Till Financial is a combination digital financial platform and debit card for the whole family. This product allows for collaboration not just between parents and their kids but also between kids and key people from their community.

Till was named the Best App for Teaching Teens to Budget in 2021 by U.S. News & World Report.

This app is all about saving but was also built to teach kids and teens to spend smarter (and less impulsively). It allows users to set goals for themselves and work toward them with the help and encouragement of their families, and the app makes it easy to get the most out of this product’s features.

Find out if the Till Family Banking Platform and Debit Card is right for your family by reading our comprehensive review below — or — see how it stacks up against the competition in our rundown of the best debit cards for kids and teens in 2021.

Who Is It For

Target age: Kids between the ages of eight and 18.

Good candidate: Kids and teens who have savings goals and families that want to be involved.

Anyone at least eight years old and no older than 18 is eligible to join Till and get their own debit card. A parent or guardian signs up for an account and becomes the Family Owner, and their kids become sub-account holders or dependents/beneficiaries. Family Owners or account holders may also invite other people to become Admins and help manage money and activity.

Features and Benefits

Till builds in a lot of protections to allow parents to keep kids safe from spending more than they should and opportunities to make saving highly rewarding.

For Kids and Teens

Every Till Family Banking sub account holder is eligible to receive a debit card in their name. They can only spend the money that is on their card. Other funds may be put into savings goals.

💰 Earn: There are a few ways users can earn more money for their accounts. First, they can complete the Tasks that are assigned to them. These may be chores or favors requested by their parents or an Admin. Next, they can save their money. Users may also earn more money for themselves, either from their parents or from other friends and family members, by working hard toward their savings goals. Finally, they may earn an allowance or receive Quick Gives. 

💸 Spend: The money on a user’s Till debit card is called their Spend Balance. This can be spent almost anywhere Visa is accepted, including in-person and online. A user may change their PIN at any time through the Till app.

Till debit cards are compatible with mobile wallets including ApplePay, GooglePay, and SamsungPay. They can also be used at ATMs to make cash withdrawals or check an account balance. Users can find free in-network ATMs through the Till app. There is a daily ATM withdrawal limit of $250 and transaction limit of $2,500 on every sub account.

Overdrafting an account or spending more than what is on a debit card is not possible.

💰 Save: The more money users save, the more they can earn. They can set up different savings goals in the app. Their parents may choose to match their savings contributions or even pay them interest on their balance (interest payments must be paid solely by Family Owners or Admins as they are not paid by Till).

Kids can easily see the progress they’ve made toward their goals from their dashboard, as well as any new contributions that have been made by them, their parents, or an Admin. When they reach a goal, their whole support team will be notified.

Every time a teen wants to move money from one of their savings goals to their Spend Balance, they must get their parent’s approval.

For Parents

Parents can add money to their child’s account through one-time transfers, recurring transfers, and savings contributions. 

One-time transfers are made in the form of Quick Gives and can be sent right to a child’s Spend Balance or card or to one of their savings goals. Tasks are another form of one-time transfers that allow Family Owners and Admins to create chores with set values. Sub-account users complete these as they are assigned to them, and payments are made immediately once a chore is approved by its creator.

Recurring transfers are automated contributions scheduled ahead of time. Types include Recurring Contributions, Matching Contributions, and Savings Interest Contributions. For Recurring Contributions, parents choose an amount to give and the day of the week they’d like the payment to go through. This option is good for fixed allowance payments.

Matching Contributions are made to savings accounts. For these, parents choose a percentage they’d like to contribute and specify which goal or goals to apply this to. This payment is then made every time a child funds that savings goal and is calculated based on the child’s balance at the time of the contribution.

Savings Interest Contributions allow parents to pay interest on their child’s savings balance. They choose the interest rate or percentage, the goal to apply it to, and the frequency at which they want interest payments to be made.

The person who opens a Till account is the Account Owner, and they may wish to choose an adult, such as their co-parent, to be the Account Administrator. The Administrator has all of the same abilities as the Account Owner except they cannot make changes to who owns the account or serves as an administrator. They can add money to a child’s account, move funds between accounts, contribute to savings, assign Tasks, and more. There can be multiple Administrators. 

The Account Owner and Admins have all access to a child’s transaction history, balance, and other activity. Both parties can enable account alerts to be notified when a child uses their card, contributes to a savings goal, etc.

