I currently use a PayPal student debit card account to send money to my dad but I got a notice yesterday that PayPal is closing all of the student debit accounts.
My dad is utterly hopeless with money and calls me at least twice a month to ask for money for financial "emergencies." After dozens of overdrafts the bank cancelled his account he can't get another one without a cosigner, which I won't do because I don't want to be stuck with the bill for his reckless spending habits.
I need a way to be able to send him $100 to $200 quickly from an online account. I don't want to have to drive to a bank or store to reload a pre-paid debit card, or wait 3-5 days to transfer from my bank account. Ideally, I would like to be able to transfer money from my bank account to a main account and release small amounts to him as needed. I don't trust him to only spend a little at a time, he will keep spending until the transactions get declined. It can't have the option of allowing him to spend more than the card contains because I don't want to pay a bunch of overdraft fees.
Has anyone used the debit cards for kids? Are they easy to manage? My dad keeps complaining that I treat him like a kid but hey, when the shoe fits, right?