Best Debit Cards for Kids of 2024 (2024)

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Kids' debit cards can be utilized for teaching children or teenagers about how to be smart with money. They're a way to help kids get a head start on managing their finances.

Below, you'll find our top picks for kids' debit cards. We've researched each debit card's features and fees so that you can narrow down your options and choose the best debit card for you and your child.

Best Debit Cards for Teens for April

• Famzoo Prepaid Debit Card: Best overall
• BusyKid Spend Card: Best for parental control features
• Chase First Banking: Best for traditional banking
• GoHenry Card: Best for financial literacy education
• Copper Debit Card: Best for teens

Compare Debit Cards for Kids

Best Kids' Debit Cards FAQs

Best Kids' Debit Card Reviews

Best Kids' Debit Card Overall

The FamZoo debit card is a good option for families with more than one child, and it made Business Insider's list of the best prepaid debit cards. You can get up to four free debit cards with one subscription. At other institutions, you may have to get individual plans for each child.

It also may be worthwhile if you're looking for a debit card that's easy to use. Access FamZoo through your computer, Famzoo's mobile app, or even via text message, so your child doesn't need a smartphone to use and manage the card.

You also don't need to link a bank account, which may be a requirement at other companies. Instead, FamZoo allows you to load cash onto your card at Green Dot locations. However, you may be charged a fee by participating retailers.

FamZoo has multiple plan options, but the most affordable is the 2-year plan. You'll prepay $59.99 for two years ($2.50 per month), which is a lower fee than with some of our other options. If you need more than four debit cards, there's also a one-time $3 fee for each additional card.

Monthly service fee: $5.99 monthly, $25.99 for six months, $39.99 for 12 months, OR $59.99 for 24 months

Best Kids' Debit Card for Strong Parental Monitoring Features

BusyKid offers kids' debit cards for children between the ages of 5 and 17. Parents and kids will manage the card through the company's mobile app.

The BusyKid Spend Card has a lot of options for kids to take make financial decisions, but parents have to weigh in on the decision first.

For example, children will need to get approval before making a debit card purchase or donating to participating charities. Parents also have the option to lock money transfers between savings and spending categories to limit spending.

To put money into the debit card, you'll need to link an external bank account, debit card, or credit card. You won't be able to deposit cash onto the BusyKid Spend card.

Monthly service fee: $3.99 monthly OR $38.99 annually

BestKids'DebitCardforTraditionalBanking

Chase First Banking has a debit card attached to a bank account. Chase is an excellent choice if you're looking for a traditional brick-and-mortar bank experience. Chase also has a big branch network in the US — it has over 4,800 locations in 48 states. You'll have access to over 16,000 free ATMs.

Chase First Banking has zero monthly services and zero overdraft fees. The debit card also has strong features that make it easy to use. Parents may set limits or alerts on how much a child can spend or withdraw, and kids have savings and spending tools to set individual goals.

To open Chase First Banking, parents must already have a Chase checking account. The bank also charges out-of-network bank ATM feesif you don't use a Chase ATM.

Monthly service fee: None

Best Kids' Debit Card for Financial Literacy Education

The GoHenry Card can be used by kids between the ages of 6 and 18. You might like GoHenry if you're looking for strong financial literary features for children.

The mobile app has a unique feature called Money Missions, which teaches kids about different topics in personal finance, like budgeting and investing. Lessons are also age-specific, so young children may learn about money basics, while older kids pick up more nuanced money topics like investing in stocks or borrowing responsibly.

To put money onto the GoHenry debit card, you'll need to link an external bank account or debit card. You won't be able to deposit cash onto the GoHenry debit card. If you use a GoHenry debit card at an ATM, you'll be charged a fee by GoHenry.

Monthly service fee: First 30 days free, then $3.99 monthly per child to $6.99 monthly for the Family Plan

BestKids'DebitCardforTeens

With the Copper Debit Card, you won't need to worry about overdraft fees or minimum balance fees. Up to $250,000 is secure in your Copper Account through the platform's partner, Evolve Bank & Trust.

Copper is part of the Allpoint ATM network, where you'll have access to over 55,000 surcharge-free ATMs. Copper also has strong financial literacy resources designed specifically for teens. Teens can learn about everything from mortgages to credit scores through short videos and guides. They can also take quizzes to test their knowledge on different topics. Copper even offers free financial workshops at high schools that may be booked on the platform's website.

