Action 9 asks if company sells children's personal information

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — It's called Nickel. It's a new way to teach your child about financial responsibility. It's a debit card tied to MasterCard for children as young as 8 years old.

The company tracks your child's spending and saving habits. Some worry it may give strangers too much information about your child. So Action 9's Jason Stoogenke looked into it.

Information you have to share

If you sign up for Nickel, you have to give the company your name, email address, phone number, mailing address, date of birth, payment information, Social Security number and driver's license number. And you have to give your child's name, phone number, email address and date of birth.

Your child's privacy

Stoogenke asked what information the company keeps about your child, who has access to that, and who it shares that data with.

Read the privacy policy

He read the company's privacy policy. Better Business Bureau president Tom Bartholomy says privacy policies are "very open and upfront because, legally, they have to be about who all's going to have access to that information. Anybody [a company has] a relationship with, a third party that's connected to their company, here you go. Have at it." Privacy policies can be long and in legalese. So Stoogenke highlighted the parts to look for in a case like this.

CLICK HERE to view parts of the privacy policy that caught Stoogenke's eye

Stoogenke also double-checked that information with Nickel's co-founder and CEO Oliver Deighton. Deighton told Stoogenke:

"Privacy and security of personal information are of tantamount importance to us, and that is especially true when it comes to the personal information of children. We founded Nickel on the premise that the success of our business should be 100 percent aligned with the satisfaction of our customers. This is in contrast to the many business models out there that offer customers one thing, yet make money doing something else. I believe that fundamentally compromises a company's ability to focus on their customers and fully serve their needs. So our business is with customer directly. If parents are happy then we're happy. With our interests aligned, the privacy and security of our Nickel families is as important to them as it is to us. That's why we've designed Nickel for families -- for parents and kids -- and put a number of unique mechanisms in place to protect personal information and safeguard children.

Nickel does not sell the personal information of our customers, including children.
Nickel does not collect the Social Security numbers of children.
Nickel is fully compliant with COPPA (The Children's Online Privacy and Protection Act that regulates the collection of children's personal information)
Nickel doesn't ask kids to create and remember a password to their account. Each time a child logs in, they are texted a one-time-use password. This means kids can't forget their password and the passwords can't be guessed.
Nickel uses encryption for the communication of customer information
Parents and children can instantly disable Nickel cards directly from their phone.
Parents are notified when their children make purchases so they can easily stay aware and notice if something doesn't look right.
The Nickel card doesn't work where it shouldn't. By default, Nickel won't work at places like bars, hotels, airlines, casinos and other establishments that most parents wouldn't expect their kids to be making purchases."

Other options for your child

If you want to teach your child about spending and saving, but aren't sure you want to go this route, you can always do a more "old school" approach: set up a regular checking account or use a prepaid debit card that's reloadable.

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