Cultivating Financial Savvy and Customer Loyalty: Debit Products for Kids and Teens

Debit products aimed at kids and teenagers are highly useful financial services: They allow parents to help their kids build strong financial habits and offer a pathway to deeper relationships between financial institutions and families. Several large banks, fintechs, and P2P platforms offer such products, and they compete on a range of features, including enrollment, fees, and how the accounts are funded, as well as the tools and parental controls that come with the accounts. 

This Javelin Strategy & Research report looks at the offerings and assesses their strengths and weaknesses. Financial services providers have a real opportunity in this arena to help parents with the task of cultivating good financial habits in their kids, to gain deeper relationships with families, and to appeal to young people with age-appropriate features.

Key questions discussed in this report: 

• How can youth-oriented debit products help kids and teens learn better money management? 
• How can youth-oriented debit products drive deeper customer relationships and engagement? 
• What are the most valuable features and best practices for youth-oriented debit products? 
• How can financial institutions expand their relationships into the household?

Companies Mentioned: 

Apple Cash Family, Capital One, Cash App, Chase, Citizen’s Bank, GoHenry, Greenlight, Jassby, Kachinga, Venmo, Wells Fargo