The piggy bank is virtually extinct.
noncash majority.
To that end, a growing number of card offerings, including Greenlight, gohenry and Current, are geared specifically toward children and teens. Each allows parents to load funds onto them and monitor their child’s spending through an app, rather than using a prepaid card or linking a debit card directly to a checking account.
Greenlight’s mission is to help raise financially savvy kids in a cashless world, said Tim Sheehan, the co-founder and chief executive. The company is backed by Amazon and several big banks, including Ally Financial and SunTrust.
The money on the card can be divided into two categories: funds that can be spent anywhere and money that can only be spent in specific spots, such as Chipotle, or types of establishments you’ve approved in advance, such as restaurants (hence the name “greenlight”). Parents can also receive an alert whenever the card is used, as well as the amount spent.
“I like the training wheels aspect,” said Ted Rossman, an industry analyst at CreditCards.com. Plus, “kids growing up nowadays are transacting in a world of apps and plastic, it makes sense to give them that experience,” he added.
Next up: Greenlight will be integrated with Amazon’s Alexa, so parents can check the balance or send cash through a voice command. “A parent might say ‘send 20 bucks to Jack for Chick-fil-A,'” Sheehan said.
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