Till uses Astra to power instant card-to-card funding

When a kid needs money, the timing usually matters. A teen traveling out of state on a school trip, a kid who needs to grab food after practice, a parent stuck at work who can’t make it to the ATM: in every case, the parent reaching for the Till app isn’t trying to fund the card tomorrow, they’re trying to fund it now. Instant transfers are core to the Till promise, but instant transfers only work if the underlying rail can actually deliver. Funding through ACH means a multi-day wait between a parent pressing send and a kid being able to spend, which turns a moment of trust into a moment of friction.

Till partnered with Astra to power instant card-to-card funding across the Till experience: parents loading money directly onto their kid’s debit card, or loved ones sending money through Give Link, Till’s feature for extended family contributions. With Astra, the sender funds the card from their own debit card, and the money lands on the Till card in real time so the kid can spend it immediately.

Astra handles the full payments stack behind every funding flow, from card authorization and multi-rail routing through Visa Direct and Mastercard Move to treasury automation and velocity controls. That lets Till deliver the instant transfers families expect from a modern family banking app, without having to build the card-to-card funding rail in-house.

With Astra running the funding engine, a parent can send money to a teen studying abroad and have it land on the card before the next transaction, and a grandparent across the country can send birthday money that the kid can use the same day, keeping the trust and control at the heart of the Till experience intact wherever a family happens to be.

By moving parent-to-kid funding onto instant rails, Till turns one of the most time-sensitive moments in family banking into a one-tap experience. Parents stay in control, kids get the money they need when they need it, and Till delivers on the promise of a family banking app that actually moves at the pace families do.

Till is a family banking app and debit card for kids and teens that helps them build smart money habits and work toward financial independence. Headquartered in Brooklyn, New York, Till is on a mission to prepare kids for launch by combining kid-friendly banking with practical financial education, giving parents the resources and controls to guide their kids along the way. For more information, visit tillfinancial.com.

Till is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking Services provided by Coastal Community Bank, Member FDIC. Till accounts are FDIC insured up to $250,000 per depositor through Coastal Community Bank, Member FDIC. FDIC insurance only covers the failure of an FDIC-insured bank. FDIC insurance is available through pass-through insurance at Coastal Community Bank, Member FDIC, if certain conditions have been met.

Astra is the full-stack instant payments platform that powers real-time money movement for modern businesses through a single, unified API. By handling the hardest parts of payments out of the box, from multi-rail access and treasury automation to security and compliance, Astra helps companies launch faster, scale confidently, and turn payments into a competitive advantage.