Kids’ debit cards are becoming more competitive than ever before and that’s great news for parents! Since you’ve found your way here, you’ve likely stumbled upon BusyKid and Current’s debit cards for kids. Now you just need to decide which card is a better fit for your family.
I can help. I’ve gathered and compared information on all of today’s top kids’ debit debits.
Today, I’m going to pit BusyKid against Current. For each card, I’ll provide an overview, costs, and break down the notable features. For the indecisive people in the bunch, there will be a clear recommendation. And just in case you’re curious about what else is out there, I’ll highlight a few other highly competitive kids’ debit cards.
BusyKid vs. Current Comparison
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|---|---|---|
| WealthUp Rating | ☆ 4.0 / 5 | ☆ 3.8 / 5 |
| App Store Rating | ☆ 3.4 / 5 | ☆ 4.7 / 5 |
| Price* | $48/yr. | No monthly fees |
| Billing | Annually | N/A |
| Special Offer | Free 30-day trial | N/A |
| Allowed Cards Per Subscription | 5 | 1 |
| Minimum Age** | No | No |
| Features That Make This Card Stand Apart | Low price compared to other kids' paid debit cards | Spending insights through money management tools, gas hold removals |
Basics |  | |
| Spending | Yes | Yes |
| Saving | Yes | Yes |
| Investing | Yes (Stocks and ETFs) | No |
| Giving/Donating | Yes | No |
Funding | | |
| Funding Source(s) | Checking account, debit, or credit card | Bank account, debit card, check, third-party app, cash |
| Direct Deposit | No | No |
| Allowance | Yes | Yes |
| Chores | Yes | Yes |
| Gifting | Yes ($1/transfer) | Yes |
| Cash Reload Fee | N/A (No cash reload) | $3.50 per transaction |
Saving/Spending | | |
| Savings APY | None | N/A |
| Round-Ups | No | Yes |
| Other Savings Features | Parental Match | None |
| ATM Network | Allpoint (55,000+ ATMs) | Allpoint (40,000+ ATMs) |
| ATM Transaction Fee | $1.50 (Operator fee may apply at out-of-network ATMs) | $0 (Operator fee may apply at out-of-network ATMs) |
| Card Network | Visa | Visa |
| Compatible Mobile Wallets | Apple Pay, Google Pay | Apple Pay, Google Pay |
Parents | | |
| Parental Controls | Medium (Limited transfers from app to card) | Medium (Spending limits, transaction type-level controls) |
| Parental Monitoring | Yes | Yes |
| Parental Notifications | Yes | Yes |
Other Features | | |
| Cash Back | No | No |
| Builds Credit | No | No |
| Customization options | Select from 10+ preselected designs | No |
| Refund Policy | 30-day money-back guarantee | N/A |
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| * Prices do not include processing fees when applicable. ** Many cards have different suggested minimum ages. We are only listing any hard-and-fast minimum age requirements. |
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BusyKid Overview
- Available: Sign up here
If you’re looking for prepaid debit cards for kids that let your kids spend while learning about money, and lets you pay them allowance, consider the award-winning BusyKid app and the connected BusyKid Visa Spend Card.
BusyKid started as an easy-to-use, interactive chore app but has since added a prepaid debit card for kids that allows your children to spend their money both in person and online. Better still: Your children can earn money by completing chores and other tasks around the house, then use the app to learn valuable financial skills, such as budgeting, saving, and even giving back.
Parents can pay allowance on an ad hoc basis, or they can set up Auto-Allowance. When parents add to their children’s accounts, that money can be split among their Save/Invest, Share, and Spend allocations:
- Save/Invest: Parents can automatically allocate money toward a savings basket, and they can also match any money their children elect to save.
- Spend: When your kid is ready for a little independence, they can spend from this account using BusyKid’s Visa Spend Card.
- Share: Children can choose which charities they would like to give money to, and parents must approve before the cash is transferred.
Parents aren’t the only people who can add money to children’s BusyKid accounts. With BusyPay, parents can share a simple QR code that allows grandparents, aunts, uncles, other family members, and even friends to add money—whether it’s a birthday present or a payment for chores. BusyKid charges the giver a $1 fee plus any credit card or bank transaction costs.
BusyKid also allows children to invest their earnings through the app. Doing so requires setting up a separate Apex Clearing account. Children can choose to invest in hundreds of stocks and ETFs with as little as $10.
BusyKid has no minimum age requirement.
