Ages 6-17
iOS, Android
Cash App Families
By Block, Inc.
Reviewed by Alex Thompson, founder of Kids Financial Guide · Updated November 2026
The short answer
Cash App Families is a free kids' Visa debit card and savings account for families who already use Cash App: no monthly fee, allowance, spending limits and savings interest for kids 6-12, plus person-to-person payments for teens 13-17, and stocks and bitcoin if you allow them (both can lose value and are not FDIC insured). It has no lessons or chores, the parent is the legal owner and is responsible for everything a teen does with it, and Block was ordered to refund customers and pay penalties over Cash App's fraud handling, so Capital One MONEY is the safer free pick if you don't use Cash App already.
| Ages | 6-12 in a parent-managed account (no app for the child); 13-17 in a sponsored account with their own app; at 18 the teen becomes the owner |
|---|---|
| Price | No monthly fee or minimum balance; teen ATM withdrawals cost $2.50 plus the ATM owner's fee and purchases in other currencies cost 2%; a replacement card costs $5 |
| What the parent needs | Their own verified Cash App account, and to be at least 15 years older than the child; managed accounts for 6-12 weren't offered in New York at launch (April 2026) |
| Debit card | Yes, a Visa debit Cash App Card the child designs, issued by Sutton Bank, member FDIC |
| Investing | Teens 13-17 only, if the parent allows it: stocks and bitcoin, which can lose value and are not FDIC insured |
| Interest | 3.5% APY on savings (Cash App, November 2026) once the parent turns it on; the rate is variable |
| Sending money | Kids 6-12 can't send money and can receive it only from up to 5 contacts the parent picks; teens can send and receive, so turn on approved contacts, which makes payments with anyone else wait for your review |
| Chores and allowance | Scheduled allowance and savings goals; no chore chart |
Compare it with other apps: Best Money Apps for Kids and Teens, Compared
Cash App Families is a free Visa debit card for kids 6-17 run from a parent's Cash App, with allowance and savings interest. Teens can also send money.
Cash App Families puts kids' accounts inside Cash App, the payment app run by Block, Inc. For kids 6 to 12, a parent opens a managed account from their own Cash App: the child gets a Visa debit card they design, but no app of their own. They can't send money or use an ATM, and only up to five people you choose, such as grandparents, can send them money. At 13 it becomes a sponsored teen account: your teen gets the app and can send and receive money, get paid by direct deposit, and, if you allow it, buy stocks and bitcoin.
It costs nothing each month. You set a spending limit, lock the card, get an alert for every purchase and schedule an allowance. Savings can earn 3.5% APY once you turn interest on, far more than Capital One MONEY's 0.10% (NerdWallet, August 2026), though the rate is variable and can go down. Teens pay $2.50 per ATM withdrawal plus the ATM owner's fee, and 2% on purchases in other currencies.
The trade-offs are real. There are no chores or lessons. You are the legal owner and responsible for everything on the account, including taxes, yet a teen can spend or withdraw the money without asking you. Teens can send money to other people, which is where scams happen, and can buy bitcoin and stocks if you allow it.
Cash App's own record matters too. In January 2025 the CFPB ordered Block to pay up to $175 million over how Cash App handled fraud and disputes, and in July 2026 Block agreed to pay $45 million to 46 states over misleading safety claims. Cash App is also not a bank: your money is FDIC insured only through its partner banks, and only if certain conditions are met.
