Greenlight vs. Current [2024]: Is Paying for a Kids’ Debit Card Worth It?

Both Greenlight and Current put kids in the driver’s seat of their finances with parents operating as a co-pilot. Kids can make spending decisions, but parents still have ultimate control should kids need a spending limit, a merchant blocked, or money transferred. Here’s how they stack up.

Card type	Debit card	Debit card
Payment network	Mastercard	Visa
Monthly fee	Greenlight Core - $4.99 Greenlight Max - $9.98 Greenlight Infinity - $14.98	None
Age requirement	No minimum age	13
Free trial	Yes, 30 days	No

What is Greenlight?

Greenlight is a fintech company that offers debit cards for kids with tools that can help parents teach lessons on earning, saving, and investing. The savings account earns interest of 2% - 5% annually, depending on the chosen plan.

With a Greenlight account, you can:

• Track your child’s spending
• Set controls on where they can shop
• Turn the card on and off
• Set up direct deposit for your teen’s paycheck
• Set up purchase round-ups
• Instantly add money from a linked bank account
• Set up automatic weekly transfers
• Set up required chores tied to an allowance

Greenlight plans range from $5.99/month to $14.98/month. The main difference between the plans revolves around whether you want an investment option, how much annual interest you want your child to earn (non-parent paid), and if you need safety features, such as family location sharing, but my family gets those services for free with apps like Life360, so the highest plan likely isn’t worth the cost.

Debit cards through Greenlight are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., and this means up to $250,000 of the cash is covered if the company closes. Upgrading your account to Greenlight Max or Greenlight Infinity unlocks additional features and protections. Under the Greenlight Max plan, your child gets the perks of the debit card, plus the capability to invest in fractional shares with no trading fees.

Under the Greenlight Max plan, your family can also benefit from identity theft monitoring, cell phone protection that covers phone damage or theft, and purchase protection that may cover repair or replacement of items if something your child buys is broken or stolen.

For a full breakdown of Greenlight features, read our Greenlight review.

... Get a one-month free trial of Greenlight

What is Current?

Unlike Greenlight, Current is an online bank for anyone, not just teens. However, they offer one of the best free debit cards for kids as a Teen Account that includes a debit card and an app with parental controls.

With Current, you can:

• Choose how much your child can spend per day
• Limit shopping at certain merchants
• Set up automatic transfers
• Create a weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly allowance
• Set up direct deposit for your teen’s paycheck
• Get immediate release of gas station authorization holds

Parents have two ways to fund a Current Teen Account:

• Link an external bank account to transfer funds, which can take 3 to 5 business days
• Open an individual Current account and transfers to your teen are instant

For a full breakdown of Current features, read our Current review.

Greenlight vs. Current

Where Greenlight excels:

• Kids can earn interest on their balances: Even if you don’t pay parent-paid interest, kids can earn a small amount of interest on their balance no matter the plan you choose. This is a great way to show kids the value in compound interest as their earnings grow.
• Kids can earn cashback on purchases: You can start early, teaching kids the value of cash back even on necessary purchases. Who knows, you may set them up for a lifetime of enjoying the best reward credit cards.
• Educational content: I’m a firm believer that real-life experience is the best way to learn about budgeting, but there’s value in educational content, especially the games, podcasts, and Kahoot lessons Greenlight offers.
• Kids can invest: It may sound scary to let a kid invest, but Greenlight does it in a way that ensures there’s parental consent before any transactions take place, and kids only need $1 to start.

Where Current excels:

• No monthly fee: Greenlight can get pricey with plans starting at $5.99 a month, but Current doesn’t charge a monthly fee. They also don’t have any minimum balance requirements.
• Budgeting: I believe the earlier teens learn to budget, the easier it is to make it a part of their adult routine. Current offers the option to set up a budget for a single expense, which is the perfect way to start learning.
• Instant purchase notification: The moment your teen makes a purchase, you can receive an alert. This can help you keep your teen on track, and lock the card if you notice anything unusual.

Where they’re similar:

• Parental controls: Letting kids learn to manage their money is a great way to help them learn, but parental controls are a nice feature to ensure they don’t go overboard or make big financial mistakes, and both apps allow this.
• Allowance: Greenlight and Current allow parents to pay allowance a single time or set up recurring payments based on completed chores.
• Savings roundup: Teaching kids small ways to save can add up, which makes the savings roundup feature Greenlight and Current offer a big help.
• Pricing transparency: Greenlight has a monthly fee, and Current doesn’t, but they are both transparent about the fees charged, such as the $2.50 out-of-network ATM fee, Current charges.

Which debit card is best for your kids?

When comparing Greenlight vs. Current, the right one for you comes down to what features you want.

When Current makes the most sense

If you’re simply looking for a way to send money to your child so they can have cash for lunch, gas, or the occasional shopping trip, Current offers this without racking up high fees. Even the basic Greenlight plan will cost $60 a year, whereas Current is free. Greenlight’s fees aren’t worth it if you just make the occasional transfer and they aren’t urgent.

Why you might prefer Greenlight instead

However, if you want instant transfers, educational content, or the ability to teach your child how to invest, Greenlight offers these features and more, again for a fee.

I think the biggest deal is the instant transfers, especially for teens. For example, if you have a new driver out there and he needs gas now, you can’t wait three to four days for a transfer to complete; he needs the money instantly. Unless you (the parent) have a Current account, a transfer can take three to four days, whereas Greenlight transfers are instant.

Overall, the Current debit card is good for day-to-day spending, but the Greenlight is a better tool for educational content, investing, and immediate transfers.

FAQs

Greenlight vs. Current: bottom line

You can’t go wrong with Greenlight or Current because opening either account means you’re teaching your kids about money. Although hypothetical lessons about money could be a good starting point, at some point, it’ll be time for them to get some practice with their own cold-hard cash.

Greenlight and Current both make it easy to introduce children and teens to managing money with your oversight. Current teen banking could be a good choice if you’re looking for an account with parental controls to transfer cash and teach everyday spending lessons.

Greenlight offers the option to invest, and that could make it the better choice if your goal is to teach them about long-term saving and wealth-building. Greenlight is also open to kids of all ages and not just teens, so if your kid is under 13 years old, it could be the better fit.