Kids' Finance App - Turning Good Money Habits into Value for Banks

The client is a US fintech with a money app for kids aged 6 to 18, used by more than 500,000 people. Kids use it to earn money for completing chores, save, invest through funds that their parents hold as custodians, and spend with their own card. Parents can see everything in the app.

The Problem

The client reaches families through partnerships with banks and other financial institutions, so its growth depends on showing those partners why its users are worth having as customers. It didn't yet have a clear way to make that case.

The partners faced a gap of their own. When a young person graduates into adulthood and applies for their first financial products, they have no credit record in the US. A bank has very little to go on when deciding what to offer them.

Our Solution

Elucidate built three data products on top of the app's data.

• Pseudo credit score. We combined app usage and behavioural data with detailed customer analysis, and overlaid the saving and spending behaviours that carry through into adulthood. The result is a pseudo credit score that banks can use to decide which financial products to offer a graduating customer.
• Lifetime value model. We analysed the full range of financial products against each kid's financial habits to estimate, at a very granular level, how much that customer is likely to be worth to a bank or financial institution over time. For example, the model can place a customer in the 87th percentile of value over a given number of years, or for a product such as a mortgage.
• In-app AI agent. An agent inside the app uses each kid's own data to guide them towards good money habits through an engaging, kid-friendly interface. Kids can ask it questions about money and learn as they go. One of its features is savings coaching. Say a kid wants a $700 bike in two years' time. The agent looks at what they earn from chores and allowance, what they currently save and what they spend. It then maps where they are today against what they need, and sets out the habits that will get them there. Daily or weekly notifications keep them on track: a reminder about a chore, a way to earn extra pocket money, or a nudge to skip the ice cream this time.

The Results

1. A pseudo credit score and lifetime value for every one of the app's 500,000+ users
2. A specific, data-backed value story to take to banks and financial institutions
3. Graduating customers arrive with a pseudo credit score that banks can act on
4. Engagement from kids using the AI agent increased 2.7 times
5. Kids get personal guidance that helps them build the discipline to save towards their goals