Modak Review: Debit Cards For Kids And Teens

Modak is a banking and money app geared for families. It offers a debit card for kids and teens, along with tools that can help parents teach good financial habits, manage chores and allowances, and encourage saving. Unlike a more traditional teen checking account, Modak focuses more on financial education and gamification to keep kids engaged. 

What Is Modak?

Modak is a fintech company focused on helping parents instill healthy financial habits in their children through a mobile app and debit card. The company was founded in 2021 by Erick Murillo. It's based in Austin, Texas, and offers FDIC-insured banking services through its partner, Legend Bank. 

What Does It Offer?

Modak offers a range of free tools to help parents teach their kids about money management. Here's a closer look at some of Modak's key features: 

A Money App For Families 

Central to the Modak experience is the Modak app, which acts as a hub for parents and kids. Parents can transfer money, monitor transactions, assign and manage chores, and manage spending controls from the app. Kids can track their balances, spending activity, savings goals, and rewards progress. I like that the app tries to engage kids to avoid it from becoming something they ignore after the first week. The user interface is modern and clearly designed for younger users. 

All-In-One Debit Card For Kids And Teens

Modak offers a Visa debit card that your kids can use to make purchases in-store or online, wherever Visa is accepted. The card is also supported by Apple Pay and Google Pay, so kids can add it to their mobile wallets. 

There are several parental control features, including the ability to lock or unlock the card instantly in the app. And, as mentioned, parents can oversee transactions and monitor spending activity. Because it's a debit card and not a credit card, your kids can only spend available funds, which can help you teach them about budgeting and reduce the risk of overspending. 

Chores And Allowances

One of the more unique features is a built-in chores and allowance platform. Parents can assign tasks, set payment amounts, track completion, and automatically reward kids once their chores are finished. This feature might work well for younger kids who are just starting to understand the relationship between work and earning money. 

In-App Mobucks Rewards

Modak uses gamification through its rewards system. This includes weekly challenges with rewards for completion, rewards for walking 5,000 steps per day, and daily rewards for completing the app's "scratch" feature. Your kids can even earn surprise rewards when they make purchases with their card. 

Rewards come in the form of Mobuks, or MBX. 100 MBX = $1, and kids can convert their MBX for real dollars, which they can spend easily with their debit card. For example, Modak pays 10 MBX for every 5,000 steps a user walks, so with 10 5,000-step days, they would earn $1 in rewards. One downside is that Mobucks expire after 120-days, so you have to ensure you convert and spend them fairly quickly. 

Are There Any Fees?

Modak does not charge any monthly fees for most of its services, including opening a debit card. It does offer a premium membership, called Mogold, which is $5.99 per month. Parents can get their own physical debit card, but there is a $5 charge, unless you have a Mogold subscription, in which case there is no fee. Modak does not charge any ATM fees, but you may be assessed a fee from the ATM provider. 

How Does Modak Compare?

Two of Modak's biggest competitors include Greenlight and Acorns Early. Greenlight offers similar parent controls, debit cards, chores tracking, and family banking tools. It has a slightly more polished ecosystem, but it comes with a monthly subscription fee, making Modak a better choice for budget-conscious families. 

Acorns Early takes a different approach by focusing more heavily on investing and long-term wealth building for your kids. It offers round-up savings and investing, and a 1% investing match. Like Greenlight, it charges a monthly subscription fee. 

How Do I Open An Account?

Parents can open an account within a few minutes by downloading the Modak app and creating a primary account. From there, you can add child accounts, order debit cards, and connect to your primary bank. As expected, you will need to provide standard personal information to confirm your identity. Once the account is approved, kids can begin using the app and virtual card while waiting for the physical debit card to arrive in the mail. 

Is It Safe And Secure?

In addition to employing full encryption to protect your data, Modak ensures secure access to its platform through biometric authentication (fingerprint or facial recognition). Parents can lock or unlock their child's debit card at anytime and monitor their spending. And when you need support, you can chat with a real human, 24/7, something not all fintech apps offer. 

How Do I Contact Modak?

You can access chat support 24/7 via Modak's website and mobile app. You can also email Modak at [email protected]. Modak also offers telephone support, by calling +1 833-966-2428. 

Is It Worth It?

If you're looking for a flexible kids debit card without having to pay a monthly fee, Modak is a great option. It offers an intuitive mobile app, physical and virtual debit cards, and strong parental controls, including a debit card lock-unlock feature, chore and allowance management, and rewards. And while Modak doesn't pay standard interest on deposits like other fintech apps, you can unlock a 4% savings boost with a $5.99 monthly subscription to Mogold, though I don't think the premium plan will be worth it for most.

Acorns Early and Greenlight are solid alternatives, but they don't offer a free plan, so unless you are going to take advantage of most or all of their added features, you're likely better off with Modak. 

Check out Modak here >>