XBox Live - Family Pack Gone, Allowance is now a pain rant

I haven't seen any solutions to those like me who used to have a family account that was broken into separate accounts with real currency. While this irritated me a bit, my real issue is there seems to be no real equivalent to giving my kids points/currency
from my account so that they can buy something. The only choice that I can see is to attach a credit card to my kid's account.

Um... now, my kids are pretty responsible but temptation can get the best of any youngster needing a point pack to be able to complete something in some game.

My only recourse has been to attach my credit card to the kid's account, purchase whatever was requested (at which time they pay me back in money that they've earned) and then remove the credit card from the kid's account after the transaction has been completed.

Having these open-ended 'app' purchasing capabilities tied to children is exactly why Apple, Amazon, and soon Google, have had issues with the government regarding the ease of which kids can make 'unauthorized' purchases. At least the point system allowed
the parent to allocate a chunk of points to the child and forget about it.

If there is a simpler way to allocate funds to children then please post it up. I'd love to be wrong here.

Solutions that are not acceptable to me:

• Having to permanently attach any type of credit card, pre-paid type or other,
  
• Having to go purchase Microsoft points cards and attach them to their account.
  

Best solution:

• Have a 'parental' console where I can assign funds to a particular user on either a recurring or one-time basis.
  

Thanks.

:)

 

Glitch while adding points to an account

Are you currently subscribed for an Xbox Live Gold Family pack? If so I believe the ability to add points via purchase is restricted on a child's account. You will have to go through your (main account holder) account and then purchase the points. After
you can then set an allowance to either child account.

More info here if your using XBLG Family pack:
support.xbox.com/.../billing-points-family-pack

 

family pack

Hello,

This is how the gold family pack works. Only the primary member of the family has control over billing details. The primary member can give secondary members Microsoft Points as allowances which they can use to purchase items on the Xbox LIVE marketplace. Secondary
accounts cannot add a credit card to their account or use a credit card while on the Xbox LIVE Gold Family Pack. Secondary accounts can also redeem Microsoft Point codes purchased from retail stores to their account and purchase content that way as well.

Removing someone from the gold family pack has a 5 day waiting period before they can be added back to the family pack, there's no way around that restriction. It's to keep people from cycling new people to their account to play online and then removing them
when they don't need to play anymore.

Information on giving points allowances to others in the gold family pack can be found
here.

 

There is another option that you could try here. Why not purchase the games or DLC the kids want on your account? They'll still be able to access the content with their accounts.

 

Also just curious as to why purchasing Xbox gift cards is not an acceptable solution either. You can purchase those digitally from Amazon, Newegg, etc. and have them emailed to you quickly.

 

Thanks for the replies. In answering onyx62is, This is how I do 'major' stuff like those you mentioned: games and DLC. What is specific to a user are in-game points. For example, yesterday, my son cleaned the bathrooms so he could buy $10-worth of FIFA
points for his ultimate team.

In response to Smutches, I'll need to check into that area a little more. The key is the kids don't spend money they don't have (unless gifted of course). So, if they have to buy a $10 card because that's the lowest amount available, then so be it.

Bottom line is we're trying to teach the kids the value of money and not assume a credit card or other item can be attached to an account without any type of constraints wrapped around it.

Thanks for the responses.

 

As an additional follow-up. It looks like newegg has a pretty decent selection of off-the-wall amounts (6, 12, 18) so this might work with whatever amount of $$ they need to purchase what they want.