Millions of parents in the US use the Greenlight debit card to teach their children how to manage money wisely. We break down how the Greenlight card works, if you can get one in Canada and alternatives to consider.
Is the Greenlight card in Canada?
Unfortunately, the Greenlight debit card for kids is not available in Canada, although card holders can pay for purchases in Canada with a Greenlight card. To get a card, you must live in the US and have a US address. As of the time of writing, Greenlight has not announced plans to begin offering the kids debit card in Canada.
What is the Greenlight card?
The Greenlight card gives parents granular control over their kids’ money by allowing them to set spending limits for specific stores. Depending on the plan, the Greenlight card comes with cash back of up to 1% to your savings, an annual bonus savings rate of up to 5% and an investing platform that teaches your kid the power of stocks.
Greenlight alternatives for kids
Even though Greenlight is not available in Canada, there are several spending accounts in Canada designed to help your kids learn how to manage their finances. Explore the following Greenlight alternatives in Canada.
One of the most direct comparisons to the Greenlight card in Canada is the the MyDoh card. Offered through a partnership between RBC and Visa, the MyDoh prepaid card lets kids decide how to spend their money online and in-store. Parents can transfer funds, view their child's balance, view transactions and add up to 5 children to their account. The Mydoh Smart Cash Card has a $0 monthly fee.
Parents set up and monitor the account
Helps keep track of tasks and chores
Dedicated Visa Debit card for your kid
Backed by RBC, a major Canadian bank
Kids cannot deposit cheques or cash into their Mydoh account
Kids cannot withdraw or deposit using ATMs
Additional monthly fee of $0 (but includes up to five youth or kids' accounts under one plan)
This kids bank account comes with unlimited transactions, free Interac e-Transfers and a debit card. Kids also get discounts at 450+ stores and restaurants with a free Student Price Card (SPC) membership.
No monthly fee
Comes with a debit card for your child
Free, unlimited transactions and Interac e-Transfers
1 free non-CIBC ATM withdrawal per month
Teens 13+ can open an account without a parent
Discounts on food, fashion and entertainment through the free SPC+ membership for teens 14+
BONUS OFFER: Get $100 with CIBC Smart Start and $50 for each friend you refer — up to 10 (T&C apply)
$2 fee for non-CIBC ATM transactions
Kids under 12 must have a parent or guardian to open an account
Costing $0 a month, the Scotiabank Getting There Savings Account comes with a free kids debit card and unlimited, free transactions. Teens 14 and up can earn Scene+ points, which can be redeemed for free movies and Cineplex purchases.
Teens 16+ can open account without parent
Teens aged 12 to 15 can open an account, but require a parent's help if getting a teen debit card
No monthly fee
Comes with a debit card for your teen
Earn points on debit card purchases
Free, unlimited debit card transactions
Free, unlimited Interac e-Transfers
No monthly fee
Low interest rate
Kids under 11 need a parent to open an account and do not get an access card
Kids aged 13 and younger can get a free Kids Account. Teens aged 13 to 18 years old can open a BMO Performance Chequing Account for free or get a discount on the monthly fee for the BMO Premium Chequing Account. The monthly fee is waived for a companion savings account.
Multiple accounts to choose from
Unlimited transactions
Free Interac e-Transfers
Can easily add child to your account
A monthly account fee may apply depending on the account you choose
All Greenlight plans come with a 30-day free trial, then cost a flat price. Account holders will receive debit cards for up to 5 kids.
Plan
Monthly cost
Features
Greenlight Core
30-day free trial, then $4.99
Debit cards for up to five kids
Category and store-level parental controls
Financial literacy game and educational app
Tools for saving, spending, earning and giving
1% savings reward per year on balances up to $5,000 per family
Investing for Parents Lite with few ETF options
Greenlight Max
$9.98 after trial
Everything in Greenlight Core plus:
Investing for parents and kids
1% cash back on card purchases
2% reward on savings balances up to $5,000
Cell phone protection
Purchase protection with Greenlight card purchases
Identity theft monitoring and alerts
Priority customer service
Greenlight Infinity
$14.98 after trial
Everything in Greenlight Max plus:
5% savings reward on balances up to $5,000
Family location sharing
SOS button with 911 dispatch
Car crash detection
What makes it shine: Greenlight features
Dive into the features and functionality of the Greenlight card to see how it stands at the front of the crowd for kids debit cards.