To use a Copper Card, your child has to be at least 13 years old. Customer service is also limited to email or in-app support. If strong customer support availability is priority for you, you may prefer one of our other top picks.

Monthly service fee:Copper offers a 30-day free trial. After the free trial, you'll have to pay a $4.95 monthly subscription fee for the standard Copper subscription or a $7.95 monthly fee for Copper + Invest.

Kids' Debit Cards That Didn't Make the Cut and Why

Here are some other prepaid debit cards we looked at and our reasoning for not choosing them as our favorites:

• Greenlight Prepaid Debit Card: Greenlight has strong monitoring and budgeting features, but you'll have to pay $4.99, $7.98, or $9.98 per month, depending on which plan you choose. Some of our other top picks have plan with lower monthly service fees and equally impressive perks.
• Kachinga Prepaid Mastercard: Kachinga is a fintech company that is a national partner of the JumpStart Coalition, a national nonprofit organization that prioritizes financial literacy education for children. You might like this debit card if you'd like a straightforward debit card. The main downside is there's a $36 annual fee per child. Our top picks may lower fees because the plans are for multiple children or require less upfront.
• Current Visa Debit Card: Current could be a good option for teens, but our top picks might be more appealing if you'd like to open a debit card for a younger child. While it has unique features, our top pick for teens, Copper, offers more accessibility.
• Jassby Debit Card: The Jassby Debit Card may be a good option if you'd like to avoid monthly fees; it offers a basic plan that doesn't have any fees in addition to an Essential Plan ($3.95 per month). But our top picks have stronger budgeting and parental monitoring features.
• Capital One MONEY Teen Checking Account: Capital One might be ideal if you'd like to apply for a free checking accountfor teens that has a debit card. Our top pick beat Capital One's account because it has more lenient age limits.
• Mazoola Debit Card: You might like Mazoola if you're looking for a debit card that has abundant financial literacy resources. It isn't one of our favorites because other debit cards offer more stand out budgeting tools and features. Another downside to the debit is that you'll only get a virtual card, not a physical one.
• Navy Federal Go Prepaid Debit Card: Navy Federal has prepaid debit cards for anyone 13 years of age or older. For a traditional institution, Chase has more lenient age limits than Navy Federal Credit Union.
• JelliCard Visa Debit Card: The JelliCard Visa Debit Card may be worthwhile if you'd like to get a debit card that doesn't charge a monthly service fees. Its budgeting features aren't as strong as our favorite cards, though.

AreTheseCompaniesTrustworthy?

We use Better Business Bureau scores to help you choose banks that are trustworthy and respond to customer complaints well.

FamZoo and Copper Banking do not currently have a BBB page; therefore, they don't have a ranking yet.

Of the remaining businesses, all of them have an A+ rating from the BBB except for BusyKid, which has a B ranking. The BBB lists several customer complaints filed against the business as the reason for the ranking.

Chase is the only institution on our list that has been involved in a recent public controversy.

In 2023, JP Morgan Chase was required to pay$75 million in a settlementwith the U.S. Virgin Islands that accused the financial institution of failing to report suspicious activity regarding Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking operation.

What to Look for in a Kid's Debit Card

Parental Controls and Monitoring

Many kids' debit cards come with tools to help parents monitor their child's debit card use. Parental control debit cards for kids will usually come with features that include being able to monitor the account using a dashboard, setting alerts for when the card is used, and establishing spending limits. These can help make sure that kids are using their debit cards responsibly.

Educational Resources on Financial Literacy

Many cards offer videos, articles, or other financial literacy tools for children. If this is something you're interested in, check out what form these educational banking products for kids take; for example, if you have a younger child, articles might not be the easiest way for them to learn about finances. In that case, you might prefer to find a card that offers video resources.

If you're looking for more help with financial literacy, you might also consider budgeting apps.

Low Fees and Transparent Pricing

Getting a card with low or no monthly maintenance feesis always nice, but you also need to make sure that there aren't any surprise fees associated with the card. For example, some cards might cost extra if you use the card too often in a month, or they might charge extra for educational tools you thought were included in the base cost.

This is extra important, since you aren't the primary person using the card. Even if you catch the fees, your child might not remember them.

Benefits of Debit Cards for Kids

Promoting Financial Independence

Letting your child or teen use a debit card can help them become more financially independent, as they'll be able to safely make financial decisions even if you're not around. They can start making decisions on when to spend and when to save, and start planning out their savings goals.

