The card costs $60-$100 to activate, $99.95 for 12 months of card use, an unexplained $7.95 monthly fee, $2 per bill pay and a couple bucks to use it in any way at an ATM. If you don’t understand the elaborate pricing, you could always call the Service Care Center for $1.50 per call.

Nothing about this card teaches responsible money habits. There are far better options for your teens.

I suggest Visa Buxx its a prepaid card that parents can load, set spending limits, etc.

http://usa.visa.com/personal/cards/prepaid/visa_buxx.html

As far as I can see its not loaded with fees, I’ve never had it but it seems a healthier alternative than the Kardashian card.

Yesterday at the bank I got offered a credit car, but I turned it down. The teller was trying to pressure me, asking me again and again why I didn’t want one. It made me really uncomfortable. I’m a student living in London; I would rack up a balance on that faster than you can say “Paddington” and end up like my brother in thousands of pounds of debt before he’s even 25.

however I agree it’s kinda silly to use a cc for a $2 cup of coffee. and most of our local food carts (best lunch spots ever) are cash only. no problem. carry as much cash as I don’t mind losing, use plastic when practical.

also… any Kardashian marketing anything to teens is probably a sign of the apocalypse. ick.

“Over time, my daughter graduated to a prepaid debit card, which she uses while at college. Next, we might try a secured credit card when I think she’s ready.”

If your daughter is in college she is an adult and should be able to make her own decisions. Maybe she will make a mistake here and there but she will learn from it. You can’t protect them forever.

And comparing shopping to heroin?! Wow. Just wow.

You know what they are spending on. Also, in the first month, they will run down the balance immediately. They will have to wait until the next month for goodies. Seems to be a perfect way to teach them budgeting.

There is no “debt”. Of course, any fee is too much, so I’ll pass on this particular card. No problems with the concept though.

Also, I stopped using credit cards to prove to friends and family that anyone can and to help THEM in their financial journey. It’s kind of hard to say to people, “Let me help you get out of debt (which is something I say to people I know well). But first you have to stop using your credit card.” If I then proceed to pull out my Discover to purchase coffee or gas I feel awkward.

I don’t believe our children will be damaged if they don’t use a credit card and choose to save money responsibly for purchases like furniture and cars. Obviously it will be their choice someday, but if they grow up watching their parents practices they’ll probably more likely to use cash/debit cards. We also plan to teach them how to budget, which most (obviously not all) people have a hard time doing if they use credit cards. We didn’t have any financial upbringing and we plan on teaching our children as much as possible. In the end, that’s all we can do as parents.

I’m almost 30, and I don’t carry cash. Why would I? It can be lost, cannot be traced, and I’d have to enter everything into my budget by hand.
With using my debit card (which, as far as I can tell, still means a different thing between Canada and the USA) or my credit card, every purchase is tracked and recorded so I know exactly where the money has gone and I don’t have to worry about losing a receipt.

It’s astoundingly easy to pay off my balance each month. Easier than keeping track of things by hand would be, and even easier than taking cash out of the bank every month. I haven’t paid one cent in interest in years. In fact, with a CC, I can earn points or cash-back that are not offered when using cash.
I can’t imagine carrying wads of cash around.

Most places that don’t accept plastic are selling something I likely don’t need to be spending money on because I could get it cheaper at home – like street meat or coffee.

Her debit card (attached to her own checking account) is another matter entirely.

Both of these cards are from a credit union, by the way

However, I still use my debit card for everything. It allows me to track my spending and see where every cent goes each month. Yes there is the envelope system, but I don’t like carrying large amounts of cash, and I don’t want to log everything by hand.

I am now sticking with a much stricter budget, and I spend better now that I’m actually looking at where the money is going (I love mint.com). Also, I have a rewards checking account, and so I earn more money by using my debit card responsibly. Plastic is not the devil.

I got a credit card when I was 21, and my husband and I bought a house when I 25 (and he was 27). I don’t know when he got a credit card, but my guess is it was later than 18. No one brought up short credit histories to us (granted, this was back in the mid-1990s).

but that can be done by adding your child as an authorized user on your card and just not giving them a card. It allows them to build a history without dealing with a card and that can be done from a very young age (the law only says they should be able to provide a cosigner or proof of income…you would be that cosigner). At 27, I have a credit history 19 years long and a credit score of 799…

That said, why you would get your child (13 or 16) a debit card with a fee makes no sense to me…you are trying to teach responsible finance and paying a fee for a card is not responsible – regardless of the brand. Instead, add them as an AU on your CC (don’t give them a card), and get a free debit card or pre-paid card for them.

As for the KK bashing…the family is messed up in general, according to the media, so you can’t expect Kim to understand how the real world works – instead just look at it as another place for celebrities to brand, just like clothing, perfume, and so forth. In that respect, it’s good money (there was an article about a second job recently!).

@#10, I can’t believe that you would stifle you child from establishing good credit for herself just because some people in your family couldn’t handle credit responsibly. My immediate family has all been through bankruptcy because they couldn’t handle having credit. It isn’t the case for myself. Your daughter is much likelier to pay MORE in the long-run on big ticket purchases without good credit history. I know someone who tried to buy a house recently who came from a well-off family. He never bothered to get a credit card because he always had everything given to him (car, college education). He didn’t qualify for a home loan because of a lack of credit history. Credit cards are like guns, in that by themselves they are harmless… it is what people do with them that makes it good or bad.

At the end of the day, whether you want your kids to have plastic or not, I don’t think that having someone who spends 30k on a purse or $2,500 on a pair of lace-and-python Christian Louboutin booties (according to ABC http://bit.ly/anIBU9)is someone that you want marketing a credit card to ANYONE.

Seriously, on a site that examines the wisdom of keeping up with the Joneses, I think a critique of a credit/debit/whatever “kard” from the Kardashians is totally legit.

She is 14. She is responsible for buying her own clothes and own breakfast and lunch out of one set of money she gets. She has a “base” salary that she gets for these things as food and clothes are a right, not a privelege. She has a point system where she can earn bonuses for her food/clothes as well as a spending allowance. It has worked really good so far. She chooses to shop the deals for cheap lunches so she can have the clothes she wants, which she gets at secondhand stores to extend her money.

Personally, I’d rather her have a debit card. I don’t think teens need to be carrying around wads of cash. She can get cash out I guess, but seems better to have her limit her purchases to stores rather than the “hoodlums” at her school.

You’re not normal when you can’t even go to the store without 100 paparazzi following you around!