Current vs. Jassby [Which Kids’ Debit Card is Better?]

Parenting involves a delicate balance of letting your children make their own decisions while preventing any catastrophes. You might let your kids choose what to eat for dinner, but veto ice cream being the entire meal. A kids’ debit card is an excellent way to let your child make financial decisions, but within reason. But, since you’ve found your way to this article, you’re likely sold on the idea of a kids’ debit card and just can’t figure out if Current or Jassby is a better option. I’m here to help. Today, I’m going to provide detailed looks into each card. After an overview, I’ll outline the costs, noteworthy features, and more. Just in case neither card seems like the perfect fit for your family, I’ll also highlight a few other highly competitive debit cards worth consideration.

Current vs. Jassby Comparison

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Current Overview

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• 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. Related: The 5 Best Brokerage Accounts for Teens

Current Plans + Costs

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Current is a completely free card, so there’s only one “plan” of which to speak: 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

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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]

Jassby Overview

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• Available: Sign up here

Jassby is a mobile wallet app that families can use to manage chores, allowance payments, and money spent on the company’s flexible virtual and physical debit cards. When you open a Jassby account, you receive digital debit cards that can be used online, as well as in-store anywhere Apple Pay, Google Pay, or Samsung Pay is accepted. But for extra flexibility, parents can order physical debit cards for their children that are good to use anywhere Mastercard is accepted. Parents transfer money to their children’s Jassby debit cards via a linked bank account or debit card. Parents can receive real-time spending notifications, monitor the account, track purchases, block certain spending categories, and instantly lock or unlock their kids’ debit cards as needed. The app also allows parents and guardians to share money with their kids while teaching them valuable financial literacy skills. Jassby offers courses, videos, games, and more through its Jassby University feature. Jassby has an easy-to-use allowance function—just pick the amount, distribution (Spending and/or Saving account), frequency, and day of the week or month. Kids can also learn the merits of earning through Jassby through Activities (chores), or they can earn Jassby Rewards by logging into their accounts, receiving allowance, or even by completing Jassby University courses. (100 points = $1, which can be automatically transferred to the Jassby Spending account.) There is no minimum age requirement to use the Jassby card, but Jassby says most kid members are between the ages of 8 and 17. Related: Best Savings Accounts for Kids [Children’s Bank Accounts]

Jassby Plans + Costs

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Jassby has just one paid subscription tier. The monthly fee is waived for the first month of service. Those who created Essential Plan accounts before April 1, 2023, are grandfathered in at a rate of $3.95 per month. Replacement cards cost $4.95 plus tax. Related: 25 Best Jobs for 15-Year Olds

Jassby Features

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These are some of the most prominent features of Jassby. The account aims to be easy to use for both kids and adults.

Jassby Card

The Jassby card you receive upon opening your account is digital-only—you can receive a physical Mastercard debit card for free, but you must request it. Both forms are accepted anywhere Mastercard is accepted. The digital card can be used online, and it can also be added to Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay for use in stores and other in-person locations. The physical card can be used both online and at in-store locations. One Jassby account allows you to have up to six cards. And unlike many accounts that provide one parent card and all remaining cards for kids, you can spread Jassby’s six cards across multiple children and multiple adults.

Parental Controls

Jassby has several parental controls worth mentioning. Jassby automatically restricts kid spending for anything categorized as dating services, liquor stores, lottery/gambling, and money transfers. Parents can also manually restrict certain spending categories, including clothing stores, digital goods, restaurants, and retail stores. Parents can monitor transactions, receive spending notifications, and quickly lock and unlock the card from the app. Jassby doesn’t offer dollar-amount controls. But because kids can only spend what’s in the account, parents can limit spending simply by managing how much money is in their children’s accounts.

Financial Literacy

Jassby University is the app’s robust financial literacy feature. Lessons include topics on saving, budgeting, and more. This all feeds a proprietary Jassby Financial Literacy score that reflects their progress, and kids are rewarded with points as they learn. Related: Best Stock Trading Apps for Under 18 [Stock Apps]

Rewards

Speaking of points, Jassby Rewards are a great motivator. Kids can earn points by doing basic financial actions such as logging into their accounts every week, making transactions, and receiving allowance. Plus, as I just mentioned, they can also earn points by learning about money. Jassby’s points system allows a kid to redeem 100 points for $1, which is put into their Jassby Spending account.

Giving Back

Through Jassby, kids can see how donating small amounts of money to a charity can make a difference, helping parents teach their children the importance of giving back. (Note: When kids go to the Charity section of the app, they will be sent to an external link listing charities—so don’t be surprised when it seems like you’re exiting.) You can sign up for Jassby here. Related: Best Investments for Teenagers [What to Invest In as a Teen]

Current vs. Axos First Checking: Our Editors’ Choice Is …

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While Jassby is a solid kid’s debit card option, Current offers more to its users. Current makes it simple for minors to save through Round-Ups and the money in Savings Pods helps their account balance grow. Other features offered by Current that Jassby doesn’t provide include spending insights, gas hold removals, cash reloads (fee applies), and ATM access. Perhaps most compelling is that Current charges no monthly fee, while Jassby costs $5.95/month. Jassby does have a couple of features that Current is missing though. The app provides courses, videos, quizzes, and games to help kids learn financial concepts. It also instills a sense of giving by letting kids donate to charities of their choice. Still, Current is the better option for most families. 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. Related: 26 Best Online Jobs for Teens [Earn Money at Home, Age 13+]

Other Debit Cards for Kids to Consider

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If you’re still not convinced on Current or Jassby, 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	1 month free. Core: $4.99/mo. Max: $9.98/mo. Infinity: $14.98/mo. (Each plan supports up to 5 children.)	Free 1-month trial
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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