In addition to the $4 monthly subscription, BusyKid charges other fees, including 50¢ per declined transaction, $5 for a card reissue, and a $5 monthly fee for paper statements.
- BusyKid is an award-winning, parent-approved app that educates kids about money.
- Parents can pay allowance on an ad hoc basis, or they can set up Auto-Allowance.
- Parents can split allowance money across Save (and even match money in the Save category), Spend (which kids can access with their Visa Spend Card), and Donate (children can choose charities to donate to; parents must approve).
- Parents can set up a separate Apex Clearing brokerage account to allow their children to invest earnings through BusyKid, with as little as $10.
- Feature-heavy allowance function
- Offers investment functionality
- Combines several kid-focused financial needs in one app
- Charges a fee
- Lower customer user ratings than competitors
Related: Best Greenlight Alternatives
BusyKid Plans + Costs
BusyKid has a simple, single subscription tier that costs $3.99 per month, which is billed annually, so you pay $38.99 once per year.
| Plan | Monthly Fee | Features Offered Under Plan |
|---|---|---|
| BusyKid | $4/mo. (Billed annually, so $48/yr.) | - BusyKid Visa Spend Cards for up to five kids - Core financial tools - Parental controls - Chores - Allowance - Savings matches - Ability to earn, save, spend, invest and give |
Also, people outside of the BusyKid account who want to send money to a child must pay a $1 fee per transaction.
Past that, BusyKid’s other fees are pretty standard and minimal. For instance, it charges a $5 replacement-card fee and a 50-cent domestic fee for declined charges.
If you’re not satisfied, BusyKid provides a 30-day subscription-back guarantee. While it sounds nice, that’s actually a step down from most other cards. I’ve reviewed more than a dozen kid-focused cards, and most of them offer 30-day/one-month free trials—meaning you don’t have to spend anything until you’re sure you’re happy with the product. But with BusyKid, you have to pay up front, then ask for a refund if you’re not happy. It’s a small difference, but one I think is worth noting.
BusyKid Features
Below, I’ve listed a number of BusyKid’s most prominent features. Like with all debit cards aimed at children and teens, some of these features are for the kids, but others are meant to keep parents happy (and sane).
BusyKid Visa Spend Card
The BusyKid Visa Spend Card is a prepaid debit card that acts as the physical central point of the BusyKid experience. Each BusyKid subscription comes with up to five of these kids’ debit cards, which are intended for use by children ages 5 through 17.
Kids can choose from a small selection of more than 10 designs.
The adults can instantly transfer funds at any time. Kids have to follow the set spending limits, so they can’t overspend as they learn money management skills.
Every debit card is backed by the Visa Zero Liability guarantee, which means if your kid’s card gets lost or stolen, or misplaced and fraudulent charges crop up, you can dispute the charges within a certain time frame to avoid liability for paying.
Related: Best Money Apps for Kids
Parental Controls
Parental controls are essential for parents who want to retain some peace of mind while their kids develop money management skills.
With BusyKid, parents can monitor all transactions made either in the app or with the BusyKid Visa Spend Card.
BusyKid’s parental controls are pretty rudimentary. By using the “Lock Money Transfers” feature, parents can prevent their kids from transferring money among their Save, Share, and Spend areas. Kids will still be able to use the money in these accounts, but each transaction will require a parent’s approval.
Chores + Allowance
Some parents like to pay an allowance to their younger children, and this might or might not be connected to chore completion. BusyKid allows you to pay an allowance to and/or set chores up for your child. For chores, parents can set up their own chores and payment amounts, or they can use BusyKid’s preset chore chart, where chores and allowance are preset based on a child’s age. As kids complete their chores, they can click “I did it!” inside the BusyKid app.
BusyKid pays kids each Friday based on any chores the child has marked “Done” since the previous Friday. Parents will be notified and asked to approve; when it is, it will be deposited into the child’s various account areas depending on how their allocations were set up.
BusyPay
The BusyPay feature lets family and friends instantly send money to a BusyKid account, whether it’s as a birthday or holiday gift, payment for helping out, or just because. It’s easy, too—a child just has to share a QR code, and anyone can pay them. (Note: The payer is charged a $1 fee to use this feature.)
Related: How to Get Free Money [Ways to Earn Money]
Bonuses + Savings Matches
Several BusyKid features help your children accelerate their earning and saving.
For instance, let’s say your teen stepped up to babysit a younger sibling, or one of your kids got a perfect report card—BusyKid allows parents to pay a bonus to any of their kid’s account areas or even directly to the BusyKid Spend Card.
