Best No-Fee Debit Cards for Kids & Teens - YouTube

As my kids have gotten older, they're getting  tired of managing their money as cash in a jar  

and they wanted a debit card. I had heard of  the Greenlight debit card for kids but the least  

expensive Greenlight plan is $5 a month and I'm a  bit of a cheapskate so I wanted to know if there  

are any free options for debit cards for kids.  Thankfully, I found three really good options.  

The first is the Step app. The Step app is an app  and a card that works for children over 13. If you  

want quick, simple, and completely free, Step app  is a great option. Some pros to the Step app are  

it takes only five minutes to set it up, it  is literally zero fees, and it builds credit  

for the teen. There are also lots of options for  transferring money in and out of the Step account,  

and it works really well if you have other family  members that want to send money to the kids, like  

if you're in a situation of a blended family or  you have a grandparent that wants to send money to  

the kids. Some negatives to the Step app are that  it is only for kids over 13 so it's not going to  

work for everybody. Also it does not have a lot of  parental controls. Once the money is in the teen's  

account, they can spend it however they want. If  you're comparing it to something like Greenlight,  

Greenlight allows you to have very granular  parental controls. You can control it all the  

way down to the store level, so you can say they  have $10 to spend at Target and $30 to spend at  

gas stations. I don't feel like that kind of  control is necessary for my kids. I trust that  

they're responsible enough with their money but  I understand that some parents of younger kids  

might want that kind of control. If you want to  know more about the Step app, I did make a full  

video review of that one and if you want to sign  up for a Step, please use my referral link down  

below and you'll get $5 free in your new account.  So second option is the Capital One Money account.  

Capital One Money is a full checking account that  is available for kids ages 8 and up, together with  

an adult. It is really difficult to find checking  accounts that allow children under 13 so this  

one's pretty nice that it allows kids as young as  eight. Some other positives to this account are it  

has some really nice features, including setting  specific savings goals so if they want to save up  

for a phone, they can set that goal inside their  app. It also includes lots of other nice checking  

features like mobile check deposit and the ability  to direct deposit as they get older and have a  

job. And when they age out of the account,  it converts into a very nice adult checking  

account. The only negative I can really think of  the Capital One Money account is it doesn't have  

the sort of parental controls like Greenlight  has. Once the money is in their account,  

they can spend it pretty much however they want.  It's similar to Step in that way. If you want to  

know more about the Capital One Money account and  how it compares to other teen checking accounts,  

check out my video about best bank accounts for  kids and teens. I'll link to that one at the end.  

The third option I found for a free debit card for  kids is Chase First Banking. Chase First Banking  

is only available to people who already have a  Chase checking account and it can be for kids  

ages six and up. Some positives of the Chase  First Banking account is that it does have all  

those detailed parental controls like Greenlight  because it's actually powered by Greenlight. You  

can specify specific stores that the children can  spend money at or specific categories. It also  

has other nice features like specific savings  goals in the app. With Chase First Banking,  

you can also use Chase ATMs for free.  Some negatives of Chase First Banking  

is that it is not a regular checking account so  it doesn't have access to any kind of deposits.  

If you do want a full-featured checking account  at Chase, they do have a high school checking for  

kids age 13 and up and I talk more about  that in my other video. Another negative  

to this account is it can only be managed by  one single parent. For Chase First Banking,  

I would not recommend signing up for a Chase  checking account for the adult just to get  

this kid's debit card because Chase checking  accounts all have pretty high fees. There  

are ways that you can get around the checking  account fees at Chase, but it's a lot of hoops  

to jump through just to get a kid's debit card.  But if you're already a Chase checking customer,  

I think this is a really good option. In the end,  I decided to open up a Capital One Money account  

for my 12-year-old and my 13-year-old and they're  very happy with them. For my 13-year-old daughter,  

I also opened a Step account because it's so  convenient and it's helping her build credit.  

Next up, check out my video about best  checking accounts for kids and teens.