Can you name the FamZoo family money feature that is simple and effective, yet seldom used?
A few hints. It can:
- Make spending more visible and mindful.
- Spark important family money conversations.
- Catch suspicious activity early.
- Help family members stay on budget.
- Reveal when a family member is struggling with a card — and why.
What is it?
Activity alerts.
Activity alerts send an immediate text message whenever a purchase attempt is made, whether it succeeds or fails. The message includes the remaining card balance — and just knowing where you stand can be a surprisingly effective budgeting tool. When a purchase fails, the message indicates why. No more guesswork about why a card isn’t working. Less frustration.
So why don’t more families take advantage of such a useful family finance tool?
Until now, activity alerts weren’t enabled by default, and they were easy to miss.
This reminds me of some famous behavioral finance research. In one well-known study of 401(k) participation, researchers Brigitte Madrian and Dennis Shea found that automatic enrollment significantly increased participation and that many employees stuck with the default contribution rate and fund allocation.
The takeaway: defaults matter. People often stick with the path of least resistance, and they often treat the default setting as a quiet recommendation.
So we’ve taken a cue from that research.
Activity alerts now default to “on” for newly activated FamZoo cards, with text alerts sent to the registering family member’s phone.
Why didn’t we make them the default to begin with? We worried that doing so might come off as presumptuous or invasive. But after years of serving families and seeing the frustration, overspending, and fraud that activity alerts could have helped prevent, we’ve decided that a gentle nudge toward a good habit better aligns with our mission.
We’ve also chosen a middle ground: alerts are enabled for the registering family member’s phone, but not automatically for every family member’s phone.
A few practical notes:
What if I don’t want alerts waking me up?
Use your phone’s settings to silence alerts during sleeping hours. Most phones let you set quiet periods, sleep schedules, or Do Not Disturb rules while still allowing important contacts through if desired. You can also change the delivery type of the alert from text message to email.
- Pro-Tip: You can also assign a custom text tone to FamZoo text messages so you can recognize spending activity instantly from the sound alone.
Can other family members receive alerts too?
Yes. You can turn on activity alerts for the family member using the card, as well as for any family member who helps oversee the card. In fact, we recommend doing so for best results. Updates to alert recipients can be made from the card’s Account Settings.
Can I turn activity alerts off?
Yes. Default “on” does not mean mandatory. You can remove activity alerts for any card in its Account Settings.
How do I know FamZoo text messages are getting through?
Send a test text message to the relevant family member from the Settings > Members screen. If the message is not received, see our text message troubleshooting FAQ entry for how to triage the issue.
What if I activated my cards before your change? Is it retroactive?
No. Existing cards, replacement cards, and renewal cards will keep their current alert settings. The new default applies going forward when new families order cards and when existing families order new additional cards.
We know this change may create a few extra support messages from families who prefer fewer texts. That’s OK. We’d much rather hear, “How do I turn off activity alerts?” than, “Why didn’t you tell me about activity alerts to begin with?”
That’s the kind of blowback we can live with.
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