The Account Owners and/or Administrators can also invite Community Members to help a child reach their goals. Community Members are only permitted to add money from their own account to a child’s account, either into a savings goal or to their Spend Balance. They cannot make changes such as transferring money from or within a child’s account or adding new users. Community Members must link their own external bank accounts to make contributions.

Community Members can also see a child’s savings goals and provide encouragement without adding money. Even teachers can become Community Members.

An account can be funded via ACH transfer, credit or debit transaction, check deposit, or direct deposit.

All ACH transactions are made through Plaid. If a bank is not compatible with Plaid, then it cannot be linked with Till. Cash deposits are not accepted. Limits

Till also has a referral program that allows account holders, not their kids, to earn money (somewhat unusual for a family finance account). To be eligible to refer another person, a user must open a family account, link an external bank account, and fund their account with at least $25. They also have to add at least one child as a beneficiary/sub account holder. Then, they will receive a referral link that they can share. If a person uses this link to open an account and meets the above criteria, both the referrer and the referred person will receive $10.

How Much Does the Till Family Banking Debit Card Cost?

💸 Fees: No monthly fee, no inactivity fee, no domestic ATM withdrawal fee*, no fee for returned deposit items, no fee for funds transfer, no fee for insufficient funds, $5 card replacement fee, 3% international debit transaction fee, $5 for international ATM withdrawals.

There are no subscription fees or maintenance fees. For the most part, this is actually a fee-free account. There is no fee for adding additional cards and sub-accounts to an account. Fees are only assessed for international transactions or by third parties.

Till defines inactivity as a period of 90 days or more without user-initiated activity. There is no charge for this, but Till reserves the right to close your account if it is dormant for this long.

*Till does not charge for ATM use, but out-of-network ATM owners may. There is no ATM reimbursement.

Benefits of Till Over Competitors

Till’s variety of savings incentives is one of its strongest assets. If a parent really wants to drive home the importance of setting aside money for goals, they can make saving worthwhile by paying their kids interest and matching their balance. It’s great that Till builds these options right into the platform and makes them easy to use and customize.

The option to add Community Members is also a feature that’s easy to appreciate. Allowing family members and others invested in a child’s financial success to participate in helping them save and cheering them on could prove beneficial for a lot of users, especially inexperienced ones. A support system can make all the difference in encouraging good financial habits.

Till also provides a decent range of funding options. Not the most we’ve ever seen, but slightly above average.

Potential Drawbacks

One of the primary complaints people are having about this product is that transfers are made exclusively through Plaid, which many banks do not support. Plaid is compatible with a lot of banks, but some banks don’t provide the details that Plaid needs to function. 

Another con is that cash deposits cannot be used to fund an account. Though a fairly common occurrence across family finance apps, this can still be limiting.

Also problematic is the fact that Till Family Banking isn’t supported by Android devices. Hopefully, this changes soon, but there is no word on when this may happen.

One final, fairly minor, potential drawback to note is that the referral program does not stand to benefit teens directly. Other kids’ debit products with referral programs make it possible for kids to earn a bit of money for themselves by telling their friends about their experience, but Till’s referral program targets parents.

Consumer Sentiment

The Till Family Banking app has a rating of 3.8 out of 5 stars in the App Store, but please note there isn’t a version of the Till Family Banking app for Google Play at this time.

Positive reviews about the product say that the app and platform are functional and easy for their kids to use. Users also like that Till teaches kids about financial literacy by giving them real and encouraging experiences. Negative reviews say that signing up and adding kids can be a bit of a hassle.

You can email support@tillfinancial.io with questions or concerns regarding your account and/or the app.

Is It Safe

All Till Financial users are automatically insured up to the federally permitted limit of $250,000 through Coastal Community Bank.

For added security, Till users can enable two-factor authentication for certain purchases and require Touch ID or Face ID to log into their account.

If a debit card is not used for 120 days or more, Till reserves the right to cancel it permanently.

How to Sign Up

To sign up for a Till Family Banking account, a parent can either provide their phone number on the website or install the app and sign up through there. They will be prompted to fund their account by linking an external bank and then given the option to add Admins, Community Members, and Sub Accounts.

There is no minimum opening balance required to create an account. Before signing up and funding your account, make sure that your bank is compatible with Plaid.

Final Thoughts

Till Financial launched its Family Banking app in April of 2021, and this product is already standing out from others like it. Its range of savings features and rewarding user experience make it competitive. However, there is not an Android version of the app and only banks compatible with Plaid are eligible to be linked.

But although far from perfect, Till Family Banking is a good platform. This debit card is ideal for kids who want to save and especially great for users new to managing their own finances.