Greenlight review

The monthly fee is $5.99 to $19.98, and that is the main thing to weigh. Loading money into the account is free, so the running cost comes from the subscription rather than from each top-up. Prepaid rivals in the same comparison group often charge €0 a month.

The currency conversion fee is 0%, and the account supports multi currency and virtual card, which includes multi-currency. On this site Greenlight ranks 1 of 259 on currency conversion fee, so foreign spending is the strongest part of the offer.

The stated audience is kids and student, so the account is built around a child or a student rather than a shared household current account. Greenlight has been trading since 2014, and whoever holds the account loads the balance while the card covers day to day spending.

It is a prepaid card on mastercard, and the feature list includes multi currency and virtual card, so a virtual card sits alongside the physical one. Network matters if a merchant does not accept prepaid, and the virtual card is the better choice for online subscriptions.

Support runs on email, chat and phone, so email, chat, phone and the help centre are all listed. On a kids or student account, phone and chat are the quickest route, since the card is prepaid and spending is controlled by whoever loads the balance.

Greenlight is a US company, listed as US, and the legal entity is GREENLIGHT FINANCIAL TECHNOLOGY, INC. The US regulator on record is the FDIC. What the card is still matters for the safety of the money: it is a prepaid card on mastercard, so the balance is loaded by the account holder.

The overall score on this site is 4.3, and the cost part is 4.3, so running cost decides the rating rather than lifting it. The ranking splits by fee type: strong on currency conversion at 1 of 259, weaker on monthly fee at 386 of 419.