One of the conversations that teenagers have most often with their parents is the one about the so-called pocket money: the money to go to the cinema, go out with friends and start living with a minimum of economic independence. Each family has its own way of managing pocket money, some teenagers have to surrender to ask for money every time it is needed, others receive a small monthly capital, to be administered sparingly. For many, however, the time of pocket money is often a bit unpleasant: it can be annoying and embarrassing to ask your parents for more money, just as it can be a bore for parents to have to take care of going to withdraw money or remembering to make a bank transfer every month. And then there are emergencies, when it can be useful to be able to get someone money very quickly. To make all these things easier, now there is YAP: an app developed by the Italian digital payment company Nexi and built specifically to make giving and receiving pocket money faster.
How YAP works
For children, YAP is an app that allows you to make purchases (even abroad) with your mobile phone thanks to the circuit's contactless system Mastercard, to easily split a pizzeria account at the end of a dinner with friends and to collect money to make a group gift for a birthday party. In practice, it is an updated and enhanced version of the rechargeable prepaid cards that were also used by teenagers fifteen years ago.
For parents it is a fast, easy, safe and practically free way to give their children pocket money. In turn, they have to download the app and use it to top up their children's app by linking their account to a credit card. In no case are automatic withdrawals made: the connection to the credit card is used to avoid re-entering your data each time and top-up in two clicks. However, top-ups can also be done from an ATM (if enabled for the QuiMultiBanca circuit), from a tobacconist's, as can be done with telephone top-ups, or with a bank transfer. In the latter mode, even grandparents or other relatives can make birthday or Christmas gifts using YAP; the system is in fact associated with an IBAN code.
If desired, the app can also be associated with a physical card – costing € 9.95, with no annual fee – but it is not essential. The fee for withdrawing cash using the card is only one euro.
You don't need to go to the bank to activate YAP: you can do everything from your smartphone. To get started, you need to download the app (available for both smartphones with Android operating systems and iPhones) and then register. Also in this case it is not a complicated thing, you do not have to send paper documents: a telephone number, social security number, scan of an identity document and a recent photo are enough. The only requirements to use it, for children, are that they are 12 years old and that they have their own smartphone. All other details can be read here.
What are the benefits of YAP
YAP can solve various problems for a parent. For example, all those related to cash: it allows you to give pocket money to your children even when you have forgotten to withdraw and to help them in emergencies when you are away – any teenager can go wrong and run out of money during a study holiday abroad. Furthermore, thanks to YAP there is no need to lend your children your credit card or debit card, with the risk that they will lose it or spend more than expected. Furthermore, the kids are safe from money theft, because even if their smartphone is stolen, the money on YAP would remain blocked thanks to the password to access the app.
Compared to a traditional prepaid card, the YAP system is activated directly from the smartphone in a few minutes, without the need to physically go to the bank, it is free (if it is not associated with the physical card it has no activation costs or even annual fees) and no can be forgotten at home, as it is difficult for a teenager to forget their smartphone.
The main advantage of YAP, however, is that it is a way to teach your children to manage money closer to what they will have to learn as they grow up: it helps children to be independent (without risk) and to deal with a first, simple system to manage your money. It also has other advantages for children: every day it offers promotions and “cashback” initiatives – post-clearance discounts – or competitions. For example, in this period, by inviting friends to use YAP, kids can earn up to € 205: € 45 for the first three friends who start using the app and € 10 for each of the following ones.
