The best debit cards for kids and teens offer allowance features and easy ways for parents to transfer funds and monitor spending through strong parental controls. Some kids’ banking apps can also keep your child engaged through rewards, saving goals and games that teach basic financial literacy skills.
From digital accounts like Greenlight to more traditional checking options like Chase First Banking, we analyze over 35 kids’ debit cards every month to find ones that strike the right balance between cost, features and availability.
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Taking the overall win is Greenlight, thanks to its lack of age requirements, free card reloads, chore and allowance features and customizable parent-set spending limits. Parents can limit spending by category or store, which isn't offered by most other debit cards for kids. You have three plans to choose from that are each paid monthly and offer cards for up to five kids. You'll pay $4.99, $9.98 or $14.98, depending on your plan. The higher-tiered plans come with extra perks like cashback rewards, higher savings reward bonuses, an investing platform for kids and extra protections for identity theft, cellphones and purchases.
GoHenry easily took the win for best for financial literacy games due to its gamified educational feature Money Missions, which follows national financial education guidelines and was developed alongside teachers. It has quizzes, videos and interactive lessons on topics like investing, saving, interest, borrowing and much more. GoHenry is for kids ages 6 to 18 years old and costs $4.99/month for one kid and $9.98/month for up to four kids. Parents get to assign chores, set custom limits for online and in-store spending and send funds to their kids' cards for free. The downside is that this option is more expensive for larger families, costing $9.98 per month for more than one child. And while you can add a second parent to the GoHenry parent account, only the primary parent can send funds.
Pros
Financial literacy games
$0 reload fees
Custom spending limits
Chore and allowance feature
Cons
$4.99 to $9.98 per month
Minimum reload of $2 up to $500 per day
Second parent can't send funds
Fee
$4.99 per month
ATM withdrawal
$1.50
Card replacement fee
$4.99
Age requirements
6 to 18 years old
Card type
Debit
Card network
Mastercard
Special offer
Get an exclusive 2 months free and $10 allowance when you sign up to GoHenry with Finder's exclusive code: AFFUSFDR10.
Step is the best free debit card for teens and kids. It's available to all ages and offers a teen-centered account with a parent sponsor and a parent-managed account for younger kids. It's a secured card with no monthly fees, overdraft fees or interest charges to worry about. Kids can also earn savings, cash back and referral rewards and watch videos from its Money 101 course to learn basic financial topics. Step also stands out as the only free kids' card that builds credit. Kids can only spend what's in their Step deposit account, so there's no risk of overspending like most traditional credit cards. Once your kid turns 18, up to two years of retroactive payments are reported to the credit bureaus to help build their credit history.
Current wins as the best card for teens aged 13 and up. The card allows teens to earn some financial freedom with parental supervision. There are no monthly fees, and it comes with chore and allowance tracking and strong parental controls and lets teens create savings goals and set up savings round-ups. There's also a unique perk: Teens can negotiate chore compensation. There are no fees for transferring funds to the Teen Banking account, and parents can control spending directly through Current's app. However, parents must first sign up for a Current account themselves and then add the Teen Banking to their Current account. On the plus side, all Current accounts are free to open and maintain.
Revolut is an international account that accepts over 40 currencies, low-cost currency conversions and a kids' account called Revolut <18, which is designed for ages 6 to 17 years old. Those aged 13 and up can create an account for themselves with a parent's approval, and those 12 and under must have a parent create a Revolut <18 for them. It comes with top features like allowances, savings goals and the ability to send money to other Revolut accounts for free. However, this kids' account doesn't offer any savings bonuses or APY, so the savings goals are just for stashing cash away and not earning.
BusyKid is one of the only kids' cards that offers an investing platform for kids at no extra cost. For kids ages 5 to 17, it's well-equipped for large families and overflows with features. Parents can match their kids' savings contributions, and kids can invest in over 4,000 stock and exchange-traded funds (ETF) options, complete chores, earn allowances and much more. You'll pay about $4 per month for up to five kids on the account, which is slightly less than what you'd pay for multiple kids and all these features with other competitors. There are no reload fees, and there's also a free 30-day trial to try before you buy. However, BusyKid lacks educational courses and games.
A tough call, but Chase First Banking wins as the best debit card with parental controls. It's powered by Greenlight, so it's very similar in terms of features and is available for kids 6 and up. Kids have access to their own accounts via Chase's mobile app, and parents get access to their own. Both accounts are synced so parents can monitor their kids' spending and set limits. Parents can choose where kids can spend and set up chores and allowances, and kids can set their own savings goals and more. This Chase kids' debit card has no monthly fee, and since it's not a reloadable debit card, there are no fees to add funds to the account. However, only one parent can manage the account, and to qualify, parents must have their own Chase checking account.
