MSB Parent, USA

At the beginning of the school year there was some sort of glitch that took a few weeks and many phone calls between my school district, myself & the company to straighten out. It would not allow me to add my student. Once she was added, I’ve found the app wonderfully convenient. I love the notification when balance is getting low. Could do without the additional charge for using a credit card though.

Using the MySchoolBucks app is convenient and often a necessity for working parents to ensure their child's school lunch and other fees are paid on time. However, somebody will eventually report this company for not including a 'no-fee' transfer option from a checking account. So as not to gouge struggling parents in a poor economy, recommend this app have a 'no-fee' payment option just like other selling apps (eBay, Mercari, Poshmark) that do not charge a fee to transfer money, so long as it's transferred via checking account routing number. Even though it can take up to 3-5 days, it must be an option as the MySchoolBucks app is a necessity for dual working parents due to lack of free time to run by the school to make a payment. The notification reminder can be set to ensure the balance is replenished, when low, given 3-5 days more to credit the account. Also, recommend the MySchoolBucks app include an option for interested (anonymous) patrons to donate money to lunch accounts for specific or multiple schools by district or even donate toward the app, so struggling parents don't have to pay any fees to use an app. No child should go hungry in the USA, ever and this app could help ensure that!

Mechanically the app itself is great. Easy to use, interface is simple, and payments reflect immediately at my child's school as soon as I make them. However something is wrong with the service itself in that autopay DOES NOT WORK at all. I've had it set up since first installing the app and not once has the autppayment worked--I am getting calls every time my child's school balance is low. It's very frustrating because not only do I have a fee per transaction, but I have to babysit the balance which defeats the purpose of the app and autopay being convenient At this point I am debating if the "convenience" is worth it; sending a check in person is cheaper in the long run and I'm having to manually monitor it -anyway because the autopay doesn't work. Tl;Dr app is great, service itself needs to get their act together.

Every time I try to add money to my kids accounts, the app closes on me multiple times before I can complete the transaction. Even though I have Face ID enabled, it will make me enter a password again sometimes. Very frustrating. I do like that I can see what they’re buying, but the description could be better. It’d be nice to see what TYPE of lunch they’re buying (like salad, chicken nuggets, etc.) and also the names of the snacks and drinks are confusing. I have never heard of half of the item brands, so it’s would be nice to have a description like “Scooby Snack (cookies)”. The fee to put money on their account is ridiculous. I’d rather give them cash to avoid it, but we’re FORCED to use this app and pay the fee. You shouldn’t be charged a fee if you literally have no other options, especially if you’re putting over a certain amount on the account.

It should not take 20 minutes to add money to my child’s meal account. I get an error message EVERY step of the way and have to refresh the app at least five times before I can get it to work. Open the app, all the ads have to load, so I have to sit and wait. Add meal money, error message. Refresh. Add meal money, add payment method, error, refresh. Add payment method first, add meal money, error, refresh. Add meal money, select payment method, error, refresh. Add meal money, select payment method, checkout, error, refresh. Then maybe it will finally work if you’re lucky. And for some reason, when you’re typing in the name and address for payment information, every time you need to put in a space, you have to hit the space button twice. This is literally the worst app I have ever experienced. Do better.

Buttons that take a while to load and only have one function that you will probably never use. Transfers are not completed immediately. Incredibly slow and way to many clicks. U can use other apps in a fraction of a second to move money. Get a publicly ran institution involved and they find the worst most expensive product with a horrible user experience and that is what they go with. If you have ever used the one app you are forced to use to buy Highschool sporting events ticket you know what I’m talking about. It is like the government gets paid per click and by how much time they take from you. Started reading the reviews to see if I am way off base here. There are a lot of paid for adds in this review book. Gg school district, you have been fooled again.

The app itself is very helpful in many ways. It allows you to see what your child is purchasing and how much and always makes it easy to load money. I gave it a lower rating because it’s absolutely offensive to add such a high fee for using it. When parents are already struggling and kids are on discounted lunch programs it’s a gut punch to fork over nearly $3 additional dollars for a “fee” it adds up! Some parents do not have the luxury of loading up an acct and just paying a one time fee. So when you load as you can that $3 adds up which could be money spent on feeding the kids. Putting five dollars in but only $2 go towards feeding the child. Do better.

