When the older children each turned 11, which was the youngest age our bank would give them a debit card, we opened a bank account for them to start paying an allowance in to with the aim of teaching them how to budget their finances.
For us it has worked well and lessons have been learned along the way about saving for things they really want. Probably our best saver was Kian who religiously squirreled money away to save for a laptop after we agreed to match whatever he saved, but we have recently hit a problem.
With the massive rise in gaming where you have to pay online to get add-ons etc we found that Kian was not only throwing his allowance away on such games, but he was also using is lunch money for school for it too. As you can imagine we were not impressed by this and began giving him his lunch money in cash again to stop him wasting his money online.
Thankfully Osper came to our rescue at just the right time!
Osper is banking for young people. Kian gets a debit card that we can top up and the card can be used in shops, at cash machines and online. The real benefit of the card though is that both Kian and I get an app that allows us to track spending on the card together.
Osper is a safe and secure way for young people to spend money and save for the future or for something special. You can set up an Osper allowance once and never worry about giving kids cash for their pocket money and can send instant loads from anywhere – could prove handy in a sticky situation or even invaluable in an emergency.
The app gives you visibility to spending and you can block inappropriate merchants online – something you couldn’t do if they had a normal bank debit card. There is also no way to go overdrawn or incur any bank charges. The card is free for the first three months, then just £12 per card per year which comes out of the parent’s account, not the child’s.
I think it is a brilliant idea and I much prefer having an app to check what Kian has been spending his money on rather than waiting for his bank statement to come through as he is not able to sign up for online banking until he is 16. The app also stores his pin number so he can log in and check what it is if he forgets.
The Osper debit card, is embossed with Kian’s name, is a completely safe and secure way to spend and he can use it anywhere that MasterCard® debit cards are accepted. We received it just in time for Black Friday and he spent some of his money on the new G2A game for his Dad for Christmas as it was half the price it was in the shops.
I am going to be completely honest and say that he wasted the rest of his money on online gaming, however, I was able to see this and do something about it by switching off the ability of the card to be used online. It is frustrating as a parent seeing your child lured into gaming like this and I know all too well how addictive these games can be, but being able to do something about it now to stop him wasting his money is a huge relief!!
Although we were sent the Osper card with a £50 balance to review, we will be paying Kian’s allowance into this rather than his bank account for the foreseeable future so we can help him manage his money better.
Very interesting idea – especially for younger teens. I know my son spent a lot of his first pay packet on online gaming, then realised he needed to work more to earn more money, when it ran out. Bank of mum isn’t open so much any more!
Interesting idea and something we will be moving towards next year I think. I do hate the the kids want to spend their money on online gaming. It really is a rip off, but I hope that one day they realise that
Sadly they have to learn the hard way that they can only spend their money once. It is all too easy online as it does not seem like real money, how do you think so many adults gamble away money online?
It is great that you can see what he is doing on the app and turn off the online facility.
He is young yet so maturity will help him to manage better. Love the honesty of this post.
Wow, this sounds like a fantastic idea. I will be recommending this to my sister for my nephew as he likes saving his money but has recently been asking about a bank card and this sounds perfect.
What a fantastic idea. I am sure I will need this with my boys when they are older xx
This sounds brilliant. I will definitely be doing something like this when my girls are older.
This sounds like a great idea, something which I will definitely use when Boo is older! I like the idea of the option to switch online spending off
This sounds like a fab card and the fact that you can block out certain retailers is brilliant. I will look into it as its perfect for younger kids to teach them to be independent with money and learn to budget.
I have see this before and it sounds a great idea to learn about spending money. Kaz x
I think it’s a good way to teach money management. Great that you can track it all.
This sounds like such a handy tool to have, learning how to handle your finances is just so important and the younger you learn, I am sure the better you will be.
It is so important for young people to understand about finances and saving. This sounds really useful.
We really love Osper and have will continue to use it for as long as I can imagine.
i love the idea of this .. i think anything that helps kids learn the value of money and budgeting is a bonus!