Kardashians Push New Card

I have no loss of love for Kim Kardashian and the whole Kardashian family. I don’t understand the appeal of their show, and I really don’t get why anyone would want to be like these shallow spoiled brats.

Not content to simply grace tabloid covers, Kim, Kourtney, and Khloe have pushed perfume, make-up, diet pills, and clothing lines (not to mention their dreadful reality show) upon the American public. Until today, I thought that their diet pills were the most despicable and dangerous of the Kardashian-brand products on the market, but then I read about the Kardashian Kard.

The Kardashian Kard is a prepaid debit card which on the surface sounds like a good idea. Parents can give their kids this card and not have to worry about them going nuts on their spending. The problem is that these cards are made to profit the companies big time by slapping on all sorts of fees on consumers.

Let’s see just how much these cards end up costing…

First, customers have to pay $99.95 to get set up for the first 12 months, and if they continue using the card after that, they have a $7.95 monthly fee. Withdrawing money from an ATM costs $1.50, and checking the card balance costs $1. They even charge for speaking to a customer service representative ($1.50), replacing a lost card ($9.95), and canceling the card ($6).

Let’s say that someone sets up their kid for 12 months and during that time they withdraw money once a month, check their card balance once a month, speak with a customer service representative 4 times (or once every 3 months), replace a lost card once, and cancel the card at the end of the 12 months.

Set up for 12 months: $99.95
ATM withdrawal (12 times): $18
Checking card balance (12 times): $12
Customer service representative (4 times): $6
Replace lost card (1 time): $9.95
Canceling the card (1 time): $6

This ends up coming to over $150 in charges! Prepaid debit cards, especially the Kardashian Kard, may seem like a way to avoid overdraft charges or lots of credit card debt for new credit card users, but more often they end up costing more than they are worth. Also, prepaid debit card users who lose their cards might not get their money back since they don’t have the same protections offered by a typical bank account.

To read more about smart credit card use and how to establish and maintain good credit, check out the My Credit Specialist blog at http://blog.mycreditspecialist.com. If you have gotten into trouble with credit cards and your credit score has suffered, sign up for a free credit evaluation at http://www.mycreditspecialist.com.