GoHenry Review- Kids Debit Cards

Combining a kids pre-paid debit card with a pocket money app like GoHenry is certainly a 21^st century way to start teaching your child about money. As we use cash for transactions less and less, kids see their parents paying for almost everything using contactless payments and cards. It means that recognising the value of money can sometimes get lost along the way.

Your kid is going to have fun feeling like a grown up with a card of their own. But, they can also learn a lot about money management using a service like GoHenry. This GoHenry Review will aim to give you all the details you need to figure out whether GoHenry could be right for you and your family. Let’s get started…

GoHenry Review

GoHenry pledges to help your kids learn money skills for life. And with over 1 million customers already? It looks like they are doing a pretty good job. GoHenry is a pre-paid card, combined with a mobile app to get children used to managing their own money.

How Does GoHenry Work?

GoHenry works on the basis that a parent will pay amounts of money onto the child’s card from their own GoHenry parental account. This gives the child their own independence. It encourages them to manage their money and save up for things that they’d really like to buy with their money.

As the parent, you have a central account. This is then linked to your kid’s account (you can link up to 4 kids’ accounts with your own). You can then access GoHenry both online and on the dedicated app.

Get started by downloading the app or opening an account online (no paperwork or in-person visits required). Your kid’s card will arrive within 7 working days. From there, you can set up a regular pocket money payment each week. You can also set up chores and tasks for your child to complete, should you wish to. If you’d prefer not to set up a regular payment, one off transfers are also available too.

It’s that simple! Once you’ve got a feel for the dashboard online or within the app, you’re good to go. Your kid can start learning more about money right away.

Can GoHenry Teach Kids About Money?

You’ll be pleased to hear that GoHenry was actually founded by a group of parents who wanted to teach their children about money management. They wanted to help their kids to build better money habits for the future.

GoHenry can teach kids about money and they can learn all about spending, saving, earning and giving while using the app.

In the ‘earning’ section, the parent can set up tasks for the child to do to earn their pocket money. (Or extra money- depending on your preferences). These tasks could be anything from tidying their bedroom, to cleaning out the rabbit hutch. Once the tasks are completed, they can be checked off and the amount can be paid.

In the saving section, the child can set up their savings goals. This could look very different depending on your child’s age- but can be anything from a toy to a PlayStation game. A time limit can be set for achieving the goal, as well as the goal amount itself. The app will also show how much is left to go until the goal is reached. It’s a very visual way to see money being saved. It’s almost the modern alternative to the piggy bank.

The spending section shows how much your child has spent, and where they have spent it. The app will show a timeline of transactions, so keeping tabs on your child’s spending is easy.

Another lovely addition to the GoHenry app is the ability for your child to give some of their money to a charity. Your child can opt to give a percentage of their earnings to the NSPCC to help less fortunate children. Giving is a really important part of money education. It helps to nurture generous money habits that your child can implement later in life.

Using GoHenry to teach kids about foreign currency

Another excellent educational benefit of GoHenry is that the card can be used abroad. GoHenry won’t add additional fees. This is an excellent opportunity to teach your child the basics of foreign currency exchange.

GoHenry can be used anywhere that accepts Visa cards, and also at ATM machines. Although GoHenry won’t charge for using the card at a foreign ATM, the ATM itself might charge, so look out for that.

When a transaction is made in a foreign currency, it will be converted into pounds at the rate of exchange that is provided by Visa Europe on the date that the money leaves the account.

You might also be interested in: RoosterMoney Review- The Pocket Money App

What Parental Control Is There On GoHenry?

The idea behind the GoHenry model is that the parent has overall control and can observe and monitor the account, but the child has the independence to manage their money themselves.

You can top up your child’s card, set chores and tasks for your child to complete which they can earn extra money from, and get real-time notifications of where and when your child has spent their money. As the parent you can also decide where the card is used- in shops, online, or at cash machines. You can also block and unblock the card for security if it gets lost.

The parent can also introduce spending limits. So if you feel your child has spent way too much on sweets, you can introduce a limit, or even block these transactions if you wish to. You can also set weekly spending limits, which is helpful if your child has received an amount of money for a birthday, for example, and you would prefer that this is not frittered away in the space of a week!

