nimbl Review

What is nimbl? 📖

nimbl is a prepaid card that helps children manage their money and enables parents to supervise their spending. The service has its own app. Cards can be used to purchase a wide range of products and services.

Parents can either make one-off payments to the cards or schedule regular payments. The service is designed to help children become more familiar with concepts like responsible spending, budgeting and saving. It is aimed at 6-18 year-olds.

With nimbl, children don’t need to carry physical cash, which can easily be lost or stolen. If something happens to a nimbl pre-paid card, it can easily be frozen. The team at nimbl say their solution marks the “start of a journey to becoming a financially confident young adult”.

How Does nimbl Work? 👨‍🏫

nimbl offers Parent and Child accounts for digital pocket money. However, the card can only be used by children as it is linked to the parent account. Nonetheless, parents can still log in to the app to see the latest card activity and top up their balance.

Each time a purchase is made, parents are notified via real-time notifications. Limits can also be set, so children can’t go over their daily or monthly allowance. The card has contactless capabilities, so kids won’t need to remember a PIN.

It can be used for online and offline purchases and at cash machines. Each Parent account can be linked to up to four child accounts.

Key Features of nimbl? ⚙️

One reason why nimbl has become so popular with parents is that it gives them full parental control over their child’s spending. Online purchases can be blocked, as can cash machine withdrawals.

By blocking ATM withdrawals, parents can stop their kids hiding purchases they don’t approve of. If you do allow online purchases, you can block unsuitable content on your child’s computer to stop them visiting inappropriate retailers.

Transactions at adult-only retailers are blocked. These include pubs, casinos and off-licences. However, grocery stores don’t always fall under the adult-only category. However, any responsible offline retailer will ask to see ID before allowing certain purchases to go ahead.

How Much Does nimbl Cost? 💷

Each nimbl has a monthly fee of £2.49 a month. This means you will need to spend almost £10 a month if you are buying cards for four children.

However, they won’t be charged to make purchases or to withdraw money at free-to-use cash machines when using the card in the UK.

If the card is used overseas, a 2.95% currency exchange fee will be incurred and all cash withdrawals will cost £1.50.

The nimbl App? 📱

Once you receive the card, you will need to activate it online, you can then download the mobile app. Available for iPhone and Android users, both parents and children can log into the app with separate logins.

The app alerts children when money is added to their account it’s easy for them to see their balance and ask for friends and family members to send gifts to their account. This helps teach the importance of keeping track of day to day spending and sticking to personal budgets.

Parents can lock and unlock the card with ease via the app and look at statements to advise their children on their financial behaviour. The spending controls are one of the main functions in the nimbl parent account.

Parents can also request gifts from friends and family members – this is ideal for birthdays and Christmas.

There is also a savings feature that encourages young people to put money aside for treats. nimbl’s unique feature, micro-savings enables kids to save each time they make a purchase by striking a balance between spending and saving.

Is nimbl Safe and Secure? 🔒

Although nimbl isn’t a bank, it is regulated by the FCA. The card itself is a mastercard although it can only be used when money has been pre-loaded onto it.

Users are instructed to report loss and theft to the customer service department even if they have put a temporary block on a card. Parents can also report a card lost or stolen via the app and order a new one.

Advantages of nimbl 👍

There are many clear advantages to using nimbl. The service helps kids to enhance their money management skills whilst giving parents valuable peace of mind.

nimbl has no hidden top up costs or gifting fees meaning money can be added to the accounts as often as required.

The spending controls prevent overspending, and parents are notified each time the card is used.

Many parents also appreciate the way they can block withdrawals and online purchases if they wish to.

There is also a one-month free trial that will help you decide whether nimbl is right for you and your children.

It’s also easy to manage several Child accounts at once from your dashboard. Another benefit of nimbl is that it can be used by kids aged as young as 6, whereas some other services only welcome the over-10s.

Disadvantages of nimbl 👎

Your child won’t see any interest added to their savings if they do decide to save with nimbl. Additionally, you can’t top up their balance with physical cash – you can only send money via your credit or debit card.

Although nimbl does offer a range of quality features, some more basic services on the market won’t charge you a fee.

Some users have complained about connectivity problems – reviews on app download sites do feature the odd comment about freezing, crashing and failed transactions.

However, the feedback is generally positive. At the time of writing, the app has a rating of 3.6 out of 5 on Google Play.

Conclusion 💭

We have been moving further towards a cashless society for many years. Many children and parents of the past would have welcomed a service like nimbl a few decades ago. Cash can easily be lost, stolen or spent on unsuitable things, which makes offering a card-based facility to your kids highly appealing.

A great thing about nimbl is that it be used from six years of age, allowing your child to get to grips with sensible money management well before their teenage years.

You can turn off the notifications on and off at any time. Some parents may feel like they are invading their kids’ privacy by viewing alerts each time older children use their cards.

However, many parents do worry about what their teenage offspring are spending their money on, which means nimbl may well be the ideal solution for concerned mums and dads.

All in all, nimbl may be right for you and your kids if you want to give your child more financial freedom without completely relinquishing control over their monetary activities. For the small monthly fee we feel nimbl is a valuable tool worth trying.

FAQ

Are nimbl cards good?

There is no definitive answer to this question, as there are many factors that can influence whether or not nimbl debit cards are considered “good”. Some parents might consider the educational aspect the most important factor above all else, while other families might prioritize high levels of security and privacy when choosing how to pay monthly pocket money. Ultimately, the best way to decide whether or not nimbl cards are good is to take advantage of the free trial and decide for yourself.

How much is nimbl a month?

The nimbl service cost £2.49 per month or £28 per year. You can also sign up for a free trial to make sure it suits your needs before making a choice.

Who owns nimbl?

The company that owns nimbl is called ParentPay.