While studies continue to show the U.S. ranking far behind other major countries in regards to what kids know about personal finance, 49% of parents say they don’t know how to discuss money in ways they think their child would understand. BusyKid was created to help close the gap and provide parents a tool to drive home important financial skills.

BusyKid gives kids hands-on experience earning and managing money, but parents play a vital role in the process. Parents approve allowance earned, bonuses or when a child tries to take money outside the system (buy stock, get cash or add money to a BusyKid Spend Card). Kids have the freedom to move money between accounts and make purchases with the Spend Card without a parent giving their consent.

You can start using BusyKid without having a bank account or credit card linked as an allowance funding source, but eventually you’ll need to have one linked. Once an uncommon practice for consumers, it’s now done regularly by many Fortune 500 companies and local utilities.

While it’s free to link a bank account as an allowance funding source, there is a small transaction fee when using a credit card. The fee is 2.9% of the amount, plus $.30. So if you’re doing a $10 transaction, the fee would be $.59. Total cost of the transaction would then be shown as $10.59.

The majority of large financial institutions are listed but there is a slight chance yours is missing. In this case, search for your bank by typing the name in the space provided. If you still don’t see it listed, X-out of the screen and another window will pop up asking for more information.

The allowance you’ve paid your child is held in a BusyKid account at a FDIC insured bank for your benefit (Insured up to a balance of $250,000). BusyKid itself is not a bank therefore does not have an FDIC insurance number. We also make no money from the allowance being held.

The funds are FDIC-insured on a “pass through” basis, meaning that each individual user’s balance is protected by FDIC insurance, up to the limits established by the FDIC.

No, currently BusyKid is only available to families living in the United States. The only currency available in our system is the U.S. dollar.

The majority of the children will be paid every Friday. Currently, this is the only day allowance can be paid.

It’s easy! 1) Sign into the parent account. 2) From the drop down menu select “Manage Users”. 3) Add or delete someone. Currently, two parents can be on the account but only the main account holder is allowed to approve allowance.

1) Sign into the parent account. 2) From the drop down menu select “My Account”. 3) Scroll down to bottom of page and select “Cancel Subscription”. There is no penalty for cancelling but there are no partial refunds on a family subscription and no refunds on BusyKid Spend Cards. We will, however, return any money remaining in the accounts of your children.

Our process is … Parent must say YES to a Thursday morning text to trigger the payday process. If a YES is given within 2 hours of receiving the text, the child will be paid on Friday. If the parent responds after the two hours but before midnight Thursday, the child will be paid on Monday as long as it is not a holiday. If the parent fails to respond or says NO, the allowance amount to roll over to the following week.

Located on the parent and child dashboards, the Activity Register/Tab is where a parent or child can see every transaction (chores, money earned, shared or invested). This is also where a parent can disapprove payment for a chore not completed correctly. Remember, a chore is considered approved (and will be paid) unless a parent disapproves it.

A parent has the option to remove a chore or activity from the weekly allowance through the “Activity” Tab of the Parent Portal. Just disapprove the activity that wasn’t completed and the allowance total will automatically adjust. Remember, a chore is considered approved (and will be paid) unless a parent disapproves it.

Through the parent portal, just pick a child (or multiple children) and press the “Add Chores” button.

From the Parent Portal, pick the child or children and click one of the chores or activities listed below. When it pops up, you will have the option to edit or delete.

We have removed the guesswork from assigning chores by recommending plenty by age. As your child gets older, new chores and activities will be automatically uploaded. It’s also easy to add your own chores or activities inside the parent portal.

This can be accomplished within the kids account and clicking on the “SAVE” Tab and then selecting the “Get Cash” option. A parent can just move the desired amount back to the originating account.

Actual money only moves from your account on payday or when you pay your child a bonus.

As of right now, yes. We have attempted to set up BusyKid as the first job for your child. Since most teenagers will get paid weekly (or bi-weekly), we thought that each Friday would be a great starting point.

Everyone likes to be rewarded for a job well done, so provide your child a bonus by hitting the “Send a Bonus” button and add the amount you want to give. It will be posted to the account in 1-2 days.

The percentage which dictates how much money goes into each area can only be changed through the menu by a parent. Click “Allotment Settings” and place the percentage you want. The three areas can be any number you wish but must add up to 100%.

You may notice the weekly balance for a child going to $0 on Thursday … this is normal. This box represents the weekly allowance and if you said yes to the text, those fund are moved to a holding area in preparation for payday.

Allowance does not automatically go onto the BusyKid Spend Card. Your child will need to do this by pressing the “Transfer to Card” button and enter the amount to be moved. Then press the “Get Balance” button located on the card image to ensure the transfer was completed.

There are three options – Cash Out, Stock or the BusyKid Visa® Prepaid Spend Debit Card. To Cash Out, your child just presses the “Get Cash” button of the Spend area and the desired amount moves back to the parent account. The parent then provides the cash due. To buy Stock, your child will press the “Get Stock” button inside the Save area. Before using the BusyKid Spend Card, your child must load the card with funds from the Spend area. Just press the “Transfer To Card” button and money will move onto the card.

It’s really up to the parent. We have preset the percentages, but you can change them by pressing the “Edit Allocation Settings” on your child’s page in the parent portal.

No, but we believe that sharing is an important part of the basic financial principles and kids should be doing this from a young age. We have set the sharing at 10% each week, however a parent can change this percentage at any time by selecting “Edit Allocation Settings”.