Investing
Greenlight Core gives parents recommendations on their ETF investments. With Greenlight Max, kids can learn about investing with the ability to research 4,000+ ETFs and stocks. They can even purchase stocks — including fractional shares — of their favorite companies. The best part? There are no trading fees, and parents approve every trade.
Parental controls
Parents can send their children money to spend anywhere. Plus, they can set spending limits for categories like gaming, restaurants and specific stores. Kids can move money from their spending account to their savings account but will have to send their parents a request to do so. Children can send a request when they need money and access funds instantly when their parents transfer.
Other helpful controls include Greenlight detailed chores and allowances. Parents can assign one-off or recurring chores and set up allowances to be paid automatically or when kids finished chores.
Greenlight lets parents opt for all-or-nothing payments to encourage their kids to complete all their chores, a feature not commonly offered by competitors.
Greenlight is one of the only kids’ debit cards in the US that goes above and beyond by offering safety protections for the whole family, including:
Location sharing. Share users’ locations with family members, and those who have shared their locations can see others’ locations as well.
SOS alerts. Users can tap the SOS button to send an alert to an emergency contact, 911 or both if they’re in an emergency.
Crash detection. This feature uses the motion sensors in users’ phones to detect when a crash has happened, and 911 is notified.
Identity theft protection. Greenlight partners with Experian to monitor kids’ personal information on the web, automatically alerting parents anything seems off.
Phone insurance. An unheard-of benefit with kids’ debit cards, the Greenlight Max and Greenlight Infinity plans come with cell phone protection up to $600 USD per claim, or $1,000 USD total for 2 claims within a year. You’ll have to pay a deductible of $25, and the protected phone must be the one used for the child’s account.
Purchase protection. Claim up to $100 USD per item or $1,000 USD total per year for damaged or stolen items paid entirely with a Greenlight card — a benefit you’d usually get with a credit card.
Rewards: Savings, cash back and referrals
Savings bonus. Greenlight lets you earn a 1% to 5% bonus for balances up to $5,000, which is rare for kids’ bank accounts in the US. The exact bonus depends on the plan, with the highest reserved for Greenlight Infinity members.
Cash back. Greenlight Max and Greenlight Infinity plans come with unlimited 1% cash back on every purchase.
Referral rewards. Children and any friends they refer can earn a high referral reward of $30 USD each.
Financial literacy game
Greenlight teamed up with academic and gaming experts to create Level Up, an interactive financial literacy game that teaches kids practical money skills like earning, spending, saving and investing. The game uses story-based gameplay rich with animations, videos, minigames, quizzes and scenario questions to captivate kids and teens.
And since the content uses a curriculum that exceeds US national standards for K-12 personal financial education, Level Up helps give kids the skills and confidence to test-drive their new knowledge in the real world.
Customer service
Greenlight offers robust access to customer service like text messages and 24/7 phone support. Greenlight Max and Greenlight Infinity plan members get priority support that sends their calls to the front of the customer service line.
Where it falls short
Greenlight’s biggest downside is its high monthly price tag. Greenlight Max or Infinity plans cost over double what competitors in the US cost. Greenlight Core costs a similar price to feature-rich competitors for US residents like FamZoo and BusyKid, but that plan’s sacrifices features related to investing for kids, safety protections and a savings bonus.
It costs users $20 if they use a debit card for funding.
Is Greenlight worth it for US residents?
Greenlight is worth the cost for users who will use its many features like chore tracking, allowance payments and investing. Depending on the plan, it costs between $4.99 USD to $14.98 USD per month. It’s possible to add up to 5 kids to any plan, a plus for big families.
Children will also earn a savings bonus that goes up with each tier of Greenlight: 1% with Greenlight Core, 2% with Greenlight Max and 5% with Greenlight Infinity.
Users who don’t need all of Greenlight’s features might find a better deal elsewhere.
Greenlight is a legit product and not a scam. The Greenlight card has an EMV chip in it, which helps keep data safe and secure each time kids make a purchase. Parents can set spending controls that are just right for their children, and they’ll get instant notifications each time they spend money. Greenlight Max comes with identity theft protection and cellphone protection that covers damaged or stolen phones.