Finder’s banking editors research and compare more than 35 cards for kids. We rate kids’ debit cards using slightly different criteria to account for differences between checking accounts and prepaid debit cards for kids. We narrowed down our list to accounts that meet the following factors:
Monthly fee under $4.99
Accepts wide age range under 18
Features
Large ATM network or no ATM fees for checking accounts
Chore and allowance features
Strong parental controls with spending limits, alerts or overdraft protection
Companion app for monitoring
Availability
No strict membership requirements
Ability to open the account online
WATCH: 3 Best Debit Cards for Kids 2024 Review
How to compare cards for kids
To help you find the best account for your family, here are some considerations to keep in mind:
Fees. While prepaid cards for kids are notorious for monthly fees ranging from $4 to $10, checking and digital accounts offer plenty of free kids’ debit cards to choose from.
Strong parental controls. Most cards send you notifications every time your child spends and let you lock their debit card if necessary. A few, like Greenlight and GoHenry, go beyond this to let you control how much your child spends at certain stores or with specific spending categories like online shopping.
Financial education features. Games and interactive tools like quizzes, videos and short articles can teach basic finance concepts and keep your kid engaged.
Earning potential. Some kids’ debit cards offer savings bonuses, referral rewards, a cashback program and some even offer a traditional APY.
Funding options. Prepaid debit cards for kids come with reload fees, which can get pricey over time. Look for cards that won’t charge you every time you want to top off your kids’ debit card.
Allowances and chores. Many kids’ debit cards let you automate allowances as weekly, biweekly or monthly payments. They also offer chore features, giving your kids a chore list that they can complete to earn money.
$4 — billed annually at $48, or $49.74 with debit or credit card funding
5 to 17
None
Yes
No
GoHenry
$4.99
6 to 18
None
Yes
Yes
Chase First Banking
$0
6 to 17
None
Yes
No
Revolut <18
$0
6 to 17
None
Yes
No
Should I get a debit card for my child?
If your child is at the age where they’re asking you for money or they’ve started using their own cash for purchases, then it may be time to get them their own debit card.
A debit card is also a great way to teach kids about how to manage their finances. Kids will have to learn how to budget, avoid overspending, and check their balance — all essential skills for adulthood.
And if your teen has a job, a bank account offers a way to safely store their funds and receive direct deposits from their employer.
Are debit cards for kids safe?
Yes, money held in kids’ debit cards is protected up to $250,000 as long as they’re insured by the FDIC or NCUA. Most kids’ debit cards let parents lock and unlock the card if it goes missing, block certain stores, set spending limits by category or customize daily spending limits. Some cards, like the Greenlight Max debit card, offer extra security features such as identity theft and cell phone and purchasing protection.
Debit vs. credit cards for kids
For young kids, debit cards are a much better first card option compared to getting them a credit card. Getting a kid a credit card would mean adding them as an authorized user on your credit card if they’re under 18. Credit cards may encourage overspending, have interest charges and could impact your credit score if it’s tied to your name. A debit card won’t impact your credit history, because debit cards and prepaid debit cards aren’t reported to credit bureaus. With a debit or prepaid card, kids can only spend what they have in their accounts, whereas a credit card means they’re borrowing and the adult will need to repay that back.
How to get a card for kids
Minors will need a parent or legal guardian who is at least 18 years old to get a debit card or bank account. Parents will act as a joint co-owner or sponsor on the account. Most traditional checking accounts require kids to be at least 13 years old, while many prepaid debit cards for kids accept any age.
You can open most debit cards for kids online, and you’ll need to open a kids’ checking account as a joint account between a minor and an adult. When signing up for a kids’ debit card, the application asks for the primary account holder’s information, as well as a few details about the child:
Parent’s government-issued ID
Parent’s Social Security card
Child’s birth certificate
Alternative kids’ bank accounts
If your kid isn’t quite ready for a debit card, or you have different goals in mind, check out these other bank accounts for kids:
Kids’ savings accounts. These accounts help kids learn how to save and grow their savings toward college or other future expenses. No matter the goal, there are great kids’ savings accounts with low fees and high APYs.
Custodial accounts. A custodial account is managed by parents until the child reaches a certain age, typically 18 years old. Some can be used to save up for education, whereas others can be used to give a child money once they’ve entered adulthood.
Credit cards. If you’ve got a teen that you want to offer more responsibly or help them establish a credit history early, a teen credit card might be the right play — with parental supervision, of course.
Bethany Hickey is a personal finance writer at Finder, specializing in banking, lending, insurance, and crypto.
Bethany’s expertise in personal finance has garnered recognition from esteemed media outlets, such as Nasdaq, MSN, Yahoo Finance, GOBankingRates, SuperMoney, AOL and Newsweek. Her articles offer practical financial strategies to Americans, empowering them to make decisions that meet their financial goals. Her past work includes articles on generational spending and saving habits, lending, budgeting and managing debt.
Before joining Finder, she was a content manager where she wrote hundreds of articles and news pieces on auto financing and credit repair for CarsDirect, Auto Credit Express and The Car Connection, among others.
Bethany holds a BA in English from the University of Michigan-Flint, and was poetry editor for the university’s Qua Literary and Fine Arts Magazine.
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