GoHenry by Acorns Kids Banking

I ordered a card for each of my grandkids when Gohenry first came out. I definitely enjoyed the convenience of being able to load their cards for chores, good deeds, birthdays and holidays. Although, as with any new business, I did experience a few frustrations when grandkids would try to use their cards at some stores, and it would decline their purchase, when there was definitely money in their account to use. There were also a few times that I had loaded money on their cards in the middle of the night, just because I happened to be awake and just happen to think of it at that time. Yet, the next morning, my granddaughter tried to use it to get her birthday gift she had been so excited to get, and it again declined. When I called in, they told me it was because it was suspicious that it had been loaded at such an odd hour. As I do understand the importance of security measures to avoid fraud, i just felt like I was calling in with every other purchase they were trying to make. I am very happy to see the improvements with their site, and the changes for families to be able to use together with ease. Overall, I am very happy with Gohenry, and I will be ordering my newest grandson his card as soon as I can. Ultimately, the entire idea of having the kids earn, learn and save, is a very important life lesson at any age, but being able to start young, has the potential to boost the confidence and pride to a great start of a secure financial future. 👍🏽

This is very useful, she’s already learning about budgeting and could start using it right away to earn money before her card even came in the mail! She already set a goal and is gaining better understanding on how long it takes to save up for things. The ‘goals’ they set up withhold that from being available to spend at a point of sale, so you are also accessing features normally only associated with brick and mortar banks, not prepaid cards. This card is not a credit card, but the monthly subscription fee is worth having taken from my bank account because it handles the earning price per task and everything tracked and transferred inside the app. The only issue we had at set up was that her name is longer than the allowable characters with her hyphenated name and so it was lower casing the second last name when I was trying to shorten it by removing the hyphen. I emailed them and they sent the card by using the first initial of her first name and including the full hyphenated last name. (Her first band was already printed at the top of her personalized donut card) Perfect! Otherwise, I enter multiple tasks with day of the week until they begin to offer the daily tasks. My kid was SO excited to receive it in the mail in her name, too! HIGHLY RECOMMEND!! She’s just had her second payday and is so proud! I also like how I control the amount being added to the main parent account from my personal banking information, her account is not pulling directly from mine.

I read a lot about goHenry and was thrilled when they came to the U.S.. I’ve looked around a lot am a member of multiple national credit unions and actually opened bank accounts for my kids with a large national bank. However, I’ve been disappointed by the complexity of their child and teen banking rules and benefits. I didn’t want to switch to a whole different bank or open kids account at other banks. Then I read about goHenry. Their product offers exactly what I was looking for AND more. I have the ability to give my cards flexible, but low risk debit cards so they can make their own purchases and learn and we’re not forever having to get cash (and pay an ATM for the privilege of getting our cash!). The kids (elementary and middle) are able to use the card and are now more curious about the value of money. The personalization of the card was an added bonus as is the task list and check-off. The kids app allows them to see opportunities to earn money and make decisions about the value of their work. I’m not going to preach here, everyone has their different style...but I’m really excited about how easy this has been. Would I have gone with goHenry if my bank provided this service? No, but that’s the point, they’re filling a nitch that my bank doesn’t. Why 4 not 5? The app doesn’t work in landscape mode with my BT keyboard. Bummer. The security questions need to be customizable to improve security and give kids questions that are meaningful to them, not their parents.