What age is Greenlight card best for?
There’s no age limit to use the card, so it boils down to whether a child is ready to handle real money. The average age of Greenlight users ranges from around 9 to 14 years old.
Kids who want to sign up before their parents join need to be at least 13 years old, but there’s no minimum age for a kid who’s signed up via their parent. Parents should be at least 18 years old, have a permanent address and be a US citizen or resident.
Greenlight card reviews and complaints
Greenlight has been around since 2017 and is accredited with the Better Business Bureau (BBB). It holds a B rating with the organization because of a high number of customer complaints filed. Complaints deal with customers not getting refunds after closing their account, having accounts locked for long periods of time and fraudulent charges not getting refunded.
On Trustpilot, over 5,100 reviewers have given Greenlight a rating of 3.9 out of 5 stars. Happy customers love the app’s instant transfers, chore and financial tracking features. However, several people have had trouble getting refunds or closing their accounts.
How to get started with a Greenlight card
Here’s how account holders can make the most of their Greenlight debit cards:
Download the app. Check balances, transfer funds, monitor chores and more via smartphone.
Top up the balance. Parents can transfer money from their bank or debit card to the parent Greenlight account. Once the money clears, some or all of the funds can be transferred to the child’s Greenlight account.
Activate features. In-app prompts make it easy to activate features like crash detection and SOS alerts, if the account holders have this with their plan. It may be necessary to enable motion sensing or location sharing on the phones being used by the parent(s) and child.
Set up savings goals. The general savings account comes with the ability to set goals that kids can work towards.
Sign up for direct deposit. Children with a job can set up direct deposit and have their hard-earned money go straight into their accounts. Government funds and cash app deposits aren’t accepted.
Greenlight debit card designs
The Greenlight card can be customized with a picture for a one-time fee of $9.99 USD. Images must be 840 x 840 pixels and up to 10 megabytes. Your best bet is to upload an original photo. Greenlight’s image guidelines prohibit uploading copyrighted, trademarked or branded images.
Greenlight Max members will receive a Greenlight Black Card. It’s just what it sounds like — a black card signifying that you bought one of Greenlight’s top-tier plans.
Using the Greenlight card internationally
Green card holders can use their cards when travelling outside the US. If you are a US resident traveling to Canada, you can use your Greenlight card in Canada as you would in any other international setting. But there are restrictions for some countries.
To help teach financial literacy to kids means parents have to find ways to help kids learn the connection between time and money and the importance of saving and budgeting. Find out what are good, age-appropriate chores for kids, plus average allowance and per chore price lists.
Cassidy Horton is a freelance personal finance copywriter and past contributing writer for Finder. Her writing and banking expertise have been featured in Forbes Advisor, Money, The Balance, Money Under 30, Insure.com, and other top digital publishers. She holds a BS in public relations and an MBA from Georgia Southern University.
To help teach financial literacy to kids means parents have to find ways to help kids learn the connection between time and money and the importance of saving and budgeting. Find out what are good, age-appropriate chores for kids, plus average allowance and per chore price lists.
If your child’s bank account is earning interest, it’s time to consider how this impacts the income you declare with the CRA. Here’s what you need to know.
How likely would you be to recommend finder to a friend or colleague?
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Very UnlikelyExtremely Likely
Required
Thank you for your feedback.
Our goal is to create the best possible product, and your thoughts, ideas and suggestions play a major role in helping us identify opportunities to improve.
Advertiser Disclosure
finder.com is an independent comparison platform and information service that aims to provide you with the tools you need to make better decisions. While we are independent, the offers that appear on this site are from companies from which finder.com receives compensation. We may receive compensation from our partners for placement of their products or services. We may also receive compensation if you click on certain links posted on our site. While compensation arrangements may affect the order, position or placement of product information, it doesn't influence our assessment of those products. Please don't interpret the order in which products appear on our Site as any endorsement or recommendation from us. finder.com compares a wide range of products, providers and services but we don't provide information on all available products, providers or services. Please appreciate that there may be other options available to you than the products, providers or services covered by our service.
We update our data regularly, but information can change between updates. Confirm details with the provider you're interested in before making a decision.