Parents can also establish a savings match, which is similar to a 401(k) match. Parents simply select a weekly percentage match, or a monthly max that’s dividend equally across all the weeks in a month, and BusyKid will transfer the appropriate amount of additional funds to the kid’s account based on how much they save.
Investing
Learning to invest is an important part of the personal finance journey. BusyKid helps children with that journey by providing commission-free stock trading.
BusyKid offers commission-free trading of stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs), allowing kids to start investing with as little as $10. BusyKid provides access to “hundreds” of popular stocks and ETFs—a considerably smaller selection than the thousands of stocks and ETFs available from traditional brokerage accounts, but a sufficient world of assets to get a child started.
Related: Best Stock Trading Apps for Teens Under 18
Charities
Parents who want to instill the importance of giving back to their children at a young age can allow their kids to donate a percentage of their allowances to charity. Kids can choose among roughly 50 charities, and BusyKid even welcomes suggestions for other charities to add.
You can sign up for BusyKid here.
Related: Best Credit Cards for Kids [Kid-Friendly Credit Cards]
Current Overview
- Available: Sign up here
The Current mobile banking app is designed with families in mind. It offers both adult and teen accounts—and the latter comes with a prepaid debit card that parents load for their children.
This kids’ debit card comes with fee-free ATM access, instant gas hold removals, Round-Ups, and more.
Current allows you to track your teen’s spending in real-time, set limits on how much your children can spend, and even block specific merchants on its Visa-enabled debit cards. You also get the peace of mind that comes with knowing your children’s money is safe because it’s not cash—no temptations, just a tool parents can use to help teach teens financial responsibility and sound money management skills.
Current doesn’t specifically state a minimum age requirement, but the company’s marketing suggests teens are the target audience. Still, you might be able to open an account for a younger child.
- Current is a financial technology platform that lets teens enjoy not just traditional banking basics, but numerous features meant to simplify spending, streamline saving, and set them on the path toward more organized finances.
- Teens can spend with the Current Visa debit card, which allows them to purchase in-store and online, as well as withdraw money fee-free from more than 40,000 in-network Allpoint ATMs.
- Current Teen Accounts also come with Savings Pods, which earn 0.25% APY and allow you to round up purchases (overages are funneled into your savings).
- Parents can monitor their kids' spending, adjust maximum ATM withdrawal and spending limits, and even toggle spending categories (and the Current debit card itself) on and off.
- Parents can also automate allowance payments, pay for chores, instantly transfer money to their teens, and more.
- Free account (no monthly maintenance fees)
- Good parental controls
- Fee-free ATMs
- Cash reloads
- Gas hold deposits
- 24/7 email and live-chat support
- No direct deposit
- No paired investment account
- No card customization
Related: The 5 Best Brokerage Accounts for Teens
Current Plans + Costs
Current is a completely free card, so there’s only one “plan” of which to speak:
| Plan | Monthly Fee | Features Offered Under Plan |
|---|---|---|
| Current Teen | N/A | - Current card - Parental controls - Allowance and chores - Savings Pods - Giving Pods - Round-Ups - Cash deposits - Gas hold removals |
A parent must create a free Current Individual Account to set up Current Teen Account. However, there are no minimum required balances, fees for transfers to other Current accounts, or in-network ATM fees.
Still, Current users might still incur a few fees, including:
- Out-of-network ATM usage ($2.50 per transaction)
- Foreign transactions (3% of the full transaction amount, minimum $0.50.)
- Late payment (3% of any total due balances outstanding and past due for two or more billing cycles)
- Cash reloads ($3.50)
Many users can avoid these fees, but it’s still good to keep them in mind.
Current Features
Current has several features that help it stand out from other debit cards for teens. Here are the most pertinent aspects you should know:
Current Card
The Current experience centers around the Current Visa debit card. Teens can use the Current debit card to shop both in stores or online, or to withdraw cash fee-free from more than 40,000 in-network Allpoint ATMs.
Parental Controls
Parents have several ways to limit their teens’ spending.
The cards automatically come with daily maximums of $500 for ATM withdrawals and $2,000 for spending, but parents can adjust these as they want.
Parents can also toggle certain spending categories (including ATMs) on and off, and even turn the card on and off, if necessary.
Allowance + Chores
Current has one of the most flexible allowance options available, allowing you to choose monthly, bi-weekly, weekly, and even daily money transfers! (I think daily is a little too frequent, but it’s there if you need it.) Simply set an amount, a funding source, start date, and frequency.
