Parents and legal guardians can now open a Venmo account for their teenage children that also comes with a debit card
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US-based mobile payment service Venmo is to launch Venmo Teen Account, enabling P2P transfers and purchases, next month.
According to the press release, the mobile wallet owned by PayPal will introduce the new service targeting youth to select customers starting from June 2023. It will be widely available in the coming weeks.
The Venmo Teen Account shall be opened by parents and legal guardians who can monitor transactions, manage privacy settings, send money to their teens, and help children to create healthy money habits.
The new account will have no monthly fees. While the teen account is connected to and managed by a parent’s personal Venmo account, it has a separate balance and a customizable Venmo Teen Debit Card attached. Besides, teens themselves can track their own spending in the Venmo app and receive direct deposits from an after-school job, for example.
As for limitations, teens can’t access crypto services that come with a standard Venmo account. Besides, Venmo doesn’t currently plan to add any additional functionality for teen accounts, such as savings or budgeting tools.
At the same time, the range of parental controls is quite extensive. For instance, parents can choose whether to grant their teens access to the Venmo app, view the account balance and transaction history, manage the Teen Debit Card’s PIN, lock and unlock the debit card, review their friends’ list, and block users from interacting with the account. Although they can’t block their teens’ payments, parents get automatic alerts regarding every transaction.
Conveniently for big families, parents can monitor up to five Venmo Teen Accounts from their personal Venmo account.
The company decided to launch the new service, as statistics show that 86% of Gen Z are interested in using the Venmo app to learn about personal finance, while over 50% of parents are interested in using an app to help their children learn about money management.
While the service is already a popular way for younger people to split the bill for Uber rides or dinner, the new dedicated teen accounts might further drive Venmo adoption among the younger cohort.
