Spend controls

Controls that trust adults.

Every limit, lock, and approval you might want, and none you didn't choose. Off by default for adults. On by default for kids.

Dara is a cross-border money platform, not a bank. Banking, card, and settlement services are provided by licensed partners. Rates and fees are always shown in-app before you confirm.

The card controls screen in the Dara app showing the same three controls on two cards: on Amara's adult card the spending limit, merchant lock and ask to spend are all switched off, and on Chidi's card at age twelve all three are switched on

Set a cap, keep a list you trust, or raise it for a week

Set a cap and the meter shows what is left after what you have spent and what is pending.

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Kids ask. You answer.

A request arrives as a push while your child is still standing at the checkout. Nothing clears until you answer, and you can answer from wherever you are.

  • You see the amount, the category, and which card it would come from before you decide.
  • Nothing moves while a request is waiting, and nothing moves if you decline.
A purchase request in the Dara app asking whether to approve this spend, listing Chidi Okafor at $40.00, a home improvement category, and the Standard card ending 7560 with $1,675 left of $3,000, above buttons to approve or decline

Questions about spend controls

No. Whatever share of a shared balance is attributed to you can be swept to your personal wallet, and that always works. Controls can hold up a purchase from a shared card while an approval is outstanding, but they cannot strand an adult, because the money you own stays reachable.

The group does, not one person. Changing a rule in a Circle takes the approvals that Circle was set up to require, so nobody can quietly tighten a control on someone else. The person who created the space has no special power to do it alone.

Teens get a wider surface, not a narrower one. A younger child's card starts with every control on and a parent answers each request. A teen can be given a standing limit, their own merchant list, and the room to spend inside it without asking, which is the point of raising the ceiling as they get older.

Yes. A card can be issued with card-only access, so the holder sees their own card, its limit, and what they have spent on it, and nothing about the balances behind it. A builder drawing against a project sees their card, not your accounts.

No. Every limit, lock, approval rule, and temporary boost is part of the account. Creating cards is free, and the only charges anywhere on Dara are currency conversion and payouts to outside banks, shown in full before you confirm.

Read the full FAQ

Leave them off, or turn them on.

Set up a card in the app and decide what it can do. An adult's card starts open, a child's starts protected, and either can change whenever you want.