You can also assign chores to your teen (who must mark the chore as completed once they’re done with it), then pay them regularly on a weekly basis. But you have some optionality—you can pay your teen early, and you can also adjust payment if some chores aren’t completed on time.
Savings Pods
Each Current teen account comes with a Savings Pod, which is effectively a savings account—you can name it, set a goal amount, even add an image to it.
Related: Best Automatic Savings Apps + Accounts
Giving Pods
Want to instill the importance of giving back to your child? Current Teen Accounts come with a Giving Pod that allows your teenager to donate to their favorite charity.
Round-Ups
The Current card also offers basic Round-Ups, where every purchase is rounded up to the nearest dollar and the difference is stored in the Savings or Giving Pod. This makes saving simple and automatic.
Related: Best Round-Up Apps for Saving and Investing Instantly
Cash Deposits
Whether your child has a job that pays cash tips or receives money in celebratory cards, they can deposit that cash into their Current account at more than 60,000 stores nationwide, including popular retailers such as 7-Eleven, Dollar General, CVS Pharmacy, and more.
To find participating retailers, look at the “Add Cash” map. Once there, simply tell the cashier you want to deposit cash. Once the cashier scans the barcode, the funds are immediately available. Deposits can be up to $500 per transaction, though Current does charge a $3.50 cash reload fee.
Gas Hold Removals
Nobody likes having their money tied up, and that’s exactly what happens with gas holds, where a gas station puts a hold—usually of $50 or more—on your account until the transaction goes through. With the parent’s Current account, the teen can get instant gas hold removals.
Interested in Current? You can sign up here.
Related: Best Teen Checking Accounts [Banks for Teens]
BusyKid vs. Current: Our Editors’ Choice Is …
This is a close race, but in the end, BusyKid wins by a nose.
Don’t get me wrong—Current was a worthy contender. To start, Current charges no monthly fees, which is great for families on a budget. The account can help kids save with a low interest rate on savings and the ability to round up purchases to the nearest dollar. It also removes gas holds and lets kids reload cash onto their cards (for $3.50 per transaction), which may be useful.
But BusyKid’s features are a bit more valuable. Kids can choose from 10+ preselected designs to show off their personalities. There’s also the option for parents to motivate kids to save through a parental match. Kids can even give some of their allowance to charity.
The top feature that puts BusyKid ahead of Current, though, is the investing capabilities. Children are able to invest in stocks and ETFs without paying any commissions. Investing is a valuable skill and those who learn it at a young age have an advantage.
BusyKid is a paid account, but up to five kids are allowed per subscription, so the more kids you have, the better the deal. If you’re set on getting a free account, sign up for Current. It’ll cover your basic needs. But if you’re willing to pay for an account, you can try BusyKid for free for the first 30 days.
Though, to be absolutely blunt: Neither card is our top pick of kids’ debit cards. We highlight several cards we believe to be better options below, be it for cost reasons, feature sets or overall product quality.
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Our Pick: BusyKid
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Runner-Up: Current
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Primary Rating:
4.0
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Primary Rating:
3.8
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Related: 26 Best Online Jobs for Teens [Earn Money at Home, Age 13+]
Other Debit Cards for Kids to Consider
If you’re still not convinced on Step or GoHenry, you might want to look at these other highly rated options:
| App | Apple App Store Rating + Best For | Fees | Promotions |
|---|---|---|---|
 Greenlight | ☆ 4.8 / 5 Customer rating and parental controls | Core: $4.99/mo. Max: $9.98/mo. Infinity: $14.98/mo. (Each plan supports up to 5 children.) | None |
 Copper Banking | ☆ 4.9 / 5 Teen financial independence | Copper $4.95/mo., Copper + Invest: $7.95/mo. | 30 days free |
 GoHenry | ☆ 4.6 / 5 Accessible customer service support | 1 month free. Individual: $4.99/mo. Family (supports up to 4 children): $9.98/mo. | 1 month free |
 Revolut <18 | ☆ 4.7 / 5 Parent-paid bonuses | No monthly fees | None |
 Axos First Checking | ☆ 4.7 / 5 Teens ready to learn about money management | Free (no monthly fees) | None |
| *Apple App Store Rating as of April 1, 2024. | |||
Related:
- Best Credit Cards for Teens [Build Credit]
- 4 Best Ways to Save Money for Kids [Children’s Savings Plans]
- Best Investments for Beginners to Start Investing
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