Image credits: Venmo
Venmo announced today that it is introducing accounts for teens, allowing parents and legal guardians to open a Venmo account for their teen so they can send and receive money. The account, which has no monthly fees, also comes with a Venmo Teen debit card. Each Venmo Teen Account is linked to and managed by the parent’s personal Venmo account, but the teen’s account has a separate balance from the parent’s account.
A Venmo Teen Account allows parents to monitor transactions, manage privacy settings, and send money to teens. Teens can track their own spending in the Venmo app and may be eligible to receive direct deposits, allowing money to be paid directly into a Teen’s Venmo account from an after-school job, for example.
Parents can choose to give their teen access to the Venmo app. They can view a Teen’s Venmo account balance and transaction history, manage a Teen’s debit card PIN, lock and unlock a debit card, review their friends list and prevent users from interacting with the account. Parents can monitor up to five Venmo Teen accounts from their personal Venmo account. Although parents cannot prevent payments from their teens, they are automatically alerted to them.
It should be noted that teens do not have access to some of the features that come with a standard Venmo account, such as encryption. Venmo says it doesn’t currently plan to add any additional functionality to teen accounts, such as savings accounts or budgeting tools.
Erica Sanchez, vice president and general manager at Venmo, said in a statement. “For parents or legal guardians, a Venmo Teen Account allows them to give their teen some financial flexibility, while giving them parental controls and highlighting their teen’s spending habits.”
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Image credits: Venmo
The company says research shows more than 45% of Generation Z would prefer to have a conversation with an adult to learn about personal finance, and more than 50% of parents are interested in using an app to help their kids learn about money management. Venmo says the Teen Debit Card and Venmo Teen Account can help parents and teens build money management skills together.
To get started, parents must sign up for a Venmo Teen account on behalf of their teen. They can do this by going to the “Me” screen of the Venmo app, tapping their name in the top-right corner, and then selecting “Create Teen Account” from the drop-down menu. Parents can select the color of the teen’s debit card, and enter information about their teen, such as name, date of birth, and address.
It should be noted that Venmo seems to have been planning this launch for quite some time. Back in 2020, Venmo was spotted prototyping a new feature that would allow adult users to open a teen debit card linked to their account.
By delving into teen banking, the company could create a new reason for adults to sign up for Venmo. The service is already a popular way for teens to split the bill for things like Uber rides or dinners, so it only makes sense that the company would offer social banking to a teen demographic. However, Venmo is way behind in the teen debit card market. Startups like Greenlight and Step allow parents to manage their teen’s spending on personalized debit cards.
The Venmo Teen Account is rolling out to select customers next month and will be widely available in the coming weeks.
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