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Greenlight is specifically designed for families, so kids can learn to manage their own money and parents can monitor what they’re up to. Important features that most traditional accounts don’t have are the ability for parents to track their child’s financial activities, real-time notifications when kids use the card, and spend controls at certain stores. The Greenlight card can be used internationally with no extra fees. And the app also comes with educational resources to help your kids understand more about finance.
Greenlight makes it easy for kids to learn how to manage their own money in a secure way. The app allows parents to transfer money to a child’s account and to set up an automatic ‘allowance’ that can be split between the Spend, Save, and Give accounts. Additionally, parents can transfer money to the Save account to act as an extra ‘interest’ payment. Kids can use the app to set and track progress towards financial goals, and parents can also create chore lists and reward their children for completing tasks.
Designed specifically for kids, Greenlight doesn’t offer the full range of traditional accounts and products, such as credit cards or mortgages, but it does get children started with Spend (checking), Save (savings), and Give (charity donation) accounts, as well as providing a debit card. There is also an investment option. The Greenlight app will suggest an investment profile based on whichever strategy—conservative, moderate, or aggressive—it considers most appropriate, and you can approve every transaction. The Greenlight card can be used to withdraw money nationally and internationally from any ATM with a Mastercard, Visa Interlink, or Maestro logo.
A basic Greenlight account with a debit card, educational resources, money management tools, and parental controls costs $4.99/month. This package also includes a 1% per annum Greenlight Savings Reward to boost savings. The next level up, Greenlight + Invest, costs $7.98/month and includes the kid-friendly Invest platform. And Greenlight Max, at $9.98/month, includes even more: 1% cashback on purchases with the card, a special black debit card, priority customer support, and 3 types of protection (identity theft, cell phone, and purchase cover). Greenlight Max also ups the Savings Reward to 2%.
| Package | Price | Savings Reward Rate |
| Greenlight | $4.99/month | 1% |
| Greenlight + Invest | $7.98/month | 1% |
| Greenlight Max | $9.98/month | 2% |
Greenlight offers phone, text, and email support from Monday–Friday, 8 am–11 pm EST, and Saturday and Sunday, 8 am–9 pm EST. Customers on the Greenlight Max plan go to the front of the queue for support calls. When we emailed the team with a query, it took a couple of days for them to get back to us. However, there’s also a comprehensive knowledge bank on the site with answers to the most common questions. The site itself is intuitive, easy to use, and presents all information clearly.
The mobile app is available for both iOS and Android. It’s free to download, but you’ll need to deposit money into your child’s account and then activate your subscription within 30 days. Although mobile check deposits and transfers from services like Venmo are not possible, it’s easy to transfer money to your child’s account from another online banking service. Additionally, the app makes it simple to monitor and control your family’s spending and saving.
For a run-through of Greenlight’s app, watch the video here.
Greenlight has a dedicated information security team. It uses military-grade data encryption, threat detection, and internal access controls to make sure your information is safe. The debit card is FDIC-insured up to $250,000, and if lost or stolen, you can easily disable the card from your app. You can also activate fingerprint or facial recognition for logging in.
Greenlight has lots of features to help kids learn about and manage their money. Because it functions like a real debit card and has attached accounts for spending, saving, and giving, Greenlight mimics the adult world of banking. But with added parental controls and notifications, there’s a layer of safety that makes this an ideal financial training ground. Although there is a monthly fee and extra costs if you want to add the Invest platform and protections, if you’re looking for a fun but functional way to educate your kids about money, Greenlight could be a great choice for you.
Methodology
This review was written using the Greenlight website, reviews from Trustpilot, Google Play, and Apple Store, and contacting customer service directly.
