Is Greenlight Legit and Safe?

Greenlight offers a financial app and debit card with no hidden fees. But is it safe for kids? Learn more about Greenlight's security features below.

When it comes to your kids, safety is the number one priority.

Greenlight is a banking app designed for children. It offers an all-in-one platform that teaches kids about money while giving them real-world experience.

But is it safe to send your kid money through this mobile app?

Take a closer look at Greenlight to find out if the app and debit card are secure enough for your family.

Is Greenlight Secure?

Greenlight offers a huge range of features to teach kids and teens about personal finance. The app offers recurring allowances, high savings reward, and investing.

Needless to say, you'll need some serious security measures to keep all that money and personal data safe.

Here's how Greenlight protects you and your child's accounts:^[1]

• Mastercard's Zero Liability Protection
  You aren't responsible for any fraud or unauthorized transactions on your account.

• FDIC insured
  Money in your Greenlight debit card is FDIC insured up to $250,000 through Community Federal Savings Bank.

• Data encryption
  Greenlight encrypts and hashes your data to ensure your private information stays private.

• Easy to lock/unlock card
  If you lose your card, you can immediately disable it from the mobile app.

• Real-time notifications
  Stay on top of every transaction with instant alerts. You can catch any suspicious activity right when it happens.

• Phone protection
  Greenlight offers coverage for damaged, lost, or stolen phones for up to 5 kids.

• Purchase protection
  Get coverage to repair or replace items that are stolen or damaged.

• Identity protection
  Greenlight offers identity theft monitoring and restoration for your entire family.

• 24/7 customer support team
  If you ever have an account-related emergency, you can call customer support any time at 888-483-2645.

Greenlight takes security very seriously—as any app for children should. Learn more about the app and what data it collects below.

How Does Greenlight Work?

Greenlight is a banking app and debit card that teaches kids how to manage money. It helps kids learn through fun, educational videos and lessons. Then, it encourages kids to apply what they learn in the app.

Kids can invest in fractional shares, set up savings goals, and earn allowances by completing chores. With the debit card, your kid can access their money anywhere Mastercard is accepted. There are no overdraft fees, and you can only spend the amount that's in your account.

Parents can also set spending limits on their kid's account. Want to limit your kid's spending at specific stores or for certain categories, like online gaming? You can do that right through the app.

To sign up for Greenlight, you'll need to provide some personal information, like your:^[2]

• Full name
  
• Address
  
• Date of birth
  
• Social Security number

Greenlight doesn't run a credit check when you sign up. But it does need to verify your identity. (It's required by law.)^[3]

Is the Greenlight Debit Card Safe for Kids?

A bit of freedom can help kids become more confident with handling money. But there could be such a thing as too much freedom.

The Greenlight debit card has a couple of built-in features to curb unnecessary spending:^[4]

• Unsafe spending categories are automatically blocked
  
• Customizable spend limits for specific stores or spending categories
  
• Customizable ATM withdrawal limits

Greenlight offers some of the most extensive parental controls in a debit card for kids. If you're nervous about letting your kid go out with a full bank account, this can give you a lot of peace of mind.

Greenlight Features

Greenlight offers many ways to use your account:

• Debit Card
  Easily access funds online, in store, or at an ATM. You can also get a personalized debit card with your kid's photo on it.

• Investing
  Users can buy fractional shares with as little as $1. Choose from more than 4,000 stocks and ETFs, and read insights from Morningstar.^[5]

• Education Content
  Fun videos, lessons, and quizzes teach kids about important concepts like budgeting, investing, and earning money.

• Chores and Allowances
  Kids can earn money responsibly by working hard and completing chores.

• Charitable Giving
  Greenlight lets you set aside money for charity. You can choose a charity and make donations right on the app.

• Cash Back and Savings
  Earn up to 1% cash back to savings on all purchases. Plus earn up to 5% on savings^[6]—perfect for learning about compound interest.

• Other Ways to Save
  Greenlight supports automatic savings round-ups, savings goals, and parent-paid interest.

• Parental Controls
  Fully customizable parental limits give you as much or as little control as you want.

How Much Does Greenlight Cost?

Greenlight comes packed with a lot of great features—but it doesn't come free.

There are three pricing tiers to choose from:^[7]

• Greenlight Core ($5.99/mo)
  Includes kids' debit card, basic banking, educational content, parental controls, financial literacy games, investing for parents with limited features, and 2% savings reward.

• Greenlight Max ($9.98/mo)
  Adds an investing platform and research tools for kids and parents, priority customer support, protection plans, cash back on purchases, and 3% savings reward.

• Greenlight Infinity ($14.98/mo)
  Adds family location sharing, crash detection, SOS alert, cash back, driving reports, real-time trip alerts, and 5% savings reward.

The monthly fee for each tier covers up to 5 kids and 2 adults per family. If you have a lot of kids, the cost ends up being pretty reasonable for all the features you get.

There are no hidden fees—everything is included with the monthly fee.^[8]

Greenlight Complaints

Greenlight is a legitimate company with a good reputation. But it's useful to understand the issues some customers have.

Like many apps, there are occasional bugs. There have also been complaints of allowances continuing to pay even after they've been paused. Other users report difficulties with syncing bank accounts to Greenlight.

Overall, the app seems to be well-liked by customers. For every negative review, there are dozens of positive ones from satisfied customers.

Bottom Line

Greenlight is a safe and secure banking app for kids and teens. The app uses a combination of different security features to keep your account and your personal data safe. Plus, it even offers active identity theft monitoring with the Greenlight Max plan.

Of course, there's always a risk when you use any app that collects sensitive information. But rest assured that Greenlight takes security very seriously to protect your account.

References