How Much Does Greenlight Cost

Is a Greenlight debit card for kids worth the cost? Learn more about Greenlight's plans, fees, and common complaints.

What is Greenlight?

Greenlight is a popular debit card and banking app for kids and teens. The platform gives kids access to their money while teaching them the basics of personal finance.

The Mastercard debit card can be used online, in-store, and at ATMs. But fear not—fully customizable parental controls ensure your kid never spends more than they should.

Sounds good so far, right?

The app offers a ton of features you don't usually see in a product designed for children, but it doesn't come free. Learn more about what Greenlight offers and if it's really worth the monthly fee.

How Much Does Greenlight Cost?

Greenlight is very transparent with its pricing, with just a single monthly fee and no hidden fees.^[1]

Here's how much each plan costs:^[2]

• Greenlight Core costs $4.99 per month
  
• Greenlight Max costs $9.98 per month
  
• Greenlight Infinity costs $14.98 per month

The monthly fee covers up to 5 children and 2 adults per family. You don't have to pay extra to add up to 5 children to your account. Review what features come with each plan in the sections below.

Of course, there are free debit cards for kids out there. But Greenlight is a fantastic value with all the useful features it packs into the app. You'd be hard-pressed to find another kid's platform that offers investing, high savings reward, and cash back.

Greenlight Debit Card for Kids

Click Here to Get Started

Greenlight Card Fees

Each plan comes with a basic Greenlight debit card. This card gives you complete access to Greenlight's features. While Greenlight has no hidden fees, you may see a small charge for upgrades and replacements:

• Custom card - $9.99: You can customize a card with a photo of your choice for a one-time fee of $9.99.

  This is completely optional, but it's a fun extra touch. The fee could be worth it if you want to get your younger kids excited about money management.

• Replacement card - Free, then $3.50: If you lose a card, the first replacement is free of charge. Any replacements after that cost $3.50 per card. Need a replacement card in a hurry?

  You can opt for express delivery for $24.99.

These are the only extra fees associated with Greenlight—and they're all optional. Greenlight doesn't charge any banking fees to use the account.^[1]

Greenlight Plans

Greenlight offers three different plans with different sets of features.

Here's what you and your family get with each plan:

• Greenlight Core: Includes kids' debit card, basic banking, educational content, parental controls, financial literacy games, credit card for parents, investing for parents with limited features, and 1% savings reward.

• Greenlight Max: Adds an investing platform and research tools for kids and parents, priority customer support, protection plans, cash back on purchases, and 2% savings reward.

• Greenlight Infinity: Adds family location sharing, crash detection, SOS alert, cash back, and 5% savings reward.

Greenlight offers some of the most interesting and useful features in a debit card for kids. You don't find investing services and high savings reward in every account geared toward children.

These features are a great introduction to real-world money management. It can teach your kids valuable financial lessons they'll depend on throughout their adult lives.

How to Get a Greenlight Card

Opening a Greenlight account is simple. Parents and guardians can open an account for kids of any age. There's no minimum age to get started.

Here are the steps to getting a Greenlight account and debit card:

1. Visit Greenlight and enter your mobile number to get started.
   
2. Sign up as a parent or guardian.
   
3. Add up to 5 children per account.
   
4. Verify your identity.
   
5. Set up your Parent's Wallet to fund the account.
   
6. Receive your kids' debit cards in 7-10 business days.

Once you finish signing up, you can choose to upgrade any of your kids' debit cards to a custom card.

Greenlight Debit Card for Kids

Click Here to Get Started

Greenlight doesn't run a credit check when you sign up. But you do have to provide some personal information to verify your identity. Be prepared to provide your full name, address, date of birth, and Social Security number.^[3]

How to Transfer Money to Greenlight

There are a few ways you can add money to a Greenlight account:

• Transfer funds from a linked bank account.
  
• Transfer funds from a linked debit card.
  
• Set up direct deposit.

Greenlight does not support credit cards or cash as funding sources. If you want to add cash to your account, you'll have to deposit it through your external bank first. Then, transfer money from your debit card or bank account as usual.

You might be wondering whether Greenlight is compatible with money transfer apps like PayPal, Cash App, or Venmo.

Unfortunately, Greenlight is not compatible with Cash App and Venmo since these apps don't support prepaid debit cards.

You could get around this by linking the same bank account or debit card to Greenlight and your money transfer app. This way, you can send money between your money transfer app and Greenlight through the shared funding source.

PayPal does accept prepaid debit cards, but you must be 18 or older to create an account. If your kid is a minor, they won't be able to use PayPal.

What is a Greenlight Black Card?

The Greenlight Black Card is exclusively available for Greenlight Max and Infinity users. The sleek, matte black card feels a lot more grownup than the basic debit card offering.

Greenlight Black Card users get the following perks:

• Earn up to 5% savings reward per annum, paid monthly
  
• Earn 1% cash back on all purchases
  
• Priority customer support
  
• Identity theft protection for the whole family
  
• Cell phone protection for damages, theft, or other loss
  
• Purchase protection to repair or replace Greenlight purchases
  
• Investing platform for kids and parents
  
• Spending, saving, and giving tools
  
• Engaging educational app
  
• Robust parental controls

If you want to teach your kid about finances from the ground up, Greenlight Max is a great option.

The savings reward is the perfect opportunity to show your kid the power of compound interest. Plus, the in-app educational content covers important topics like budgeting, investing, and earning money.

Greenlight Complaints

Greenlight is a solid financial app and debit card for kids. But no product is 100% perfect.

Like many apps, Greenlight has had its share of bugs in the past. Some customers have reported allowances continuing to pay even after they've been paused. Others report difficulties syncing their bank accounts or debit cards to Greenlight.

Greenlight does seem to be pretty responsive in getting any issues resolved quickly. Overall, the app seems to work well, despite the occasional customer complaints.

Greenlight Customer Service

If you need to contact Greenlight customer service for any reason, you have a couple options. The Greenlight customer support team is available 24/7.

You can reach out to Greenlight by:

• Email: support@greenlight.com
  
• Text: 404-974-3024
  
• Call: 888-483-2645

Bottom Line

Greenlight isn't the cheapest debit card for kids on the market. But it is one of the most comprehensive banking apps for children out there. The app offers great features like a no-fee investing platform, high savings reward, and cash back rewards.

Although the Greenlight Max plan costs $9.98 per month, the fee covers up to 5 children per family. If you want an easy way to teach your kids about personal finance, Greenlight helps streamline the process.

Free banking apps for kids definitely get the job done for basic money management. But Greenlight is a great bang for your buck if you need a little more functionality for your family.

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