Copper Banking review

Who is Copper best for?

Copper is best for parents looking to teach their teens about investing. While Copper isn’t free, it offers educational tools, savings rewards, and investing features to help teens learn more about financial literacy and get used to investing. Copper also works for larger families, allowing parents to add up to five kids at no extra cost.

How much does Copper cost?

Copper doesn’t offer any free plans. However, the two paid plans it offers feature a 30-day free trial so you can try it out before you’re ready to commit.

Plan	Cost	Features
Copper	$4.95 per month (after the 30-day free trial)	2% savings reward Add up to 5 kids with debit cards for each Spend and save education Spending monitoring and notifications Instant money transfers Automated allowance tracking Early direct deposit
Copper + Invest Pro Plan	$7.95 per month (after the 30-day free trial)	Everything with Copper plan and these additional features: 5% savings rewards Investing platform Ability to add co-parents Priority support

The Pro Plan gives you access to the investing platform, higher savings rewards and more. There’s another feature noted for the Pro Plan called “Priority support,” but it isn’t clear what this exactly means — it may mean faster response times but there’s no information on the site.

What we like about Copper

Copper stands out for its savings rewards and investing feature that not only lets teens invest but manages the investments for them. It also provides multiple avenues of learning content for kids and parents to boost their financial knowledge.

Teen investing

With the Copper + Investing Pro Plan, teens aged 13 and up can use Copper‘s investing feature, which stands out from competitors because of its nearly set-and-forget framework and free trading. It uses a questionnaire to get a feel for your teen’s ability to handle risk. Then, it matches your teen with a portfolio with either moderately aggressive, aggressive or highly aggressive risk.

The portfolio includes exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that the platform automatically keeps optimized for your teen after initially signing up. Competitors like Greenlight let kids research and trade stocks on their own, but tracking performance is entirely up to kids and parents.

Savings tools and rewards

Another major perk is Copper‘s recently-added savings rewards. This perk isn’t listed on the site until you get further into the signup process, but it’s great way for kids and teens to start building savings passively.

With this perk, teens earn a 2% to 5% return on any money they put in their savings account, depending on the plan they’re on. They’ll earn 5% on their savings balance with the Pro plan or up to 2% with the basic Copper plan. For example, if they’re under the Pro plan and keep $100 in their savings account, they’d make $5 on that money at the end of the year.

Also, teens can divide their money into different savings buckets and have funds automatically deposited to them when they receive money. They can also set up shared goals with friends and family. These automated savings tools aren’t available with every kids’ app. Yet competitors like Greenlight and FamZoo stay on par with Copper, letting parents divvy up allowance into spending and savings.

Teens can also earn a $5 reward for getting friends to join Copper. Once signup is finished, both the teen and their friends get the reward.

Financial education

Copper puts a focus on exclusive financial content designed by Certified Financial Planners both in the app and as core financial guides on the website. Kids can even earn money for watching videos, reading financial facts and taking quizzes in the app.Copper‘s goal is to “not eliminate the role of the parent in the teen’s financial journey, but give them the resources and data they need to grow together as a family,” according to Eddie Behringer, Copper Banking CEO. That’s why parents also get access to Cheat Codes videos where they learn to teach their teen about finances.

Most kids’ accounts offer educational content but don’t give rewards for learning like Copper does. However, competitors like GoHenry go beyond this by turning learning into a game with badges and points for completing videos and quizzes.

Copper‘s ATM network and fees

Copper Banking account comes with a Mastercard debit card teens can use to withdraw cash for free at any of the 55,000 Allpoint or Moneypass ATM nationwide.Copper Banking doesn’t charge any fees for using an ATM outside of its network, but you may be subject to fees charged by the ATM operator.

Where it falls short

Copper is no longer free and there isn’t a way to get out of a paid plan with Copper. You’ll either pay $4.95 or $7.95 per month for your child to use the account. Although there are no overdraft fees, parents could get charged up to $4.95 by the store for depositing cash via Green Dot retailers. Parents also get charged a fee for instantly funding the account with a debit card. However, these are common fees for platforms that offer cash deposits and instant funding.Copper also doesn’t include many parental controls. Parents can set up allowances, track spending and manage their teen’s investing risk, but little else. Meanwhile, other competitors like Greenlight let parents set store-level spending limits and approve savings transfers, or customize when to pay allowances and assign chores.

Also, while savings earns a 2% to 5% reward, money kept in checking only earns a meager 0.001% APY, which is much lower than the 0.08% national average for checking accounts.

Compare Copper with other teen accounts

See how Copper‘s features compare to other teen bank accounts.

Is Copper safe for my teen?

Yes, your teen is safe to use Copper because the platform protects their funds up to $250,000 in FDIC insurance and up to $500,000 in Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) insurance.

Copper also offers one of the most convenient fraudulent charge processes we’ve seen for a kids’ debit card. You dispute the transaction in the app and report the card lost or stolen so that Copper can send a new card. With competitors, parents have to contact customer service by phone or email to deal with fraud, possibly delaying refunds.

Despite insurance and security measures, no company can guarantee that your child’s funds or information is 100% secure. You can ask questions or review the information collected by contacting customer support at support@getcopper.com.

What information does Copper collect?

We read Copper‘s privacy policy and they ask for information that includes the child’s name, phone number, date of birth, address and answers to investing questions like the child’s income, net worth and investing goals. For kids under age 13, Copper only uses their information “for the purpose of providing Copper services,” complying with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule.

How do I deposit or withdraw my money?

It’s unclear at the moment if this account will support cash deposits, wire transfers and remote check deposits. Otherwise, access funds using these methods:

How do I contact Copper Banking?

Email support@getcopper.com to speak with a Copper customer service representative. We could not locate a customer service number, and we found the best way to contact Copper is via email. You can also reach out to them on social media:

• LinkedIn: Copper Banking
• Instagram: @CopperBanking
• Twitter: @CopperBanking
• Facebook: @Copper Banking
• Snapchat: @getcopper
• Tik-Tok: @getcopper

Copper is not currently available on Finder

Have you considered SoFi Checking and Savings?

Earn up to 4.60% APY on savings by meeting deposit requirements, and 0.50% APY on checking balances. Members without deposit requirements will earn 0.50% APY on both savings and checking balances. Turn on automatic savings or use the Roundups feature to help you reach your savings goals faster. Get up to $2M of additional FDIC insurance through a network of participating banks.

• 0.50% APY on checking balance
• Up to 4.60% APY on savings
• $0 account or overdraft fees
• Get a $300 bonus with direct deposits of $5,000 or more

Learn more

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