Best Debit Card For Kids in 2024: Why You Should Consider a Debit Card for Your Child

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Are you considering getting a debit card for your child? As kids get older, the thought of giving them more control over their money can be scary. As parents, we worry about whether they’ll make smart decisions regarding savings and spending.

Thankfully, there are debit cards designed specifically for kids. With features like parental controls, roundup savings, autopay for chores, and more, kids’ debit cards can alleviate parents’ fears while allowing kids to learn how to manage their money properly.

The best debit cards for kids have a few things in common: They’re affordable, easy to use, and have sufficient parental control features.

🔃 Updated December 2024 with new plan names, features, and pricing for several companies on this list.

	Best for	Learn more
	Large families	Learn more
	Earning interest	Learn more
	Current customers	Learn more
	Investing	Learn more
	Donating to charity	Learn more
	Traditional checking	Learn more
	Chase customers	Learn more
	ATM reimbursements	Learn more

1. FamZoo (all ages)

Best For: Large families

Price: $5.99 per family if paid monthly
Chore management: Yes
True checking account: No

FamZoo is a prepaid debit card that offers full parental control for kids of any age. Kids ages 13 and up get their own card; kids under 13 get a card that you legally own as their parent.

You’ll pay $5.99 per month for FamZoo no matter how many kids you sign up for the program. Or you can pay $25.99 for six months, $39.99 for 12 months, or $59.99 for 24 months.

You’ll have full parental control and notifications for all activity. You can also set up chore checklists and pay when chores are completed.

You can set up automatic transfers between your checking and the child’s debit card. Your kids can also send payment requests and there is a loan tracking feature.

Here’s our full review of FamZoo for more information.

Pros

Saving and giving features
One price for multiple kids
Comprehensive chores feature
Cards for any age child
Comprehensive financial literacy resources

Cons

Kids can edit shared chore lists
Must pay for two years to get lowest price

Go to FamZoo

2. Greenlight (all ages)

Best For: Earning interest

Price: $5.99 to $14.98 per month for up to five kids
Chore management: Yes
True checking account: No

Greenlight offers debit cards to kids of all ages. The company has three plans to choose from, and prices vary based on the plan you choose.

Greenlight Core: Greenlight Core is $5.99 per month and includes debit cards for up to five kids, a chore management feature, automatic transfer options, and parental controls. Kids savings accounts earn 2% interest.

Greenlight Max: Greenlight Max costs $9.98 per month. It offers all the Greenlight Core features and includes the option to add an investment account for each child. Kids savings earns 3%, and they can earn up to 1% cash back on purchases.

Greenlight Infinity: Greenlight Infinity costs $14.98 per month and includes all the Max features, including up to 1% cash back on purchases. Kids can earn 5% interest on their savings. This plan also includes identity theft monitoring, mobile phone protection coverage, and priority customer support.

Pros

One price for up to five kids/cards
Up to 5% interest on savings
Up to 1% cash back on debit card purchases
Investing features with Greenlight Max and Infinity

Cons

Higher price on upgraded plans
Must have upgraded plan to use “invest” feature

Here’s our full review of Greenlight for more information.

Go to Greenlight

3. Current (13+)

Best For: Current customers

Price: Free
Chore management: Yes
True checking account: Yes

Current is a fintech company that offers banking accounts for adults and kids 13 and up. As a parent, you must open your own Current account to be eligible to open one for your teen. You can set up chores, quickly transfer funds between accounts, block merchants, and receive notifications of activity on your teen’s account.

Your kid can also withdraw cash at an ATM, and you can adjust the ATM limits as you see fit.

Current accounts have savings pods that help your teen save for specific goals and can earn up to 4% interest on the balance.

Here’s our full review of Current for more information.

Pros

Chores feature
Comprehensive parental controls
No overdraft, transfer, or inactivity fees

Cons

Parent-owned account required
No joint accounts available

Go to Current

4. Acorns Early (6+)

Best For: Investing

Price: $10 per month for up to four kids, or $5 per month per kid
Chore management: Yes
True checking account: No

The Acorns Early debit card is free for the first month and then costs $5 per month per kid. They also have a family plan for $10 for up to four children. The minimum age requirement for this card is six.

The parental account included with Acorns Early acts as a command center of sorts, where you can manage all of the kids’ debit cards and set up and pay chores. You can set multiple spending limits, such as ATM withdrawal limits, weekly spending limits, and pre-purchase spending limits.

Kids can set savings goals and put a designated amount of money in their savings pod. They also can give money to the Boys and Girls Clubs of America.

If you have an Acorns Gold account, you can open an Acorns Early Invest account and invest funds from the Acorns Early account just as you would invest your own. You are the account holder, and your child is the beneficiary.

Here’s our full Acorns Early review for more information.

Pros

Comprehensive parental controls
Use for kids as young as six years of age
Daily, weekly, and one-off spending limits
Giftlinks that allow others to add money to your child’s card

Cons

Parent must have an Acorns Gold account to use investing features
Giving is limited to Boys and Girls Clubs of America

Go to Acorns Early

5. BusyKid (6+)

Best For: Donating to charity

Price: $48 annually for up to five kids
Chore management: Yes
True checking account: No

BusyKid has an award-winning app that allows you to set chores, transfer funds, and fully control your child’s experience.