Super glitchy site. Couldn’t add checking account or credit card…debit card after 30 minutes finally added payment method..when trying to pay with the account it says can’t verify but places a $0 hold on the account. I have about 20 of those. They have MAJOR IT problems and bugs. Even tried using the website. Same thing. Called customer service. They said everything seems to be fine can I delete my payment method and start again. 2 hours now trying to add money to my kids account. Autopay doesn’t work. Recheck doesn’t work. Called my school lunch director, he says debit cards have problems and there’s IT problems all the time with this company. Everyone should just go back to cash. This ain’t it.

This would be a great app if the money added is available when transactions happen and fees weren’t taking advantage. Waiting 1-2 business days with huge fees per transaction is outrageous for children’s food costs. Today I submitted $20 dollars to my daughters account & the fees added up to $5.25. Way to extort money from parents who want to just feed their children. I know this is a service but come on, over 25% in fees just to use the service and it doesn’t even allow them to use it same day???!!! I would not have used it however today was a rushed morning and didn’t have time to make her lunch. I would not have paid if it wasn’t for that. She probably still won’t get lunch since there is a lag in when the money shows up.

Everytime I go to add funds I get a warning error that’s says we’re sorry, we were unable to add your item to the cart. Please try again Then once I can finally get pass that message the system crashes and no amount gets added. I go to add the funds again and then get duplicate transaction warning saying I was already charged for the amount I’m trying to do again. I call customer service and he tells me nothing is pending and to keep trying to add funds to see if it works. Umm no because it will be my luck I’ll have 5 transactions post to my bank account. You need to figure out what’s wrong with the app. Guess I’ll see if anything comes out of my bank tmrw so I can all again to have money refunded

The function to add custom amounts of money (not preset amounts) does not function AT ALL and hasn’t for months. I don’t know what’s wrong, but the number pad literally doesn’t acknowledge my input on numbers larger than zero. I know it’s not my device since it only happens in this one app. I have to go log in on my laptop to add more than $50, which defeats the purpose of having the app to me, especially when I have to pay invoices that are much higher than $50. Also annoying if I just want to add a bunch at once not to get charged a fee for small recurring amounts from auto charge. Developers, please fix this issue. I’m running iOS 16.3 on a 13 pro max, so it’s not an old device.

Transfers funds immediately, easy to manage multiple kids at different schools, and I can see my kid’s purchases. I appreciate that this system gives my kids autonomy to meet their food needs even when I am late on replenishing the fund. When my older kid graduated it was easy to contact the school to transfer his funds to his sister’s account.

This app regularly does not work correctly. Often, I receive an error message (labeled as a “Warning”) that my desired payment amount(s) are unable to be added to my cart. Additionally, when I try to set-up autopay, the app completely crashes (this has occurred on multiple occasions). While there is a section to display payment history, it does not reflect past payments (that were indeed made through the app). While I appreciate the ease of access to my children’s meal accounts, it is often sabotaged by the app’s instability.

Navigating through this app is so unnecessarily time consuming. The loading time when going from one section to the next is confusing. Like…why should it take that long. On top of that, not being able to move money to different accounts is kind of Stone Age. I moved to a different state, had to create entirely new accounts for my kids (kind of understandable, but should just be able to edit existing ones) AND I couldn’t move their previous funds to the new school accounts. I had to wait for the previous district to send a paper check. I hope a better app comes along or this one realigns the stars to work better. 0/10

I’ve used the website for years and was excited for the additional convenience of an app. Unfortunately it’s unusable, at least for how I manage my kids’ lunch accounts. Since there is a $2 fee per transaction, I make infrequent $100+ deposits instead of the smaller suggested amounts you can choose by tapping a button. But when I select “Other” for the transaction amount, the app won’t let me enter anything but zeros. To be clear, this is with an iPhone that’s less than 2 years old, not some obscure or ancient device. Guess I’m going back to the website!

