Would you give your teen a prepaid debit card?

Article courtesy of: http://choresandallowances.blogspot.com/

My oldest son Ryan is only ten and a half, and I’m already considering getting him a debit card. Every other week when my husband gets paid, the boys get their age in dollars for allowance. So Ryan gets $10 every two weeks, Nathan gets $8.00. Nathan has me run him right over to Target for the latest action figure, Ryan saves his. He has $60.00 saved, and now I’m thinking instead of just handing him cash, why not get him a debit card that I can load his allowance on, and keep in my wallet, and he can use it to pay for whatever he ends up buying?

And then, in one of those fortuitous strokes of luck I seem to get every once in a while, I got hired through PayPerPost Direct to do a review of a program called PAYjr., which I wasn’t familiar with, but when I looked at the website, I couldn’t believe how perfect it is for our situation! PAYjr. has two programs available-the Chore and Allowance system, for younger kids, and the PAYjr. VISA Buxx Card for teens. Think of the VISA Buxx card as a Teen Credit Card, but with nowhere near the exorbitant fees of a regular credit card, and with none of the NSF fees of a bank debit card.

David Jones is a North Texas parent, and he quit a high-powered banking job to create PAYjr. , because he saw how banks took advantage of people with NSF fees, and especially teens. The PAYjr. card teaches teens to earn, spend, and save money, and it works like this: you log on to the website, and you create an account for your teen. You list the chores they will have to do, and then they have to log in and check them off as they are completed. You make deposits to your teen’s PAYjr. card to pay for the chores they complete, and you can both track the balances online.

Teach your teen how to manage money with a prepaid card now. Try the PAYjr Visa Buxx Card.

Why a prepaid debit card? Well for me, because I almost never carry cash anymore, I use my debit card for everything. So that’s what my boys are used to seeing me do, hand over plastic. Plus, the card is FDIC insured against unauthorized purchases, so there is no loss if the card gets lost or stolen. A PAYjr. card has much smaller fees too, compared to the monthly fees of a checking account/debit card, or a traditional credit card. Features of the PAYjr. prepaid card include:

* A one-time fee of $4.95 and 50 cents per load to the card.
* After that, $3.95 a month to continue using the card.
* No charge to activate the card, no postage or shipping and handling fee.
* Free access to the Chore and Allowance system
* A page where your teen can design the look of their card.
* Accepted wherever VISA, Interlink (point-of-sale transactions), and STAR (PIN-secured debit transactions) is accepted.

I think PAYjr. is a terrific program, and I applaud David Jones for recognizing what teens want- a cool card that looks like a credit card, but is cheaper, safer, and will actually teach them to stay OUT of debt. I plan on showing the website to Ryan, and seeing what he thinks about it. I’d much rather have him keep one plastic card in his room than a wad of cash, and I’d like him to see the benefits of doing extra chores in return for extra allowance. It’s a great system for both of us!