Your kid can earn money from doing chores, spend, save, invest and give. You can set up a savings match to encourage better saving habits, and there are over 60 charities to choose from.

You also don’t have to upgrade to a higher plan in order to unlock investing features. There are over 4,000 companies and ETFs available for investing.

BusyKid is available for kids ages five and older.

Pros

Investing features are included at no additional price
Over 60 charities in the app
Comprehensive chores features
BusyPay feature that allows others to give to your child

Cons

Parents must approve all transactions

Go to BusyKid

6. Capital One MONEY Teen (8+)

Best For: Traditional checking

Price: Free
Chore management: No
True checking account: Yes

The Capital One MONEY Teen account is available for children ages eight and up when opened as a joint account with a parent. There are no fees for this account and account balances earn interest of 0.10%.

This is a traditional checking account, not just a debit card linked to an app. It doesn’t include any chore features; however, there are parental controls, and the child will have their own app experience.

You can link your own checking account for transfers, and it doesn’t have to be a Capital One checking — you can link an external account.

There is a savings goal feature and Capital One also has a kids saving account.

Here’s our full Captial One 360 review for more information.

Pros

No monthly fee
Large ATM network
Account balances earn interest
Parental notifications and lock/unlock capabilities
Savings goals feature

Cons

No chores feature
No “give” feature
Automatically set ATM/spending limits

Go to Capital One

7. Chase First Banking (6+)

Best For: Chase customers

Price: Free
Chore management: Yes
True checking account: Yes

The Chase First Banking account is a traditional checking account and comes with a debit card. It is available for kids ages six and up. You must have your own Chase checking account to open a Chase First Banking account.

You have full control of the account, including setting spending and ATM limits, receiving notifications, and setting and paying chores.

Kids can also request a money transfer from you at any time, which you can approve or deny.

The Chase First Banking account does not have monthly or overdraft fees, and parents can open up to five accounts per parent/guardian.

Also, note that this account does not allow Direct Deposit. So if you’ve got a working teen that has Direct Deposit paychecks, you may want to open the Chase High School Checking account instead.

Pros

No monthly fees or in-network ATM fees
Sufficient parental controls
Savings goals

Cons

No Direct Deposit is available for working teens
A parent Chase account is required

Go to Chase First Banking

8. Axos First Checking (13+)

Best For: ATM reimbursements

Price: Free
Chore management: No
True checking account: Yes

The Axos First Checking account is available for teens ages 13 to 17. It has no monthly fees and no overdraft fees. It also earns 0.10% APY

Parental notifications are available, you can view all the transactions, and you can activate or deactivate the debit card anytime. This is a traditional checking account with no chore management features.

Your kid will have ATM access, and Axos will reimburse up to $12 a month in ATM fees.

One possible downside of the Axos account is that the daily spending and ATM limits are preset at $500 and $100, respectively. You can’t adjust these limits.

Here’s our full Axos Bank review for more information.

Pros

No monthly fees
Interest bearing account
Parental controls
Domestic ATM reimbursements of up to $12 per month

Cons

ATM fees could add up
No chore management

Go to Axos First Checking

1. Teach Them Money Management Skills

Giving your child access to a set amount of money each week or month is a great way to teach them money management skills.

They become responsible for knowing how much money they have in their account and what they will spend it on.

If money is limited, they gain the experience of choosing which items they want to spend their money on and which purchases they’d rather save for another time.

These discipline exercises can go a long way in helping them prepare to have good budgeting skills as adults.

2. Make the Connection Between Work and Money

In real life, you need to work to earn money. And while it’s common for parents to hand their kids cash whenever they need it, doing so regularly isn’t helping prepare them for real life.

Many kids’ debit cards have features that allow you to assign chores to your child and then schedule a designated amount of pay when those chores are completed.

This feature can be a great way to help your child understand that work equals money in the real world.

In addition, you can use the feature to encourage your child to take on extra chores when they need extra money for a large expense.

The result? Less work for you, a great life lesson for your child.

3. Make Your Life Easier

Along with that, having a debit card for your child can make your life easier.

Many kids’ debit cards have an automatic deposit feature letting you decide when you want money to go into their account and how much money you want to deposit.

For instance, you could set up an automatic deposit of $50 a week for lunch money. Utilizing this feature for your child’s individual needs can help make your life much easier.

You don’t have to worry about your child regularly harassing you for cash, and your child has steady access to the money they need through their debit card.

How Kid’s Debit Cards Work

There are two kinds of debit cards for kids — a prepaid debit card or a traditional checking account.

Prepaid debit cards (FamZoo, Greenlight, Acorns Early, and Busykid) link to your checking account and then are managed through the app. You load money onto the cards from your personal checking account and then the kids can spend it using the debit card.

Traditional checking accounts (Capital one MONEY Teen, Chase First Banking, and Axos First Checking) work just like your own checking account. It’s a real deposit account with an account number and routing number. You’ll likely still want to link your own checking account to it for easy transfers, but it’s not strictly necessary.

Final Thoughts on the Best Kids Debit Cards

There is no shortage of options when it comes to choosing a debit card for your child. To help narrow the search, we recommend focusing on the most important features to you and the age at which you want your child to have a debit card. Also, if you decide that your child isn’t quite ready, that’s ok too. But when the time comes, a debit card can help them learn powerful money management skills early in life.