Let me start by saying that I like the Green Light card.
I have nothing against them.
It’s an intelligent product and is much needed to help create awareness and personal financial responsibility for our kids.
I’m a big proponent of this and I’ll provide you my Greenlight Card Review in this article.
But I found something better. Step… (that’s my son Dylan’s link that gets you $5 if you want to use it!)
Unused Features of the Greenlight Card
My son was not taking full advantage of what the Greenlight card had to offer.
He was not splitting his money into different categories like savings.
The emails sent out by Green Light with valuable tips and information weren’t being paid attention to.
We did not have an issue with where he was spending his money, so we did not need to monitor and control his spending at different locations.
Therefore, we were paying $5 per month for a product that I thought was very simple and should be free, so I set out to find an alternative to the Greenlight card.
Alternative to the Greenlight Card
Finding an alternative to Greenlight turned out to be more difficult than I expected.
At first, I thought that easily we could use the Cash App or Venmo, (those are referral links) and I could set him up with it.
While I use both of these and highly recommend them, they’re not the best for younger teens.
You have to be 18 years old to use these products.
I even thought that possibly I could set up a second cash app under my name and just let him use that card. I would send funds to it, and it would be his that he could use.
Setting up an account in my name could have caused a bit of confusion since I already had an account.
So I thought I would do a bit more searching to see what other products I could find out there.
And then I found Step (that’s a link that gives you $3 if you want to try it out).
Step vs. Greenlight
Step is doing precisely what the Greenlight card does, yet it does not charge a monthly fee.
It makes its money from the merchants anytime you use the debit card at that Merchant.
It is partnered with a bank so that your money is protected with FDIC insurance.
It works the same as Green Light, because I can see the purchases made by my child.
While we can’t control spending at specific businesses, we can still monitor and see exactly where the money is spent.
We also can instantly lock the card, which is a great feature.
If you would like to give Step a try, here is a link (my son Dylan’s link) to provide you with $5 for FREE.
I have been delighted with what I’ve seen so far, and I’m glad to save the $60 per year (our annual cost for Greenlight) for exactly the same product.
**If you’re a parent and want to build your credit for yourself or your teen, you can additionally apply for one of these cards.
Greenlight Customer Service
When you cancel your Green Light, the only way to do it is via a phone call.
Bad move.
If there’s one thing you can do to make a frustrated customer that wants to cancel more frustrated, make it difficult for them to cancel.
It’s a routed international call center with non-native English speakers.
When English isn’t a speaker’s first language, it doesn’t bother me, but this can make some people frustrated.
As consumers, we want to reduce friction and be able to click a button to cancel.
I mean, check out this awesome-looking espresso on Amazon and see how many clicks it takes you to make a purchase and have it on its way.
Not many.
As a business decision, maybe it’s wise for them to do it this way as it forces you to call so that they can try to keep you as a customer.
I still say it’s a bad move for the Greenlight customer service team.
I had already found Step before I called to cancel our Greenlight account.
They tried to offer me up to three months of the service for free to stay with them.
I went ahead and canceled.
My son has been using Step for a few months now and we’re both pleased.
He doesn’t care which card he uses and I get to save $60.
Good luck!
Disclosure: this article might contain links to the resources discussed.
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