The GoHenry app will also send you (and the child) instant notifications when money has been spent. It’s a great way to keep an eye on what they have been spending their money on, and how they have decided to manage their ‘income.’

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Is There An Age Limit On GoHenry?

Any child between the ages of 6 and 18 is eligible for an account with GoHenry. So no matter if you’re adding birthday money, pocket money, or money earned from chores, you can have visibility of how your child is managing their incoming money.

GoHenry 2 Month Free Trial

You can try out GoHenry for free for TWO MONTHS using this link and the following exclusive code: AFUKTL2M.

Once the free trial ends, you will be charged £2.99 per child, per month for the service. This fee will be deducted from the parent account. You will need to deposit at least £5 to get started and for your child to start managing their pocket money.

Unlike traditional banks who earn money through interest and loans, GoHenry makes money through this small monthly membership fee instead. The fee means that you can get the most up to date developments within the app, and a dedicated customer support team.

You might also be interested in: The Best Money Saving Apps

GoHenry Charges

As well as the £2.99 monthly fee (per child), there is also a ‘loading fee.’ The parent account can have one free ‘load’ a month, but after that, each additional ‘load’ is charged at 50p.

The loads are only charged when money is loaded into the parent account. This means that you could transfer £20 (or the total amount you intend to give your child) per month for free into the parent account, and then transfer this as and when it is required into the child’s account at no additional cost.

GoHenry also has a fun feature where your child can customise their card with an image of their choice. A customisable card costs £4.99, or you can use this link with the exclusive code: AFUKTLCC to get a free customisable card and one month’s free trial membership.

Is GoHenry Safe?

It is worth noting that since GoHenry is not a bank itself, it is not regulated by the FSCS (Financial Services Compensation Scheme). However, GoHenry is regulated by the FCA. Any money held in a GoHenry account is held in a NatWest account which is secured. The app itself also has 256-bit encryption. This means that all your details are stored securely.

The GoHenry card acts as a Visa pre-paid debit card. This means that the child’s money is safe, and they cannot go overdrawn with their account. Visa regularly monitor GoHenry to ensure they are compliant with regulations.

As mentioned earlier, as the parent account, you also have the ability to the block the card instantly from within the app if the card gets misplaced or stolen.

GoHenry review: final thoughts 

Hopefully this GoHenry review has given you a better idea about the choices available to help your child learn good money habits from a young age. Let’s look at some final pros and cons to complete this full GoHenry review…

Pros of GoHenry

• Financial education. GoHenry is an invaluable tool to teach your child good money habits for the future. If they can learn to manage their pocket money well, they will later have the ability to manage a salary well too!
• Parental control. Use the spending limits functions to exercise a level of control over how your child is spending their money. Use the chores task management feature to assign jobs to your child to help them earn their pocket money.
• Fun interface. Why not make finance fun? With customisable cards, earning, saving, spending and giving functions, this will incentivise kids to take an interest in money, and encourage positive interactions with money from a young age.
• Instant notifications. See at a glance when, where, and how much your child has spent. You can keep track of how they are managing their money for themselves and watch the choices that they decide to make.
• Created by parents, for parents. Since the service was created by parents, it was created with expert insight into what kids need in order to learn about money, and what parents need to have a level of control over their child’s spending.
• No need for trips to the cashpoint for pocket money, hunting around for change, or giving your child an IOU. You can load money directly into their account from your smartphone or online.

Cons of GoHenry

• The monthly fee of £2.99 is a little more than you might pay for a traditional child’s bank account. However the amazing app with its money management tools and parental control might be worth it for you. Use the 2 month free trial to see whether you think it’s worth the monthly membership fee.
• No interest payments on money held. Unless your child has a sizeable sum of money in their account, this is unlikely to be a big concern. However it’s something to consider when comparing GoHenry to high street banking equivalents.
• Cannot load physical cash into the account. If grandma puts a £20 note into your child’s birthday card, they don’t have a way to pay this into their GoHenry account as GoHenry has no physical branches. Instead, you would have to exchange the money with your child and load this from your parental account.