Greenlight's Smart MasterCard Debit Card for Kids Now Supports Apple Pay

Greenlight today announced that its smart MasterCard debit card for kids now supports Apple Pay and can be used in over 120 countries.

Greenlight is a MasterCard debit card for kids that parents can manage using their smartphones. Parents can top up the card with money instantly, from anywhere, and then specify the exact stores where a child can spend. There's also a Spend Anywhere tab for parents that trust their children's spending habits.

With Apple Pay support, kids no longer have to carry the physical debit card on them, and can simply pay using their iPhone or paired Apple Watch. The card can be set up through the Wallet app on eligible devices.

Every transaction is recorded in the Greenlight app [Direct Link] for iPhone and iPad, and parents receive instant notifications on where and when a child spends, or tries to spend. The card, protected by a PIN number, can be toggled on or off entirely as well, particularly in the event that it's lost or stolen.

For added assurance, Greenlight cards can not be used to withdraw cash at an ATM or get cash back from a purchase. The card also can not be used at any store or website in the categories of wire transfers, money orders, escort services, massage parlors, lotteries, gambling, horse racing, and dog racing.

Greenlight accounts are FDIC insured in the United States through the company's partner Community Federal Savings Bank.

Greenlight costs $4.99 per month, with a free 30-day trial available. Beyond the monthly charge, there are generally no additional fees.

Parents interested in a similar Visa option can look into the recently launched Current smart debit card for kids.

Related Roundup: Apple Pay

Tag: MasterCard

Top Rated Comments

(View all)

AlphaHumanus

23 months ago

I had no idea this existed. Definitely doing more research/trying this out.

Rating: 6 Votes

GrumpyMom

23 months ago

I had no idea this existed. Definitely doing more research/trying this out.

I didn't know either. Ah well, if the kids can't bet on the ponies, what good is it. The bookie prefers cash anyway.

Rating: 5 Votes

TAZ911

23 months ago

My personal experience (as the dad of two teen girls, lord help me) is that it's not the labor laws standing in the way but rather the over scheduling of everything else in the mix. And believe me I am not passing blame here to anyone but ourselves, but in addition to regular school my 16-year-old goes to after school acting classes. She is in three different youth groups, one of which is a tremendous leadership opportunity culminating in a three week trip overseas this summer. But they all keep her ridiculously busy. So, she's unable to really find any decent amount of time to make money outside of a few babysitting gigs here and there. Oh, and she's a teenage girl, so sometimes just getting her to look up from her phone and do something industrious can be challenging in itself. Again it's our own, first world, 1% problem. But it's common. Very common. When I was a kid I couldn't wait to get out there and start making money. Not today.

My parents pretty much solved the conflict of interest issues between school, sports and jobs for spending cash by simply being clear that my job was to be a good student and responsible with my commitments aka don't skip football practice... So long as I met my academic responsibilities I had spending cash. Summers I was on my own to find a job and scrounge up $$ for the goofy stuff I wanted.

Not sure why we want to complicate things that don't need to be complicated. Debit cards, credit cards, Apple Pay for children. WTF? How about take your kids shopping and understand what they are into instead of wonder what that $50 hit on Apple Pay was. More responsibility punting by parents.

Rating: 3 Votes

tasset

23 months ago

So, wait...I get my kid an iPhone 6 or above so it supports Apple Pay. I perhaps get my kid an Apple Watch, to make it even more convenient. Then I pay $5 per month so I can load this card up for spending? I'm not seeing how this teaches my kid the value of a dollar, really.

Now that being said, we signed on to PNC Bank's (Pittsburgh) digital wallet program. Kid get three "accounts" (spend, save, grow) plus a debit/visa card that can be used for payment or at PNC ATMs. Kid also gets a very useful iPhone app (that works on her hand-me-down iPhone 5S) to track spending and budgeting. And perhaps most importantly, parent gets the same info in his PNC app, so he can track his kid's spending habits, easily transfer money to her, and set certain limits where needed. All at no charge. Bummer, no ApplePay...we'll survive. I've had ApplePay for 6 months and have only been in one store that uses it.

Guess it depends on your bank and age requirements. Bank of America have free accounts for high school/college age that can be setup with ApplePay and are free. That’s what I went with. I would definitely not pay a fee. Plus I have each set up with Square Cash and can’t-come-soon-enough ApplePay Cash on iOS11. This MasterCard deal with a fee seems to be a money grab at this point for people who want to be spoonfed.

Rating: 3 Votes

erinsarah

23 months ago

Rating: 3 Votes

69Mustang

23 months ago

They don't change poor parenting but they do make it far easier. The problem i have isn't with the parents that will help the child learn to manage his money, which this program might actually support. Rather the problem is with parents that just use the program to "send" money to their kids without any over site at all. These parents are the overwhelming vast majority of parents.

As someone else mentioned i see this as a way to hook more people onto the debt train.

