The teenagers in my area are debit card lovers. They use these cards for every and all transaction. It is a Handy way to pay and avoids having them carry cash around. It is also a ticking time bomb. Many of the banks and credit unions will offer a no fee account to kids under the age of 16. Sometimes the age is 18, but the result is the same. These kids have grown up with no fee accounts and have learned to pay for everything on their card. Often mom and dad are topping up their accounts to make sure the kids have lunch money. By the time these kids reach 16 or 18, they are so in the habit of paying by debit, they begin to rack up hundreds of dollars in fees each month. The banks have trained them to swipe their cards for everything. Suddenly the cars is declined for insufficient funds and the fees are responsible. If you have children with a card, take the time to train them to use it responsibly. Kids will run up several transactions in a day and at the end of the month will be paying the banks hundreds of dollars in unnecessary fees.
My kid's debit card is connected to my Paypal account. She has a student Paypal card. But I transfer the amount that she is allowed to use to her Paypal student card. I don't have my account enabled as backup funding for her, so if she uses all the funds on her card, it'll be declined.
I think the parents need to set up accounts with institutions where there aren't fees for swiping the cards. Yes, they need to train their kids too, but there are institutions that will take numbers off your monthly fees for swiping your cards, and that's where you need to bank. There are plenty of institutions with free checking/debit accounts too, there's no excuse for using an institution for simple accounting and paying them to store your money for you and asking fees on top of all that.
I never had any type of card until I was an adult and was working on my own. I survived well without it and I'm sure any other would be. Every parents should be fully responsible in teaching their children about money, how to spend them, debt, and so on. It is better to prevent than having to deal with an unnecessary debt later in the future.
I disagree because I think as a part of this kids also learn how to spend money and they learn not to spend money so that they get negative. Parents don't just fill it up for them randomly upon being asked. And either way that is these kids problem to deal with if they do get in trouble
