Greenlight Credit Card Review: The best credit card to help teens build credit?

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Greenlight is best known for its products that help teens, tweens, and young adults build financial habits. The company's services have grown beyond a banking app for kids to include a debit card and, most recently, a credit card.

Designed to help teens build credit, the Greenlight Family Cash Card is a solid card that can give kids a head start on establishing credit. Plus, you'll even earn some cash back on your purchases.

This card is designed to be an interactive card for your teen, helping them develop smart money habits and build credit along the way. But if you don’t plan on making the Family Cash your primary card or aren’t interested in the Greenlight app, this card is probably not for you.

Key features of the Greenlight Family Cash Card

The Greenlight Family Cash Card is a card that allows kids to build credit and learn smart financial habits at the same time.

Parents can add their kids as authorized users to the Family Cash Card, which can help teens establish a credit history and start building credit. This can be beneficial when it comes time to do things like buying a car or applying for student loans.

“The Greenlight Family Cash Card is a credit card that’s meant to introduce teens to credit,” says Ted Rossman, senior analyst for Bankrate. “This can give them a leg up later on since a strong credit score helps you qualify for loans, lines of credit, and apartment leases.”


The Family Cash Card also has features that teach kids how to use credit responsibly. For example, parents can set a monthly spending limit for all authorized users on the account. This allows parents to avoid any surprises when the bill arrives each month.

The Family Cash card also offers real-time purchase alerts and a tracking feature that helps parents and teens review their monthly spending.

Rewards and perks

Besides the ability to help teens build credit, the Family Cash Card offers other notable benefits. They include:

• Cash rewards: The Family Cash Card offers cash back for all spending, with no category requirements. You can earn a flat rate of up to 3% cash back based on how much you spend during each billing cycle. There’s no limit on how much cash back you can earn.
• Auto-investing feature: Parents can opt to have cash back invested automatically to help save money for college or any other financial goal.
• No annual fee: The Family Cash card has no annual fee, though you need a Greenlight membership to qualify.
• World Mastercard Perks: Because this card runs on the Mastercard network, it comes with added benefits like cellphone insurance, travel protections, and other discounts.
• Financial literacy game: The Greenlight mobile app includes a game, Level Up, that teaches kids about credit building, budgeting, and investing.

Limitations and drawbacks

The Family Cash Card offers an effective way for teens to build credit and learn about finance. But, it has some drawbacks, notably the limitations on cash back rewards and the membership requirements.

• Membership fee: There’s no annual fee, but you need a monthly Greenlight membership to open the card. “While Greenlight offers valuable features, parents should be aware that it comes with a monthly fee of $4.99 per family, covering up to five kids,” says Jeff Rose, a certified financial planner. Membership fees range from $4.99 to $14.98, depending on what features and services you want.
• Spending requirement for 3% cash back: To earn the highest possible cash back rate (3%), you’ll need to spend at least $4,000 monthly. You’ll earn 2% cash back if you spend at least $1,000 monthly (but less than $4,000) and 1% cash back if you spend under $1,000 monthly. “The biggest game-changer of the Greenlight Family Cash Card is that big spenders can earn up to 3% cash back on everything,” says Rossman. “That can’t be topped. But that requires spending at least $48,000 per year on the card, which certainly isn’t attainable or advisable for everyone.”
• High APR: The Family Cash Card comes with a higher-than-average variable APR. This won’t affect you if you pay your balance in full each month, but it’s essential to be aware of it.

Should you get the Greenlight Family Cash card?

The Greenlight Family Cash card can help teach financial literacy to kids while offering solid rewards.

Suppose you’re looking for a card that allows you to give your child or teen financial independence while still maintaining control and monitoring their spending habits. In that case, the Greenlight Family Cash card is a great option.

But it’s a good idea to review your spending to see if you can meet the $4,000 monthly minimum to earn the highest cash back rate. If you can’t meet the spending requirement or won’t use the features of the Greenlight membership, the Family Cash Card is probably not a good choice.

“If you spend at least $4,000 per month on the card, this might be the best cash back card on the market given its unlimited 3% cash back payout,” says Rossman. “But, while I like the budgeting tools and kid-friendly features, I’m not sure I’d pay $5 to $15 per month for them. And there are other ways for kids to build credit.”

Alternatives to the Greenlight Family Cash Card

If you are looking for a card that caters to families or helps your child build their credit, you have some options.

“In terms of credit cards, parents could help their kids build credit by adding them as an authorized user on just about any credit card,” says Rossman. ”If another card suits the parents better in terms of rewards, fees, and rates, then it’s a better approach.”

• The Step Visa Card: This secured card can also help teens under 18 build a positive credit history. The Step card comes with a bank account, and cardholders can only spend up to what’s available in their account each month. Payments are reported to the credit bureaus, helping them build a credit history.
• Citi® Double Cash Card: This card offers cash back rewards on purchases, including 1% when you make a purchase and an additional 1% when you pay it off. There’s no minimum age for authorized users, so that you can add any child to your card.
• Chase Freedom Unlimited®: This card provides unlimited cash back on purchases, with elevated cash back for certain categories. You can earn 5% cash back on Lyft purchases (through March 2025) and travel booked through Chase Ultimate Rewards, 3% cash back on drugstore purchases, and 1.5% cash back on everything else. Like Citi, there’s no minimum age for authorized users.
• Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards Credit Card: With this card, you can earn unlimited cash back on all purchases. It offers a simple rewards structure: Earn 5% cash back on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel and 1.5% cash back on everything else. There’s no minimum age for authorized users.

The bottom line

The Family Cash Card offers the key benefit of helping teens build credit while educating them about their finances.

Though you have to pay a monthly membership fee, the hands-on learning offered via Greenlight’s mobile app may be a valuable trade-off for many families.

Editorial disclaimer: Opinions expressed are author's alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included in the post.