Cards that come with financial literacy tools are especially helpful with this, as kids can seek out more financial information independently if they want.

Hands-on Learning with Real Money

Using a debit card gives kids a chance to get concrete financial experience that mirror what they'll encounter as spending adults. It will help them learn how debit purchases work, how much tax they'll need to be prepared to pay at checkout, and other important lessons that purely theoretical or pretend scenarios are likely to miss.

Building Saving and Spending Habits

With a debit card, kids can start planning out what they want to do with their money long-term. Many kids' debit cards come with tools to help kids start saving, such as setting up debit card limits. Parents can also use the debit card as a reason to start conversations with their kids about what they want to start saving up for. Safe spending cards for children help them start learning how to save without risk.

Parental Involvement

Setting Spending Limits

Many kids' debit cards let parents set limits on how much kids can spend per month with their debit card. Parents can use this to jumpstart conversations with their child or teen on how much they want to save per month, which in turn helps kids learn how to budget.

Tracking Transactions and Balances

Many debit cards for kids also allow parents to their child's purchases and account balances. This can help parents make sure that their kids are making strong financial decisions, limit overspending, and give parents peace of mind.

Engaging in Financial Discussions

Ultimately, one of the best ways to teach kids about money management is to be willing to sit down and talk about it with them. Kids' debit cards help parents start conversations with their child about finances, especially if the cards include financial literary tools. These conversations can be practical, focusing on how much money the child has and spending and saving strategies, or theoretical, using financial lessons the debit cards offers.

Giving your child a reason to start caring about finances makes conversations like these much easier to start, and a debit card is one of the ways you can do that.

How to Choose the Right Debit Card for Your Child

Ultimately, you'll want to consider your budget, along with what tools are right for your kid. If your child is on the younger side, you might not care as much about financial literacy lessons that your child might not be ready for, but you might care more about how strong the card's monitoring tools are. If your child is older, you might not need quite as intense monitoring tools, but those financial literacy lessons might be more useful.

Before you start looking for a card, sit down with your child and talk about what both of you want from the debit card. Keep in mind that, the more tools and resources the card comes with, the higher the price will probably be.

Why You Should Trust Us: Experts' Advice on the Best Kids' Debit Cards

We consulted banking and financial planning experts to inform these picks and provide their advice on finding the best kids' debit card for your needs.

• Sophia Acevedo, banking editor, Business Insider
• Mykail James, MBA, certified financial education instructor,BoujieBudgets.com

Here's what they had to say about kids' debit cards. (Some text may be lightly edited for clarity.)

Is a kids' debit card worth it?

Mykail James, MBA, certified financial education instructor,BoujieBudgets.com:

"I think that these are great options to get children to start being a little bit more financially focused. It's a wonderful way to help them understand how to stick within a budget. That's actually how my mother taught me how to budget. She would give us a prepaid debit card for Christmas."

Sophia Acevedo, banking editor, Business Insider:

"Kids' debit cards can be useful to teach kids about spending. It's a simple way of teaching them to make financial decisions while still being able to monitor and control their usage. A lot of kids' debit cards have tools or features that let you set limits or alerts for parents."

What should I look for in a kids' debit card?

Mykail James, MBA, CFEI:

"I like the ones that have an app where you can see how much money is in the account."

Sophia Acevedo, Business Insider:

"I would look at any fees needed to maintain the account. You might have to pay a fee for each time you load money into a card or a monthly service fee. Some debit cards also may also have age requirements."

Methodology: How Did We Choose the Best Kids' Debit Cards?

We examined over a dozen kids' debit cards before selecting our favorites. We wanted to provide you with options, so we compared various features and services to find the standouts for each category.

For every debit card, we looked at how it could be used. For example, you should be able to use a debit card for both online purchases and in-store purchases, as well as at ATMs. If a card had a special perk like a budgeting app or parental monitoring features, we took that into consideration, too.

Kids' debit cards may often have monthly service fees, but we chose ones that are pretty manageable. We looked at charges for signing up for a card, reloading money, or using an ATM, to find options that didn't charge high fees. If debit cards have tiered-bank account options we compared different price points and features for each plan.

Lastly, we also reviewed each institution's privacy policy and debit card security features. We took into account whether a card had purchase protection or let parents block purchases. If the debit card was linked to a bank account, we review whether it the bank account was FDIC insured.