If I had a little girl, I know for sure I wouldn’t get her a Hello Kitty debit MasterCard.
Don’t go rolling those eyes thinking you’re in for a lecture on the evils of plastic. I carry plastic – not much, but some. My cards aren’t always completely paid off each month, but I never just make a minimum payment.
There it is, not great, not horrible. I know when not to pull out plastic. But there are months when the fates, or the car repairs, require it. Then, too, there have been times when I simply had to have those black shoes, although I own several pairs. I’m not proud of that.
Michelle Singletary, a Washington Post nationally-syndicated personal finance columnist who appears in The Herald, reported in 2003 that the average American credit card holder owes about $8,000 in charges. That much would make me nervous as a cat.
Hello Kitty cards for kids? Isn’t it distasteful to use a design appealing to little girls to turn kids into miniature adults? Do our daughters – do we, for that matter – need any more encouragement to become shopaholics?
On the Web site www. hellokittycard.com, Legend Credit Inc. touts its card as “Freedom!” and invokes the ever-present consumer command “shop till you drop.”
Peter Klamka, president of Legend Credit, said Monday that his product teaches money management better than an old-fashioned allowance.
“It absolutely teaches budgeting,” said Klamka, whose company is based in Ann Arbor, Mich. “The first time one of our card holders gets rejected in front of friends, they’ll never try to go over their balance again.
“And there’s much more control for parents than when kids go to the mall with $50 or $100,” he said.
Klamka said the prepaid cards with the popular Sanrio Inc. character, issued by Bankfirst, only can be obtained by someone older than 18. The card can be valued from $10 to $2,000. The purchaser can reload the Hello Kitty card, and it’s used like a credit card, with the customer signing the receipt.
There’s a $14.95 annual fee; $1.50 is charged when the card is used at an ATM for cash.
Klamka said demand “is exceeding our most optimistic predictions.” He didn’t know how many of the new cards had been ordered.
So far, “it’s not for 10-year-olds,” he said. Users are generally teen girls, “but there are a lot of Hello Kitty fans 17 to 50. People think the cards look cool, there’s a fashion element to it.”
Last year, his company aimed at the teen market with a Hillary Duff gift card issued by Visa for up to $200. “They could use it anywhere from the mall to the movies. We heard a chorus from parents who wanted to reload the cards,” said Klamka, adding that the Hello Kitty card fills that need.
“There’s also an entire generation that grew up online but can’t buy anything online,” he said.
Klamka has heard criticisms over fees and the notion of little kids as big spenders. “Then don’t get it. There’s no government mandate that all children must carry the Hello Kitty card,” he said.
He’s more concerned about coming up with a concept that appeals to boys. He believes demand is there, but he hasn’t found an icon to capture it.
Boys. Did he have to remind me? My 17-year-old just got his first credit card pitch in the mail. The ad for a Vision Visa card reads, “Start your student’s financial future off right” and promises, “It’s easy to apply.”
Too easy.
Singletary wrote in an October column, “There is no need for college students to rush into using credit.”
I don’t go quite that far. Sometimes there is a need. My 21-year-old daughter has one credit card with a $500 limit. It’s been used mostly for textbooks and travel expenses. She’s better than I am at finding bargain airfares online. So far, I’ve seen no evidence of shopaholic sprees.
With this week’s grand opening of new upscale stores at Alderwood mall, with the holiday shopping season upon us, and with Hello Kitty coaxing kids to spend, it’s tempting to reach for plastic.
Whoa, hold on. Those cards ought to come embossed with warning labels: “Use of this product may be hazardous to your budget.” Or simply a question: “Can you afford it?”
Columnist Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460 or muhlsteinjulie@heraldnet.com.
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