What is a pay link and how does it work?

• What is a pay link?
• What funding sources are available? 
• Are there any limits in place for how much someone can send my child via their pay link or how much my child can receive?
• What happens if I do not approve or decline a pay link payment? / Why is a pay link payment not going through?
• What pay link access does the second parent or adult have on my account?
• Can anyone send your child money via their pay link?
• What's the difference between payments from friends and families and for goods or services? 
• What pay link payments will Greenlight report to the IRS? 

What is a pay link?

While you can send money to your child from your Parent app, we know that friends and family may also want (or need) to contribute to your child’s account. An easy way to do this is to share your child’s pay link, or to help them share it on their own. 

To share your child’s pay link via QR Code: 

1. From your Parent Dashboard, navigate to your child’s dashboard at the top of the screen.
2. Tap the QR code icon. 
3. Show the QR code to scan to send money or manually send pay link by tapping the “Share link” button.

Your child can share their own pay link as well. From their app, they will see a button that says “Get paid by friends and family” with a QR code icon on their dashboard.

When a friend or family member sends your child money, you'll receive a push notification to approve or decline the payment as well as a notification in-app. You can also find any pending payments at the top of your Parent Dashboard. Once you approve, the payment amount will be added to your child's Spend Anywhere. 

You have 60 days to approve or decline a payment before the amount is refunded back to the sender.

To learn more about how you can enable or disable your child’s pay link, click here.

What funding sources are available?

When someone pays your child through pay link, they can choose from the following funding sources: 

• Credit Card 
• Venmo (adult accounts only, available through Chrome on Android and Safari on iOS) 
• Apple Pay
• Google Pay

Are there any limits in place for how much someone can send my child via their pay link or how much my child can receive?

There are limits in place regarding how much money your family can receive from pay link payments. The following limits are in place:

• For new customers with tenure <= 30 days
  
  
  • Minimum individual payment amount: $5
  • Maximum individual payment amount: $100
  • Maximum amount a child can receive on a rolling 30-day period: $1,000
  • Maximum amount a family can receive on a rolling 30-day period: $1,000
• For customers with tenure > 30 days
  
  
  • Minimum individual payment amount: $5
  • Maximum individual payment amount: $250
  • Maximum amount a child can receive on a rolling 30-day period: $1,000
  • Maximum amount a family can receive on a rolling 30-day period: $3,000

What happens if I do not approve or decline a pay link payment?

To keep safety top of mind, a parent approval is required on all pay link payments before the money can be made available to your child. If a pay link payment has not been approved or declined by you within 60 days of being sent to your child, the sender will automatically receive a refund for their payment. 

As a reminder, you will receive a notification when payments come in and you can find all pending payments on your Parent Dashboard.

What pay link access does the second parent or adult have on my account?

The second parent or Authorized Approver on your account will be able to do everything that you, the Primary Accountholder, can do in regards to payment approvals and sharing your child’s pay link on their behalf. They will not, however, have the ability to enable or disable pay link access.

Can anyone send my child money via their pay link?

Each child has a unique pay link within their Greenlight account. Your child's pay link is only accessible if shared by you or your child and is not searchable online. Once someone receives your child’s pay link, they will be able to send your child money.

What's the difference between payments from friends and families and for goods or services? 

Pay link can be used to send money to Greenlight kids and teens in a variety of scenarios ranging from sending money as a birthday gift or sending money as payment for babysitting. When sending money, you have the option to mark whether or not this payment is for goods or services at the bottom of your screen.

A payment for goods and services is sending money to pay a child for an item or service, such as paying for a cookie at a bake sale or lawn mowing service. If you are sending money in exchange for a good or service, please check the box at the bottom of your screen to mark this payment as a payment for goods and services. 

Any payments that are not for goods and services are friends and family payments.

What pay link payments will Greenlight report to the IRS? 

Greenlight is not required to report friends and family payments to the IRS.  Goods and services payments are required to be reported if the total items or  services payments received by all children of a Primary Account Holder during a year is over reporting thresholds.  The threshold for 2023 is $20,000, 2024 is $5,000, and after is $600.  When Greenlight is required to report, the Primary Account holder will receive a Form 1099-K with the total amount of the items or services payments.  A copy of Form 1099-K is also sent to the IRS.  To determine whether the amount on your 1099-K is classified as taxable income and how to include this on your tax return, please speak with a tax professional.