Forgive me, but I am not following your logic here. It seems we both agree that the problem would be the irresponsible parent. As you said, the program could actually support a parent teaching responsible finance. The only way for it not to do so is -now we're back where we started- for the parent to use the program as a money funnel to the kid.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but your issue seems to be giving kids money with no oversight. For instance, handing a kid $20 every week for allowance and having no idea where that money goes. That's no oversight, and a heck of a lot easier than a program like this that provides the parent access to what a kid is buying, a limit on what they can buy, and an ability to completely cut off their buying power. That's plenty of oversight, imo. Now, if a parent doesn't take advantage of those tools -we're right back here again- that's an issue with the parent, not the program.

Regarding the debt train. I understand what [USER=29249]@HobeSoundDarryl[/USER] is getting at regarding debt. This program, and others like it (most of them are free btw) aren't credit cards. CC's can lead to a very long debt train, with that I completely agree. But that's because they can facilitate the thought that it's okay to spend money you don't have. Debit cards don't do that. In fact people who have gotten into debt with CC are encouraged to only use debit cards because they can only spend what they have.

Rating: 2 Votes

HobeSoundDarryl

23 months ago

Banker: "Now that we pretty much have maxed out getting college-aged kids into deep debt, where else can we go for more debt slaves? Their parents were made debt slaves with the American Dream spin. Their grandparents were made debt slaves by encouraging credit-driven "keep up with the Joneses" contests. Their government is only happy to keep piling on the debt as long as the re-election coffers keep getting refilled. We can't figure out how to get dead people to take on interest-bearing debt. Where else can we turn?"

Banker #2: "What if we start working our way down into the pre-college-aged kids? Perhaps we get them more accustomed to "just charging it" than having to pay cash from what they earn with kid jobs? And perhaps we can package this up so their parents will basically pay a monthly subscription fee to help train their kids to "just charge it"? Let's start with debit cards to somewhat mask our real intentions and we'll evolve it into youth credit cards soon.

There are countless millions of junior debt slaves to mint. If they can never really learn the value of an earned dollar, they'll be so easy to even more thoroughly enslave later on. Let's get 'em."

Banker's boss: "Promote that guy! And dinner's on me."

;)

Rating: 2 Votes

yg17

23 months ago

All I fico score is is a score oh how much you love debt. Someone who 'never paid a dime in interest" does NOT have an 800 fico score. It actually hurts you if you don't carry a balance according to the complex equation fico uses to create your meaningless score. Congratulations on being a slave to credit card companies.

I don't love debt, I don't have any credit card debt. You clearly have no idea how FICO works, you don't have a good credit score by being up to your eyeballs in CC debt.

And slave to the credit card companies? Last month I flew to Tokyo in business class and stayed in a hotel for free thanks to credit card points. Last year, I took two trips to Italy and London thanks to credit card points, and am planning to take my parents to Switzerland next year with my points. But I'm a slave to credit card companies.

Don't hate what you don't understand.

Rating: 2 Votes

yg17

23 months ago

What an insanely awful idea!!! Your a screw up as a parent if you aren't teaching your kids how to spend money with tangible money! As Dave Ramsey says, when you have to hand something over (cash) you FEEL it. It hurts to see all that hard earned money go away. Electronic transactions give you a false sense of security and thus you feel like you have infinite money.

Or, if you have a brain, and financial discipline, you can use credit cards responsibly and enjoy the rewards.

I have 2 dollars in my wallet, which is 2 dollars more than I usually have. I use a credit card to pay for everything I possibly can. 800+ FICO score, never paid a dime in interest. Dave Ramsey's advice is for idiots without any self control.

Rating: 2 Votes

wizard

23 months ago

This was my line of thinking immediately after reading the article. All this program does is teach kids to be stupid with money. Frankly i cant really think too positive about parents that woild spend $5 a month on this.

Now that being said, we signed on to PNC Bank's (Pittsburgh) digital wallet program. Kid get three "accounts" (spend, save, grow) plus a debit/visa card that can be used for payment or at PNC ATMs. Kid also gets a very useful iPhone app (that works on her hand-me-down iPhone 5S) to track spending and budgeting. And perhaps most importantly, parent gets the same info in his PNC app, so he can track his kid's spending habits, easily transfer money to her, and set certain limits where needed. All at no charge.

Well at least they nixed the excessive charge!!

The problem with these programs is that unless the parent is very careful to make sure the kid earns the money there is a strong likely hood that the value of work and money wont be learned. Instead we will have kids growing up thinking they are entitled to money. Long term this will lead to irresponsible beehavior with money.

Bummer, no ApplePay...we'll survive. I've had ApplePay for 6 months and have only been in one store that uses it.

Im actually seeing ApplePay suppirt more and more. That to me isnt the issue here. The high cost of the program is one problem. The other is the way many parents will handle this leaving the kid to learn nothing about money nor how it is earned.

Rating: 1 Votes

[ Read All Comments ]