No. When a child goes to make a donation, a text message will be sent to the parent that they would like to donate. Once you approve the transaction, the donation funds will be moved back to the parent account so a parent can make the donation.

You are not able to add one at this time. We have, however, partnered with several very special organizations who would appreciate the support. In time, you will have the ability to donate to their favorite charity or church.

Yes. All your child needs to do is press the “Move Money” button and pick where to move it. It’s important to know that there are no text messages to parents when money moves between these areas.

No. When your child selects the stock to be purchased, a parent will be asked to open a custodial account through our partner Stockpile. It’s also important to note that there are no transaction fees on buying stock when going through the BusyKid platform, but there is a small fee when selling stock through Stockpile.

In the parent dashboard, there is link to change the percentages. 1) Sign into the parent account and select child. 2) Above “Save” is an “Edit Allocation Setting” button in blue to select. 3) Select and then you can change amounts. Total combined percentage need to add up to 100%.

Yes, please contact us at feedback@busykid.com and we’ll contact the organization about joining our platform.

No. The first time your child selects a stock to be purchased, a parent will be asked to open a custodial account through our partner Stockpile. It’s also important to note that there are no transaction fees on buying stock when going through the BusyKid platform, but there is a small fee when selling stock through Stockpile.

The BusyKid Visa® Prepaid Spend Debit Card is a real reloadable Visa® debit card that can be used to make purchases. The card costs an additional $7.99 per child each year ($8.52 if using a credit card as a funding source) and it has the same protections (and limitations) as other reloadable Visa® prepaid debit cards. The $7.99 (or $8.52) is charged annually to allow the BusyKid account to be linked to the card. You may decide to opt-out of this service at any time but the money on the card will stay on the card until all spent. A card can be cancelled by calling 866-203-8721. By request, remaining funds can also be returned via check.

Members are not required to use the card, but it’s one of three ways to use the earned allowance.

Only for a BusyKid Spend Card. There are some additional pieces of information we are required to pass on to the card provider. This “standard” information does not reside with BusyKid but is needed for the sole purpose of identity verification and card (or cards) approval.

MONEY DOES NOT AUTOMATICALLY MOVE TO THE SPEND CARD. After you activate the BusyKid Spend Card, you will need to move money from the spend area to the card. This can be done by either the parent or the child, but the task must be completed from the child account. Once in the account, tap the spend box and this will bring up a button that says “Transfer to Card”. Tap the button and add the amount you want to move. PLEASE NOTE – you will not be allowed to move money from any other area directly to the spend card. Only the spend area.

Users may encounter fees when using these cards. These fees are:

– Card to Card Transfers $1.00

– Paper Statement (upon Request) $5.00

– Reissue of Lost/Stolen Card $5.00

– Currency Conversion 3% of transaction

– POS Signature Purchase (International) $2.50

– POS/PIN Purchase (International) $2.50

PLEASE NOTE: Your child will get charged for using the card prior to funds being loaded or for insufficient funds. For a full list of fees, click here.

To reorder a Lost/Stolen Spend card:

1.) Log into BusyKid using your parent sign in.

2.) Select drop down menu and choose “Manage Users”.

3.) Look for child and select Blue “Lost/Stolen”

4.) Select “Yes” and then “OK – Please know there is a replacement fee.

Cards are shipped and arrive within 7-10 business days. Please call the phone number on the sticker to activate the card. Please know that when a card is shipped, it becomes available for loading within 1-2 business days. If you’ve waited more than 10 days and the card hasn’t arrived, please contact us at support@busykid.com.

Since we use identity verification services to help determine the identity of anyone ordering a BusyKid Spend Card, members must be in compliance with VISA® requirements. There could be several reasons why you received an error message while trying to ordering a card, however, the biggest are information entered wrong or it’s not matching data which exists in other databases. Here are some common errors:

Address Error

This error generally occurs because an older address is on file with the verification service or because a PO Box number is used. Please use your domestic street address and if you need a BusyKid Spend Card sent to a PO Box or other address, please contact our card issuer Cliq at 866-203-8721 to update your mailing address information.

Date of Birth Error

Usually a date of birth or ID error is related to information provided and is usually a typo. Please verify the information you used is correct and that the date of birth is in MM/DD/YYYY format.

ID Error

ID errors generally occur because of the legal name provided on the account or improper formatting of the SSN. If you have recently married or changed your name, please try your former name and remove any extraneous dashes from the SSN. If you continue to receive this error, you will receive an email within a few days with instructions to complete the process. If you do not receive a notification within 3 business days, please contact us at support@busykid.com.

Bank Account Must Be Linked

This error occurs because a bank account has not been linked in the system or your microdeposit account has not been verified. If no account is set up, navigate to https://app2.busykid.com and login. You should see a prompt to enter your bank information. If a microdeposit account was previously provided (you provided a routing and account number to link your account), navigate to the My Account screen and enter the two deposit amounts from BusyKid (some banks only display one deposit amount.) Please check your email for detailed step-by-step instructions to verify your microdeposit account.

Every family member is required to have a unique PIN when logging into the platform. If you ever forget your PIN, just select the “Forgot My PIN” and you receive a message on how to set a new PIN.

While BusyKid does collect personal data on you and/or your child, the company has implemented high security standards. We do not keep banking information, though we have partners who may collect some PII (Personal Identifiable Information). BusyKid is not responsible for any PII collected by our partners. For more information, please read our Privacy Policy.