• Allowing parents to control the level of spending through the administration center is a big plus with the Bancorp Bank PAYjr Visa Buxx Prepaid Card. Being able to see where your teenager is spending the money, and also being able to apply spending limits is a huge bonus for parents. This is really a great feature for educating as opposed to controlling, what our kids do with their money. A big thumbs up on this tool!

• Having the facility and flexibility for a parent to not only control the amount and frequency of payments to the card is one thing. Having the ability for parents to contact customer service at Bancorp at any time and have the teen’s card suspended for whatever reason, is another fantastic feature. This is a great way of ensuring your teen uses the card in the manner it was intended, and to suffer some “tough love” consequences should they choose to ignore the warnings.

• Knowing that the card is aimed at and designed for teens, but that ultimate control is still in the hands of the parent is comforting. A teen can make a pre-application for a card and even design one to his or her liking online, but the card cannot be approved without the authorization of the parent. When the card is pre-designed online, that starts the application process rolling, and the parent will receive an email to complete the application process.

Bancorp Bank, the issuer of the Bancorp Bank PAYjr Visa Buxx Prepaid Card has been in business a relatively short period time when compared with other companies in the financial services market. As an online commercial banking group and being insured by the FDIC, it is a bank with a solid reputation and stable business practice that has transacted more than two billion dollars in card transactions last year alone. With its headquarters in Delaware the company continues to form affiliations with private brands, as they tailor more unique products to deliver to an ever growing market demand.

The Bancorp Bank PAYjr Visa Buxx Prepaid Card is designed with education in mind, but not at the cost of features, flexibility and convenience. This is a card that is aimed at parents, to use in conjunction with teenagers in an effort to teach young people the best ways to handle their money. As with other products in the Bancorp Banks lineup, there is a lot more to the card than pure education.

One of the most important things that a parent needs is control over their teens spending habits. This is certainly a main focus of this prepaid card from Bancorp. Not only can you (as a parent) monitor the transactions and spending habits of your teen, you can actually control how much money is available through the card. In fact let’s say you pay your teen an allowance for completing household chores, and until now you have been paying them cash today, only to see them asking for more money tomorrow. Now you can actually pay that allowance direct to the Bancorp Bank PAYjr Visa Buxx Prepaid Card, knowing that you will be able to see exactly where any money was spent from day to day.

You can also deposit lump sum payments onto the card at any time, and by giving details of the account to friends and family, it is possible for them to deposit funds in lieu of birthday and other monetary gifts that would normally be paid in cash.

A beautiful feature of the card is the fact that it is a VISA prepaid card, and along with that you are covered (in most cases) by the standard “VISA zero liability policy” is your card is lost or stolen. Remember when you or your teen was carrying cash around, and that cash was lost; you had no protection from someone else finding the cash and spending it. Well with the zero liability policy, in most cases, you will have to pay nothing for any unauthorized spending on your account.

Unlike a credit card, the debit card does not incorporate any long term commitments. You are free to cancel your card at any time. Obviously If you do this and money is still in your account, that money will be repaid to you, minus any fees that may be owed at the time.

As a part of the education focus of the Bancorp Bank PAYjr Visa Buxx Prepaid Card, your teen is able to see at a glance, the spending on the account at any time, as well as the available balance. This reporting can be done direct to their mobile phone at intervals you select. Teaching them to know how to read and understand the statement from the bank is a great start to making them more aware of where their money is going, and how to avoid unnecessary fees and charges.

Recently there was quite an amazing study conducted, whereby students who had full use of a credit card, had their SAT scores compared with students who used a prepaid debit card, and the results of that study were amazing to say the least. It was reported that the students who were using debit cards experienced a 3.4% increase in their scores, over those students who were using credit cards. This is stunning! When you consider that even if it were purely the use of credit cards that was creating this gap in results, imagine for a moment what that obvious stress of being in debt, is doing to your child.

As adults we all understand the complexity of going into debt. We all know what emotions and stress that can cause. The daily thought of knowing we owe someone else a lot of money, or that we are working our butts off because we have to pay debt. These are things that we all try to protect our children from having to experience, and if we can do that through effective education in real terms, we should all be doing it as soon as we can.

The Bancorp Bank PAYjr Visa Buxx Prepaid Card is also a trendy fashion item that teens love to carry around with them. It has the famous VISA logo emblazoned on the front of the card, and the card itself comes in many different styles and designs, again aimed at the fashion conscious teen. It is no good having this amazing tool available for them if they are not going to use it because it doesn’t look cool. Bancorp has taken this into consideration when introducing the range of cards for kids.

Being that the debit card is a VISA card, it is recognized all over the world at millions of different outlets, and is also able to be used online. This means that when you travel with your teens, or when they travel independently of you, they are protected in the knowledge that have safe access to funds should they need them.

Funds can be added to the card either online or offline and parents have many controls at their fingertips. It is even possible for parents to add spending limits to the card so they know that the money is being spend wisely. Aside from the parental controls that are available with the Bancorp Bank PAYjr Visa Buxx Prepaid Card, the teen can actually log into the account administration center online to view all kinds of data reports. They can also access a range of financial information and tools aimed at educating them about general financial issues in a responsible manner.

Overall this Bancorp Bank PAYjr Visa Buxx Prepaid Card would have to be one of the most innovative cards aimed at teens. Combining education, control and flexibility, it is now safe to assume that cash and checks are certainly items of the past.