Read all the 1 and 2 star feedback. It does not allow you to make a custom payment. It also constantly freezes when trying to make any fixed type of payment. Sometimes I give up and just send cash to the school, which defeats the whole purpose of the app. How it has such a high star rating baffles me. Nice idea in theory but you would think someone would have tested the app out before releasing it. I normally don’t write feedback but you can’t fix something if you don’t know about. Hope they actually do some testing and fix the payment issues.

PLEASE fix the issues with this app. 9 out of 10 times I open to make school lunch payments there is an issue where the app glitches and freezes, or denies payment, or doesn’t allow new payment method to be added, or sends confirmation of payment completion, but funds don’t show in the account. Today I have tried THREE times to enter new payment method information, and all three times the app glitches out to where I cannot finalize the entry. Everyone is busy… please address these issues so that the app can be used in an efficient manner.

I love having the ability to pay at any point in time but! If you don’t do things the first time it will glitch. Let’s say I look at invoices, then check my email to confirm what weeks I’m paying. When I return to the app it glitches out. This is within seconds. Also, they only add invoice number when a payment is made. They do not keep the dates of service on there. You will need to take a screenshot of invoice and then of payment for proof. Keep in up with the invoice number is a headache especially if you have multiple children and are paying for different services.

This thing does not work. I have tried multiple times to add an e check to my payment method and it won’t let me submit. I have verified the information is correct. I had it independently verified. It let me add a credit card once only to find out the processing fee is the price of a meal. I find it unbelievable that in 2024 it should be this difficult to offer a way for parents to put money on an account for their kids to eat without having to send them in with cash. It is appalling to me the app wants you to pay for this extremely subpar service. The designers should be ashamed of their product. I am.

I remember sending checks to school when my high schoolers were young. An app is very convenient but this app has more issues than I can count. I set it up to notify me when the balance reaches a certain level and it doesn’t do that until well after. I have spent 30 minutes today trying to add money to 4 kids accounts only to be told I have nothing in my cart AND that neither payment method is accepted (yes, they both are). It’s a poorly designed app.

I tried downloading this app today, as I thought it would be quicker and easier than always going through the webpage. Our school district also uses PowerSchool, so the accounts are linked. It would not allow me to log in on the app. I would always get a software error. When I talked to chat support, they basically told me to log in on the webpage. They told me I had to go through PowerSchool because the accounts are linked, but I can log in directly from their own website, so that is not true. Kinda defeats the purpose of the app if you can’t even log in.

This app used to be really good at one point. Before it would update the balance right away rather it was once the money on the account was being spent or when you would deposit money it would reflect in the balance right away. Now it takes days for it update the balance and days for the deposit to reflect in the balance. On top of that the app doesn’t even work at times. It will give an error when trying to deposit money or the app will kick you out of it.

It’s a $5 fee to load my child’s account which is RIDICULOUS! This app is so godforsaken slow, it loads whenever I go to a different page. Also the inability to transfer is so stupid. I have money in my sons account who graduated but I can’t transfer it to my daughters account who’s in middle school, I have to go to the school. Also I still have money from my kids old school district which can’t be transferred because I have to go to that old school to make the transfer. This app is outdated and charges way to much to load your child’s account.

This is my first using this app since switching my child’s school. His last school was free lunch regardless of anything. I was worried I wouldn’t remember his lunch money or the process would confusing but this app is so easy to use and gives you a balance alert. I’m so excited that he can just go to school and not worry about having his lunch money.

I gave this app one more star than it probably deserves and that’s just because if you have one kid, one payment method, and don’t use autopay it will probably work fine and it is convenient to be able to update from my phone. But, if you don’t fit this narrow user profile you will have problems using this app. If you need to do anything besides add money to an existing account with an existing payment type then go to the website and do it there. I promise you it will save you time.

I don’t know how this app gets so many great reviews. I have to close and restart the app every time I leave the cart to add funds for another student. Also Very limited, not easy to remove a payment method. Sometimes it tells me the account number is wrong, but it’s not. Lots of error messages. Freezes up. And if you leave the app then go back in during checkout it will give you an error message and not let you checkout. Needs a lot of work.