Key Features
- ✓No monthly fee or minimum balance for the parent or the child
- ✓A Visa debit card from age 6, with parent-set spending limits, instant card lock and an alert for every purchase
- ✓Kids 6-12 can't send money, and only up to five people the parent picks can send them money
- ✓Savings can earn 3.5% APY once the parent turns it on (variable rate, November 2026)
- ✓Scheduled allowance and savings goals
- ✓The account grows with the child: it becomes a teen account at 13 and the teen's own account at 18, with the same balance and card
⚠Limitations
- ×Over Cash App's fraud handling, the CFPB ordered Block to refund customers up to $120 million and pay a $55 million penalty (January 2025), and Block agreed to pay $45 million to 46 states (July 2026)
- ×Teens can send money to other people, and money sent to a scammer usually can't be recovered
- ×Teens can buy stocks and bitcoin if the parent allows it; both can lose value and are not FDIC insured
- ×The parent is the legal owner and is responsible for everything on the account, including taxes, but teens can spend or withdraw the money without asking
- ×No chores, lessons or quizzes
- ×Cash App is not a bank; money is FDIC insured only through its partner banks and only if certain conditions are met
- ×Teen ATM withdrawals cost $2.50 plus the ATM owner's fee, and purchases in other currencies cost 2%
- ×Cash App's children's privacy policy doesn't name COPPA, the US children's privacy law, and the app teens use contains ads and may collect location (Google Play) and links contacts, purchases and financial info to you (App Store)
Learning Outcomes
- •Spending with a debit card within a limit
- •Saving toward a goal
- •Seeing interest added to savings (for kids about 9 and up)
- •Managing a regular allowance
- •For teens: sending money safely and spotting scams
Our Verdict
Our take: if your family already uses Cash App, the managed account for 6- to 12-year-olds is a reasonable free first card, with tight limits on who can send your child money. For teens, keep person-to-person payments to approved contacts and leave stocks and bitcoin off until you've talked about risk. If you don't already use Cash App, Capital One MONEY is the simpler free first account.
Parental Controls
- •Set how much your child can spend on the card, and update it at any time
- •Lock and unlock the card instantly from your own Cash App
- •Get an alert for every transaction and see the full balance and history
- •Choose up to five people who can send money to a child under 13
- •For teens: pick approved contacts, get alerts when someone new contacts them, and block accounts
- •Decide whether a teen can buy stocks or bitcoin and whether savings earn interest
- •Schedule an allowance weekly or monthly, and pause or change it
Cash App Families: our in-depth review
How it works day to day
You need your own verified Cash App account and must be at least 15 years older than the child. In the app, open the Money tab, scroll to Family and add your child. For a child 6 to 12 this creates a managed account; the Visa debit card they design arrives by mail and works once you activate it. Managed accounts weren't offered in New York when they launched in April 2026.
You move money in from your own Cash App, as a one-off or as an allowance every week or month, and set a spending limit; purchases over it are declined. Up to five trusted contacts you choose can send your child money, and payments from anyone else don't go through. Your child can't send money, use an ATM or receive direct deposits, and has no app: they see their balance on your phone with you.
At 13 the account becomes a sponsored teen account with the same balance and card. Your teen gets the app and can send and receive money, get paid by direct deposit and, if you allow it, buy stocks and bitcoin. You keep the spending limits, alerts and approved contacts. The teen's card also offers instant discounts at selected shops and concert presales, which are a nudge to spend there; talk about them like any other ad. Cash App's terms say a teen can spend or withdraw the money without your approval, and you can't make payments out of their account. At 18 your teen verifies their identity and becomes the sole owner.
If you close a child's account (6-12), the money goes back to your Cash App. If you stop sponsoring a teen, the money stays in the teen's account and they can still withdraw it. Cash App's terms say a child's account that isn't moved to teen features by 16 is closed.
Sponsored accounts can't use Cash App's overdraft coverage, so purchases over the balance are normally declined. If a payment does go through without enough money, Cash App's terms say you must repay its costs and it can take the shortfall from your linked accounts.
What kids actually learn
There are no lessons, quizzes or chore charts, so the learning comes from using real money with you. A monthly spending limit is a simple budget: when it's gone, it's gone. Savings goals help a child wait for something bigger.
Savings interest is a lesson for kids about 9 and up. APY is the yearly rate, including interest on interest. At 3.5% APY, $100 left in savings for a year earns about $3.50, or roughly 29 cents a month, and the rate is variable, so it can go down. Look at the monthly interest together and ask what would happen with more saved.
For teens, the useful lessons are about sending money: checking who you're paying, never paying a stranger, and why a payment usually can't be taken back. If you allow stocks or bitcoin, start with a small amount you both agree could be lost. Bitcoin's price swings much more than most stocks, and buying one company's shares puts all your eggs in one basket, so talk about spreading money across many companies first.
Safety, privacy and Cash App's record
Cash App is a financial services company, not a bank. Its cards are issued by Sutton Bank and savings are held at Wells Fargo Bank, both members of the FDIC. If certain conditions are met, your money gets FDIC pass-through insurance: the US government insures bank deposits up to $250,000 per depositor, per insured bank, for each account ownership category. Stocks and bitcoin are not FDIC insured and can lose value.
You are the legal owner of your child's account and, under Cash App's terms, accept full responsibility for its use, including fees and taxes. That means the money is legally yours until your child turns 18 and completes identity checks. Gifts aren't set aside for your child the way they are in a custodial account (where the money legally belongs to the child and an adult manages it).
