Verizon introduces a children's money management app
Verizon Family Money includes a spending card and savings account and is free for 30 days.
- I've been covering technology and mobile for 12 years, first as a telecommunications reporter and assistant editor at ZDNet in Australia, then as CNET's West Coast head of breaking news, and now in the Thought Leadership team.
Verizon is touting a new initiative it says is meant to help improve kids' financial literacy, helping them save, earn and spend sensibly with a prepaid Visa card and app. Verizon Family Money will include a spending account and savings vault, with parents able to monitor and cap spending, and set up allowance deposits, the company said Tuesday.
The app will track spending and give real-time spending alerts to parents, and it'll let kids tick off chores for rewards from parents and build savings.
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Verizon and non-Verizon customers can try out the app and account for free for 30 days, after which it costs $6 per month. The fee includes accounts for up to five children aged between 8 and 17 years old.
"With Family Money, we're showing what's possible when tech and financial services come together," said Todd Oberstein, Verizon's executive director of product management and development. "It's the perfect way to help kids learn the ins and outs of managing money."
The Visa prepaid card is issued by Metropolitan Commercial Bank, and Verizon partnered with digital banking platform Galileo to create the app.