Somehow this app expects users to be fine with fees being raised, while the app goes without updates. It’s slow, gives errors without reason, and isn’t user friendly. Once a payment method gets declined, don’t expect to be able to use it again. One might think you can remove it and add it again, but nope. You get an error that the card can’t be removed. You click an option to see why and are shown that it is no longer attached to any autopays, outstanding invoices, or anything else. Hopefully you have more than one payment method.

I have tried two different ways to add funds to two different students but all I get is “sorry, please try again”. I live 3 hrs from these children so I can’t just send money with them in the morning. Ross with tech support had me sign out then sign back in and it worked.

This app is so easy to use. I especially appreciate the reminders to add money to my kids’ accounts. The fact that transactions occur immediately is absolutely critical, since I often wait until the last minute to reload; thankfully, payments are received and balances are credited without disrupting the kids’ lunch.

This app is horrendous, it being the only app most school districts use to do online lunch account management. They not only charge a 2.75 fee for every transfer but they offer horrible service quality. App barely works, it sits on loading screens for 20 minutes. This app is only used because districts force you to use it. Simply a horrible app. If you are having to download this app and have no other options, give your child cash instead of using this application. Terrible support, terrible service overall horrible app.

What exactly am I paying nearly $5 per transaction for? Because it certainly does not go towards the development of this app. It should be a crime to take advantage of parents like this. Your fees have become outrageous for the ridiculous purpose you even serve. Honestly, when the belt tightens in the economy soon, I take great joy in knowing you’ll be one of the first to go out of business. You serve no purpose aside from lobbying public school districts and extorting the middle class. I look forward to your downfall and may every penny you’ve gained be taken from you.

The app does not integrate with iOS features like password managers, two-factor tokens from Messages, pasting (or even viewing the manual entry) of CVV codes… This makes the most typical interaction of refilling a balance more painful than necessary. Links to school menu doesn’t seem to get me anywhere useful. If my school doesn’t provide it (probably the case), then don’t bother offering a link. Fees - I get it that money has to be made. But almost $3 transaction fee is 10% on a $30 refill! It’s basically the same if I use a credit card or back transfer. Something in the 2-3% range for bank transfer or 5% for credit card would be more fair. The fee is probably a negotiated fee between my school and MSB fees, so I’ll give the school the same feedback. For something as simple as buying lunch, this app makes me grumpy every time I interact with it.

As a very busy mom, I love how easy it was to set my daughter up on the app and the simple process of adding lunch money. My daughter is in kindergarten so the app is way more convenient than sending in cash or a check and hope it makes it to lunch.

I find this app super irritating. The way it renders in my phone doesn’t allow me to select the saved payment method to add funds to my child’s account. I spent all morning messing around until she called me at lunch saying she didn’t have enough for her drink and did I add money. Finally I realized I could just go to the online website and I did it there. The app has no additional features and is not worth the hassle.

This app has some positives but I’m tired of getting an error message when trying to add items to my cart after filling out all my info. Even happens when just trying to add money to lunch accounts. Happens more often than not. And if I’m logged into my account, why is not populating my basic info like name address etc. or drop down menu to add a child. This app could be better but right now it’s below average and not that user friendly.

App barely ever works. Sometimes I’ll submit money for my kids lunch account, it’ll say processing and do nothing else, then I have to try again and it doesn’t let me because I already did it. Sometimes it’ll say confirmed but I get no email and it doesn’t come out of my account or update on the app. Sometimes it’ll come out of my account but not update on the app. I’ve tried uninstalling and reinstalling, doesn’t help. My husband has the same issues on his phone. How this app has good ratings is beyond me.

This is my first experience with this app, previously my kid’s school district utilized PayPams and then School Cafe. Never an issue. This app has so many issues, but my biggest frustration is the autopay feature. I have tried every way and every payment method (so it cannot be blamed on a banking issue)to set it up, but still receive notifications of a low balance. I added $30 last week and it was to “autopay” at $15. There’s 25 cents in my child’s account. Oh & BTW, it has been that way for 3 days. (Disclaimer on website says the balance has to fall below the threshold for 24 hours) I’m sick of babysitting this app! My next complaint will be with my school board! $2.49 fee. I pay YOU for MY frustration. Wow! Maybe use those fees to invest in better IT and software engineers.

