Venmo Teen Card

[midwestmama]

Kind of a PSA...  We received an email from Venmo about their new debit card for teens (age 13-17).  It was just what we've been looking for - no fees, easy to transfer funds to the card, and full visibility to charges.  We will receive the card in a few weeks.  There is also an option for a teen Venmo account, but we are going to hold off on that for now, as DS shouldn't need that right now.

[tvlmm]

I don't know if you follow Officer Gomez on FB but this post is the reason my kids won't have their own Venmo (PayPal, Zelle, etc.) accounts for a long while yet.
One foot, two foot, three foot, more.
Of course most parents will say their kid would never do this. This is happening to kids by the thousands and it's right under their parents noses, often times with their parents help.
It starts with the feet!
Has your teenager asked you to help them get a Venmo, Paypal, or Digital cash account of any type?
TikTok users have been soliciting young girls in particular to buy pictures of their feet. A person will contact a teen and let them know they will pay them $10-$30 dollars for pictures of their feet sent to their private account. While this sounds strange it does not amount to some crazy illegal activity for the normal parent.
In order for a teen to accept electronic money they will have to set up an electronic payment system. Some of the payment systems are easier than others for teens to set up. The teens will either get parent help or get the adult who is soliciting the pictures to help them set up their own digital payment account.
Once a teen sends a picture of their feet, the predators will happily pay the teen the agreed upon value for the picture of their feet. Once the predator sees that the teen can accept digital cash payments the real hunt begins.
Teens will be then solicited for pictures of themselves in bra and underwear. Bra and underwear pictures go for about $25-$75 dollars. Once teens get used to making money sending pictures it is not long before they will be solicited for other pictures of videos with less clothing. Here is a list of the pricing I have been able to put together from seeing public TikTok account postings.
Feet Pictures $10-$30
Bra/Underwear pictures $20-$200
(note: it appears that predators will pay extra money if the teen will wear a bra that is once size too small).
Nude Pictures $50-$500
Sex video with their boyfriend $900 +
Most parents would have no idea their kids are selling themselves for money online in their own bedrooms. If you do the math this can easily lead to human trafficking , prostitution, sextortion, and many other unsavory things.
If your kid does not sell pictures, they are going to be exposed to these types of scenarios on TikTok which will desensitize them over time.
The best defense for all of this is talking to your kids and spending family time with them. I also advise using your parental spying skills to keep them safe from the millions of predators who are hunting them daily.
Happy Parenting,
Officer Gomez

[midwestmama]

tvlmm, I don't follow Officer Gomez, but I will check it out, thank you.

The Venmo card is fully attached to DH's Venmo account. If we decide to set up the Venmo teen account, it would also be fully attached to DH's Venmo account. So it's really not DS's "own" account. My kids also do not have social media accounts. But I appreciate all of the info you shared as it is good/necessary to be as informed as possible as a parent as to what predators are doing these days.

[acr]

I set this up for DS recently - and it's been great. Easy to pay him via venmo & I can see all his transactions (get an email every time he buys/tries to buy)

[ellipses84]

FYI @@ TW -

It’s not just Tik-Tok, any site that has messaging capabilities has pedophiles targeting kids. I’ve heard a lot of stories where the kid thought they were talking to another kid and after voluntarily sending pics, they were blackmailed (like I’ll release these photos to your family and friends unless you pay me $xxx ). Being exploited and blackmailed causes so much anguish. Even things like Roblox or Pinterest (which is huge porn site, it just doesn’t show up in your algorithms unless you search for it). Tech safety while allowing independence is one of the biggest challenges of modern parenting and I feel like I need a full time IT Person in my house (it’s me, I’m the IT person). I think a debit card is ok as long as they can’t transfer $ to other people and it’s monitored by an adult. It’s easier to keep social media and other messaging sites away than try to monitor them. First steps can be accounts that allow full parent control and transparency or 3rd party monitoring services like Bark because I feel like they need some access by the time they are 16 so they aren’t totally unprepared for the digital real world when they turn 18. There are some good documentaries, like childhood 2.0 that talk about these issues and you can watch them (and also watch with your kids) to prompt a discussion.

[heygrey]

Are minor bank accounts not an option? When I was 13 my mom and I opened an account at my parents local bank and it was zero fees for minors. My mom could transfer funds and had access to all transaction records. We still share the account because she likes to transfer money for gifts and it's still free because I stay under the transaction limit each month. Back then it required a trip to the bank to transfer money, but now she can do it online or by phone. It's backed by the FDIC and has in person customer service.

Venmo isn't a secure place to store money. The social media aspect is significant, but from a purely financial standpoint it's not a good place to hold money.

[mslhb]

Oct 7, 2023 1:47:18 GMT -5 heygrey said:

Are minor bank accounts not an option? When I was 13 my mom and I opened an account at my parents local bank and it was zero fees for minors. My mom could transfer funds and had access to all transaction records. We still share the account because she likes to transfer money for gifts and it's still free because I stay under the transaction limit each month. Back then it required a trip to the bank to transfer money, but now she can do it online or by phone. It's backed by the FDIC and has in person customer service.

Venmo isn't a secure place to store money. The social media aspect is significant, but from a purely financial standpoint it's not a good place to hold money.

Yes this is what we have for our 15 year old. We set up a Capital One 360 teen account. I can transfer money in, she has a debit card and I get alerts anytime she spends money. More and more places are cashless so I wanted her to have sometime of credit/debit card.

[wanderingback]

Oct 7, 2023 1:47:18 GMT -5 heygrey said:

Are minor bank accounts not an option? When I was 13 my mom and I opened an account at my parents local bank and it was zero fees for minors. My mom could transfer funds and had access to all transaction records. We still share the account because she likes to transfer money for gifts and it's still free because I stay under the transaction limit each month. Back then it required a trip to the bank to transfer money, but now she can do it online or by phone. It's backed by the FDIC and has in person customer service.

