Cash App for 13+? Should you let your teen get it? - YouTube

Banking options for teens are really limited.  I've been doing a series of videos about the  

best banking and money management options for  teens and there's recently a big development.  

Cash App announced in November 2021 that it will  now allow users ages 13 to 17 to use the app  

and have their own card with parental permission.  I tried it out with my 13 year old daughter and  

I'll let you know what we thought and how it  compares to other options. So in case you don't  

know what Cash App is - it's a money management  app that allows you to transfer money into it,  

send money back and forth with other people,  and you can get a card which is like a debit  

card for your Cash App account. You can treat  it a lot like a bank account and you can have  

your paycheck deposited to it. And you can  add your Cash card to Google or Apple Pay.  

Technically the Cash App teen accounts are owned  by the parent and the teen is an authorized user  

on the account. You still have to be over  18 to officially own a Cash App account.  

It's also important to note that the teen cash  accounts will not have access to every feature  

on the Cash App. The biggest feature that they do  not get access to is purchasing Bitcoin or stocks.  

I'm going to get into the pros and cons of  the Cash App and compare it to the Step app,  

which I have recommended before as a similar type  of app that's made for teens. I want to let you  

know that I do have my referral links for both  Cash App and Step below. Currently, with Step,  

you'll get $10 free if you use my link to  sign up. With Cash App, you'll get $5

free after you set up the app and send someone  five dollars. Also, be aware that a teen cannot  

get a referral bonus from their own parent. I  do believe though that both the parent and teen 

can use my referral code and each get their own  bonus. First I'll go over the positives of the  

Cash App and then I'll go over the negatives. One  positive of Cash App is that it already has a huge  

network of people using it so if you want to send  money back and forth to others Cash App is a great  

option for that. Cash App actually is in the top  10 most popular apps on both Apple App Store and  

Google Play. I had previously made a video about  alternatives to Venmo for teens because many teens  

were frustrated that they didn't have a similar  option available to them since Venmo doesn't allow  

anyone under 18 to use their platform. Now that  Cash App is available to teens I do think it's  

the best direct alternative to Venmo out there  if you want to get payments from anyone. So,  

for example, if you're a teen that babysits for  people and they want to pay you electronically,  

Cash App is a great way to do that because a lot  of adults already have Cash App. Step can also be  

used to easily send payments back and forth to  people but the person sending the payment would  

need a Step account and since it's built for  teens, not many adults are going to have a Step  

account. Cash App has a few other benefits that  Step doesn't have. Their physical card is much  

more customizable and you can add fun stickers or  you can even draw your own creation onto the card.  

Cash App also has boosts, which are discount  offers for certain stores or types of stores. I  

tried one for 10% cash back at grocery stores and  it worked to save me some money. So now let's get  

into some cons of the Cash App for teens. One is  ATM fees. I was surprised that Cash App charges a  

two dollar fee to use ATMs and that's in addition  to whatever the ATM owner might charge. Step, on  

the other hand, allows you to use any ATM for free  and it will reimburse you if you have a charge  

from the ATM owner. you should also be aware that  Cash App is not FDIC insured. FDIC insurance means  

that the US government will back up your money  and if the bank goes out of business, you're  

guaranteed to get your money back. Step is FDIC  insured so I feel a little more secure about that.  

Cash App also doesn't have any features designed  specifically for teens. For example, Step allows  

the parent to easily set up an automated  allowance in the app. There's no way to do  

that with the Cash App. Step also makes it really  easy to turn off a card if the teen misplaces it.  

You can just turn it off in the app and turn it  back on when it's found. Cash App does allow you  

to turn off cards but you have to contact customer  support to do it. In case you're wondering about  

what you can see on your child's spending, both  Cash App and Step do allow the parent to see  

all the transactions that their child has made  but there's no way to see the actual items that  

they purchased. So for example, if a teen spends  money at Target, the parent can see how much  

money they spent at Target but they don't know if  they bought groceries or a video game. All right,  

so which one should you get? They're honestly both  really good options with just a few differences.  

If you want a larger network of people to send  and receive money from, Cash App is the way to  

go. If you want more teen-friendly features,  FDIC insurance, credit building, and no fees,  

Step is the better option. Since my daughter  is only 13 and not sending receiving money  

from anyone outside our family, we'll stick with  Step and its nice teen-friendly features for now.  

We'll hold on to her Cash App account for when  she's older. If you want to try out Step or  

Cash App don't forget to use my referral links  down below to get your free $5 or $10 bonus.