Hey Kids, It's Payback Time

Parents aren’t the only ones who need to fork over funds. Sometimes, kids need to make payments to parents and siblings. Here are some classic cases where kids need to pay up:

• Pay off a family bet. Colby bet Dad $2 that the Tigers wouldn’t win. They did. Pay back time.
• Pay a family member for covering a chore. Ellie fed the dog yesterday, which is Colby’s job. Pay back time.
• Reimburse a family member for a purchase. Ellie picked up In-N-Out for Colby. Pay back time.
• Pay back a family debt. Ellie borrowed a dollar from Colby at the county fair. Pay back time.

But, wait. Kids can’t initiate transfers to other family members in FamZoo. They can only request transfers between their own accounts or request funds from the primary funding card (via money requests and reimbursements), right?

Well, it turns out there is a special family-level setting that loosens that restriction. It’s called Allow Money Requests Between Members. See how to enable it here. With that option enabled, kids can request a transfer to or from any account in the family.

It’s no free-for-all though: any such transfers still require parent approval. Also, for privacy purposes, we don’t show the balances of the other family member’s accounts. Children can only see their own account balances.

Once the child initiates the transfer request, the selected parent receives email and text notifications. The embedded link in the notification launches the Transfer Approval form where the parent can approve or deny the transfer. When approving, the parent can also adjust the amount up or down — which is handy when monitoring for benign mistakes or not-so-innocent sibling price gouging. 🤔

Family members can see a history of transfer requests by selecting the Money Requests menu item on the Bank menu (or on the mobile menu in the app). Parents see all requests from all family members and can respond to any pending requests. Kids see just their own requests and can delete any pending ones if they have a change of heart.

Everybody owes somebody a little money once in a while. That somebody deserves to be repaid promptly without asking. Enabling the Allow Money Requests Between Members option is a good way to let your kids practice prompt, proactive payback behavior.

A simple mnemonic for the kids: If you’re going to borrow, pay it back tomorrow!