Venmo isn't a secure place to store money. The social media aspect is significant, but from a purely financial standpoint it's not a good place to hold money.

Yes this is what I was wondering (even though we have a long time to go to need this). I do use Venmo (and PayPal) but I transfer the money out right away since it’s not secure.
Is the money there fdic insured?
If you have fraudulent charges do they reimburse you easily?

I trust my bank usaa and capital one much more than Venmo so I’d def err on the side of opening an account with them. My mom opened up my usaa account when I was a teen.

[midwestmama]

Thank for the feedback! I will do some more checking into what our credit union might offer, and the Capital One teen account.

[ellipses84]

Our kids have savings accounts at the local credit union. They partner with the local school district and offera higher interest rate until age 13. I’m assuming we could transfer it to an account with a debit card for a teenager.

I think I’d worry more about the kid over drafting a bank account than losing money via a Venmo account though (assuming there’s not much money in the kid’s account), but you could also tie overdraft protection to one of your bank accounts.

[mainelyfoolish]

Oct 7, 2023 23:03:26 GMT -5 ellipses84 said:

I think I’d worry more about the kid over drafting a bank account than losing money via a Venmo account though (assuming there’s not much money in the kid’s account), but you could also tie overdraft protection to one of your bank accounts.

I have my checking and a small savings account at USAA and my teen has Youth Spending (checking) and Youth Savings accounts supervised by me, i.e. I see them under my list of accounts and can see and make transactions. I’m able to set up the overdraft options individually for each account. On my accounts, if I were to overdraft, it would cover the transaction from my other account. For my teen’s accounts, they are both set to decline any transaction that would cause an overdraft. My teen isn’t writing checks, only using a debit card, so this should fully prevent any overdrafts on their account.

[wanderingback]

Oct 7, 2023 23:03:26 GMT -5 ellipses84 said:

Our kids have savings accounts at the local credit union. They partner with the local school district and offera higher interest rate until age 13. I’m assuming we could transfer it to an account with a debit card for a teenager.

I think I’d worry more about the kid over drafting a bank account than losing money via a Venmo account though (assuming there’s not much money in the kid’s account), but you could also tie overdraft protection to one of your bank accounts.

I really don’t know how scammers work and you’re right it might not be a lot of money but my card has been compromised a few times and a few hundred have been taken. I know not a huge problem but it is nice to know that my bank will reimburse that money the same day very easily.

[winemaker06]

Oct 7, 2023 18:55:12 GMT -5 midwestmama said:

Thank for the feedback! I will do some more checking into what our credit union might offer, and the Capital One teen account.

The Capital One Teen Money account starts at age 8!
I got my son set up with one so he has a way to pay if he’s out with friends and their parents, so they don’t always have to pay for him.

[heygrey]

Oct 7, 2023 23:03:26 GMT -5 ellipses84 said:

Our kids have savings accounts at the local credit union. They partner with the local school district and offera higher interest rate until age 13. I’m assuming we could transfer it to an account with a debit card for a teenager.

I think I’d worry more about the kid over drafting a bank account than losing money via a Venmo account though (assuming there’s not much money in the kid’s account), but you could also tie overdraft protection to one of your bank accounts.

I opened a chequing and savings account with DS this summer. His debit card will just decline if there are insufficient funds. I would guess that most minor accounts are set up similarly or have options to control overdraft. 

[livinitup]

My DD is 15 yo and last summer we set up an account for her under my social security number (+ hers) so she could have a Visa card linked to the account. I read everything, asked all the questions, completed all the forms (with her, in person with IDs, 2 in-person visits) and I cannot explain how complicated and confusing it was. I warned her going-in that “banking” is heavily regulated so she should expect a process.

I don’t know what I was doing/asking that was so complicated. We even sat at the desk with an experienced bank person.

All that to say, yes, we have an account for her, it’s separate and monitored, and she has a physical card with her name. DD also added it to her Apple Pay, so she can use her phone for POS purchases, too. I am still not sure if it’s adding value to her credit history/score.

I get that it’s a process. But there is something broken in our banking system with real barriers for young, and/or ordinary people to have access.

[mlkgls]

Chase also offers a First Banking account and High School checking, which is targeted towards slightly older kids. I can limit where and how much is spent with the First account, not that I’ve allowed him access to the debit card yet. He would lose it within a few hours.

[lolalolalola]

Oct 8, 2023 16:28:42 GMT -5 heygrey said:

Oct 7, 2023 23:03:26 GMT -5 ellipses84 said:

Our kids have savings accounts at the local credit union. They partner with the local school district and offera higher interest rate until age 13. I’m assuming we could transfer it to an account with a debit card for a teenager.

I think I’d worry more about the kid over drafting a bank account than losing money via a Venmo account though (assuming there’s not much money in the kid’s account), but you could also tie overdraft protection to one of your bank accounts.

I opened a chequing and savings account with DS this summer. His debit card will just decline if there are insufficient funds. I would guess that most minor accounts are set up similarly or have options to control overdraft. 

We set ours up with a daily transaction limit. I was worried they’d lose it and someone would use tap to clean out their accounts. It also helped with impulse control as DD experienced a fiend pressuring her to buy her things and came home from the mall one day in tears on how much she spent.
But it’s all on Apple Pay now. My 17 year old went to university in another city and didn’t even take her debit card with her.

[gretchenindisguise]

We use greenlight for the kids and really like it. Its not free, but the interface works well for us and it allows them to start learning about investing too.