Review: Discover Current Card

Mom Central and Discover asked me to share my thoughts about their new debit card for teens. Discover is offering their Current card as a tool for parents and teens to use to help build financial knowledge and independence. For a low monthly fee of $5, teens and parents can track and manage their spending online, as well as withdraw cash up to 4 times each month.

Some of the features include:

• Helpful Account Management Features: Parents can set spending limits, restrict merchant categories and track their teen’s spending through online statements, e-mail and text message alerts. They also enjoy the convenience of free, flexible loading options. Teens also can load their paychecks onto the card through direct deposit.
• Advanced Security Features: Current is protected by Discover’s $0 fraud liability, which means cardmembers are never responsible for unauthorized charges – online, offline, anytime, anywhere. Current cards that are lost or stolen will be temporarily suspended or deactivated, and cardmembers will be eligible for an emergency replacement.
• Financial Education Resources: Teens can learn how to spend smarter by logging onto the Account Center at CurrentbyDiscover.com. There they can view helpful articles on topics such as basic financial concepts, protecting yourself from identify theft, starting a savings program, and making your money go further.
• Meaningful Rewards: Teens are eligible for members-only in-store coupons and online discounts when they use their card at select restaurants, movie theaters and teen-friendly merchants. What’s more, parents earn Discover Cashback Bonus or Miles when they load their teen’s Current Card using their Discover Card.

I think that this card through Discover offers some neat features, and I like the fact that it offers discounts when used at select retailers.

I have used fee-free Visa gift cards to load gift money my sons have received to make it easier to keep track of and prevent loss. That has been useful, but I can see how it would be more useful to easily see what the money was spent on.

These cards would also be great to load allowances, if a teen received a monthly allowance. I can see how they would be useful for some families, but also wonder if some families would balk at the $5 fee compared to free checking accounts (that also offer free online banking) at many banks. What do you think?