In January 2025 the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ordered Block to pay up to $120 million back to customers and a $55 million penalty, finding that Cash App had no live phone support, leaned on card-network chargebacks (sending disputes back through the card's bank) instead of investigating unauthorized transactions itself, as the law requires, and responded slowly to fraud. In July 2026 Block agreed to pay $45 million to 46 states and to offer live support 24 hours a day and stop misleading safety claims. Report a lost card or strange charges right away, and use only the support phone number inside the app or on cash.app (1-800-969-1940); fake Cash App support numbers are a known scam.
Kids 6-12 can't send money, and nobody outside their five approved contacts can pay them or contact them. Teens can send money, and Cash App's terms don't promise to reverse a payment sent to a scammer or the wrong person. Before turning on payments, teach your teen never to send money to someone they haven't met, that anyone asking for Cash App payments, gift cards or crypto is a scammer, and to ignore offers to "flip" money into more. If a stranger sends money by mistake and asks for some back, it's a scam: don't send anything.
Cash App's children's privacy policy covers children under 13. It lists the data collected (name, birth date, contact details and payment details such as where and when the card is used), lets you request access to or deletion of your child's data from support, and says deleting it may close the account. It doesn't mention COPPA, the US children's privacy law, or advertising. From 13, Cash App's general privacy policy applies. The Cash App app is rated 13+ on the App Store and Everyone on Google Play; Apple's label lists purchases, financial info, contact info, contacts, user content, identifiers, usage data and diagnostics as linked to you, and lists no data used to track you. Google Play says the app collects location and personal info, shares no data with third parties, and contains ads. The children's privacy policy also says Cash App may keep a child's information after the account is closed.
Who it's best for
Families who already use Cash App and want a free card with savings interest. Cash App allows ages 6 and up, but we suggest waiting until about 8 to hand over the card; before then, use savings goals with your child and keep the card yourself. The managed account for 6- to 12-year-olds is the stronger part: no sending, no ATM and only five people who can pay in.
For teens, it works if you keep payments to approved contacts and talk about scams first. If you don't use Cash App, Capital One MONEY is a free checking account at an FDIC-insured bank with no person-to-person payments for under-13s; if you want chores and lessons, look at a paid app like Greenlight, from $5.99 a month.
Frequently asked questions
Is Cash App Families free?
There is no monthly fee and no minimum balance for the parent or the child. Some things cost money: teen ATM withdrawals are $2.50 plus the ATM owner's fee, purchases in other currencies cost 2%, and a replacement card is $5. Kids 6-12 can't use ATMs. Block, the company behind Cash App, makes money from the fees stores pay when a card is used, from fees on optional services such as instant transfers and bitcoin, and from the interest on customers' money held at its partner banks.
What age can a child use Cash App?
A parent or guardian can open a managed account for a child 6 to 12. The child gets a Visa debit card but no app; the parent runs everything from their own Cash App. From 13 to 17 the account becomes a sponsored account: the teen gets the app and can send money, and the parent keeps controls and alerts. At 18 the teen verifies their identity and becomes the owner.
What can parents control in Cash App Families?
Parents set spending limits on the card, lock it instantly, get an alert for every transaction, schedule an allowance, and choose who can send money to a child under 13 (up to five contacts). For teens, parents also pick approved contacts for payments, decide whether the teen can buy stocks or bitcoin, and turn savings interest on.
Is Cash App safe for kids?
Kids 6-12 can't send money and can only receive it from up to five people you choose, which makes it hard for strangers to reach them. Teens can send money, and a payment sent to a scammer usually can't be recovered, so talk about scams first. Block, which runs Cash App, agreed in January 2025 to pay up to $175 million in a CFPB order over how it handled fraud and disputes, and agreed to pay $45 million to 46 states in July 2026.
Is Cash App Families or Capital One MONEY better?
Both are free with a debit card from age 6. Cash App Families suits families who already use Cash App, pays a higher savings rate (3.5% APY against Capital One's 0.10% in 2026; both rates are variable) and lets teens send money and buy stocks and bitcoin if you allow it. Capital One MONEY is a regular checking account at an FDIC-insured bank, takes cash and checks, and has no stocks or bitcoin; teens 13 and up can send money with Zelle only if you turn it on. Many parents prefer that for a first card.
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