Running iOS, can’t change or add credit card, no mistakes or spaces, just does not work and shuts the app down… also, the name “MSB” is the only way to search for the app (real intuitive lol), but it does not work anyway… so I guess that’s par for the course, including charging a crazy service fees every time (program fee PLUS service fee?!? $5.25 in fees every reload! Regardless of amount!), but MSB limits the $ amount you can reload in order to maximize fees, and maximize effort/hassle/costs for parents/caregivers.

This app has so many issues! Most of the time it will not loud, takes 2 days to add the money to kids lunch account, a auto pay is set up that I did not set up and when I try to cancel the app closes. It will not let me delete my payment method because of the auto payment I did NOT set up. Then they have the nerve to increase the fee! This app is trash! Now I have to send cash or check to school with my kid, so they can eat and I’m not getting charged more than a school lunch.

The app is exceedingly slow and Wi-Fi and Cellular are not the problem. It is slow on all connections. Additionally, I lost the feature that allowed me to add amounts on two kids’ accounts and check out once. I now have to check out twice, once for each kid. May not seem like a big deal but it was much easier before. I really do not like having to use this app - a necessary evil, I suppose.

Initially the app was great. But at this point, the payment method screen is bigger than the display of the phone screen and you cannot select a payment option unless it’s your third option. You can pull the screen down, but the moment you lift your finger it reverts. So now the app is pointless because I have to use the desktop version to actually make a payment.

Usually when you use a checking account instead of a credit or debit card there is no fee, but they charge $2.50 every transaction and I have to put money on each of my kids. They cannot share an account that adds up after a while.

About the only thing this app is good for is seeing what your child(ren) is/are buying. It’s virtually IMPOSSIBLE to add money to an account. Keeps giving errors about not being able to add to cart, please try again later. And sometimes it just says I don’t have a child attached to my account, which is false. I wish our school would find another app or this app creator would just fix this one.

I've never been able to add custom amounts since I've used this app. It just defaults to 0 and doesn't allow any other number to be inputted. Other reviews have noted this as well. This forces me to either pay the transaction fee more frequently with smaller deposits or go to the website to enter in custom amounts completely negating the benefit of a mobile app. I'm not sure why the developers don't have the ability to make this basic fix.

I gave it two stars because it’s more convenient than sending money to school. Aside from that, there is zero to like about this app. Autopay doesn’t work, there’s a ridiculous fee to use debit/credit (which is literally the only convenient part of the app), half the time it logs you out so then you have to do the two step verification process again, and the other half of the time it’s SO slow.

Frequent ‘unable to add item to cart’ error when trying to add money to accounts, which is incredibly frustrating when you are trying to add funds after a low balance notification. Times out, errors processing payments, often unclear if payment went through or not. Wish there was some way to control funds better so kids can’t use them to purchase items other that what they are intended for.

Quite often I’ll try to add money and it’ll say that I need to try again later. Today I tried to add money and I didn’t catch the fact that I used an old card until it declined. So when I tried to repurchase the same amount it says I can’t because I already tried to purchase it and to try again later…. Nothing should be this hard. There’s always problems. Not sure how you got 5 stars because this app is ridiculous to use.

I have been trying to add money to my child’s meal account but continually get an error message that money can’t be added to the cart at that time. There is no way to reach anyone at the app. All links want you to contact your school. The problem isn’t on the school it is with whomever manages this ridiculous app. You can only add small amounts at a time so that they can then gouge you for the higher fees. But then they can’t manage their app!

Every other time I try to add money to my students account, I get an error message and I can’t If I try to go online, the app and online don’t sync Today I can’t add a new payment method. It lets me enter all the info and then there’s no way to move forward to save it It’s frustrating. It’s frustrating that I HAVE TO use it for my kid to be able to eat and there’s no other options. Wouldn’t recommend to anyone

If it wasn’t for this being the only way to add to my children’s lunch accounts, I would have deleted LONG ago. CONSTANTLY logs me out, even in the middle of adding money. Will also say my password is wrong, so then I am forced to reset my password trying to use the password it is telling me is not my password, all for it to say I can’t use a password that’s already been used!