents get up to 3% cash back³ on purchases for the whole family with Greenlight's credit card - Keep track of chores & pay automated allowances - Kids and teens learn investing or invest directly with approval - Get real-time spending notifications & set spending limits with Greenlight's debit card for kids & teens - Play the Level UpTM money game to boost financial literacy - Unlock purchase, identity theft, & cell phone protection⁴ - Keep your family safe with location sharing, SOS alerts, crash detection⁵, & more⁵ TRUSTED BY: - The New York Times: "Every conversation about money is a conversation about values waiting to happen, and these products can help inspire those discussions with your child." - Parents Magazine: "Greenlight allows some independence for kids and teens to manage their money." - CNBC: "The Greenlight Family Cash Card's up to 3% return on everyday purchases is extremely lucrative — whether you're a parent or not." 6+ MILLION KIDS & PARENTS SAY: "My teen is learning to manage his own money. I wish Greenlight was around when I was a kid! I tell my friends & family about it all the time!" – Patricia A. "I love Greenlight. As a mom of 4 kids, it makes paying allowances & spending money for trips so easy." – Samantha B. "Traditional banks don't make it nearly as easy." – Shannon M. PLANS FOR EVERY FAMILY. Greenlight Core: Debit card and educational app for kids and teens to earn, save, spend, and give — plus 1% on savings² ($4.99/month) Greenlight Max: All of Greenlight Core with 1% debit cash back, 2% on savings², protection plans, and more ($9.98/month) Greenlight Infinity: All of Greenlight Max with 5% on savings², location sharing, crash detection, and more ($14.98/month) FIND YOUR FAMILY'S PLAN: https://greenlight.com/plans WE'RE HERE FOR YOU. Get help & ask questions 24/7: https://help.greenlight.com Your California Privacy Rights: https://greenlight.com/privacy/#your-california-privacy-rights Do Not Sell My information: https://greenlight.com/data-request/Greenlight (1) Greenlight is a financial technology company, not a bank. The Greenlight app facilitates banking services through Community Federal Savings Bank, Member FDIC. The Greenlight card is issued by Community Federal Savings Bank, Member FDIC, pursuant to license by Mastercard International. (2) To qualify, the Primary Account must be in Good Standing. See Greenlight Terms of Service for details. Subject to change at any time. (3) Percentage earned depends on spending during a billing cycle: Earn 3% when you spend at least $4,000, 2% when you spend at least $1,000 but less than $4,000, & 1% when you spend less than $1,000. See the Credit Rewards Terms and Conditions for details: http://greenlight.com/cardholder-terms. (4) Provided by Virginia Surety Company, Inc., cell phone protection is not available to residents of New York. (5) Requires mobile data or a WiFi connection, & access to sensory and motion data from cell phone to utilize family location sharing, SOS alerts & crash detection features. Messaging & data rates and other terms may apply. (6) Available on Greenlight Infinity. © 2023 Greenlight Investment Advisors Investment Advisors, LLC, an SEC Registered Investment Advisor provides investment advisory services to its clients. Investing involves risk and may include the loss of capital. We only use the Value of Investment within the app store screen to show how the app works. It does not represent real customer investments or accounts.