Justin Bieber Backs a Debit Card for Teens

[Richteralan]

that's not what he means. the statement "pre-paid debit cards are pretty pointless" is, at least in my mind.. fairly accurate statement, but not 100%

debit card - offer a direct link to your bank account. you spend some money, it is debit from your account directly. you can obviously also use it to withdraw from an ATM, and you can only spend the money you have.

The main benefit here is that you don't have to carry cash.. there are no additional benefits, or protections offered from the financial institution supplying the service.

credit card - allows you to purchase 'on tick', and pay off when you choose. perhaps at the end of the billing cycle.. perhaps to spread a bit cost.

The main benefit here, is not that you are taking out a short term loan.. but more in terms of the protection you are offered from the supplier (visa or mastercard). cancelled events, additional warranty on electrical goods, cash back etc.

pre-paid debit card - it's a card that you have to manually put money on. i.e. transfer it from another account (that most likely already has a spending mechanism) and put it on a card.

you don't get any of the protections of a credit card, with an additional con/overhead of needing to manually load it up

the ONLY benefit i can see with these cards is that if you are completely incompetent and irresponsibly with your money you could set a hard limit of spend per month, or, as i suspect is the target audience for mum and dad to give their kids an allowance that isn't cash. it's much easier to track how much you give your kids if it's audit-able and electronic rather than ?20 here, ?10 there.

once it's gone it's gone!

Well you know,

With pre-paid debit card, if someone stole your account info, your lost is in fixed amount, i.e. the amount of money you put into that card.

With both debit/credit card, your lost can be WAY higher than a pre-paid debit card.

So it's not pointless, especially if you are doing a lot of online shopping.

[ahhell]

This is shady as ****.

The company makes a ridiculous amount of money in "usage" fees and he gets royalty checks hooking his idiot fans on using the cards while trying to portray himself as the "good guy".

What a scam.

:|

[Snake89]

I use something called "Virtual Visa", it's like a visa card without all the stupid interest rates etc, since it's just an extension of my normal bank card. An i can only use it if i got the money in my bank account so no top-ups needed.

[thechronic]

I wish someone would back a car into him.

[TAZMINATOR]

prepaid cards are useful when shopping online so you wouldn't worry about the hackers stealing your personal data.

For example, you bought something for $400... and you have about $100 left... and then the hacker has your card #...

he plans to buy something for $1,000 or more but it will be rejected by the online vertification system. He will be ****ed and realized it is not an actual credit card... Fool the hackers..

I use prepaid cards online depends on what store/company I buy from. I use my actual cards elsewhere.

[COKid]

Debit cards are easily the way to go in my case. I was in credit card debt for over 25 years. The wife and I finally ended up having to file a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy last fall.

Now all I use is the debit card from our bank, which has the MasterCard logo, so I can use it online and such, and a Target Red Card, which is also linked to our checking account. The only time we miss having a credit card is when renting a car. Actually, though, more and more rental car companies accept debit cards these days.

I know each person's situation is different, but for me, I just can't handle a typical credit card. Not even a secured one, where you add your own funds, which is not the same as a prepaid credit card. With a secured credit card, you add say $500 of your own money and that's your credit limit. But if you use the card, you still have to make payments, just like a regular credit card.

It would be nice to have a regular card for unexpected car repairs, but seeing as we're not paying $300-$500 a month in minimum payments to Capital One, Discover, HSBC, and all the others, I'll take the tradeoff. Being 100% debt-free for the first time since I was 18 feels pretty damn awesome! I learned the hard way, but I learned. Credit cards and me don't mix.

Have a good weekend all. ;)

(PS. Oh yeah, and all three of our credit files are frozen, which is free to do. I recommend that to everyone to protect against identity fraud. Plus is discourages us from opening up any new accounts.)

[PGHammer]

prepaid cards are useful when shopping online so you wouldn't worry about the hackers stealing your personal data.

For example, you bought something for $400... and you have about $100 left... and then the hacker has your card #...

he plans to buy something for $1,000 or more but it will be rejected by the online vertification system. He will be ****ed and realized it is not an actual credit card... Fool the hackers..

I use prepaid cards online depends on what store/company I buy from. I use my actual cards elsewhere.

Shopping online is the PRIMARY reason for mine - especially with the trend of microtransactions (such as Steam or the Windows 8 App Store, to name two of the largest) - it has the added bonus of being usable anywhere VISA cards are. Further, unlike most BANK debit cards (my own bank has that option through VISA) I don't get whacked with additional fees. (if you have a debit card or check card through your bank, don't think you are getting off Scot-free; the fees are in your monthly account statement - mom and I have accounts at the same bank; she has a debit card with the VISA logo through that bank, and I don't. Therefore, she is a source of additional fee income for that bank; however, I am not.

Though I could use it at ATMs, I don't; remember, I specifically said that it's usable anywhere VISA is - including thousands of ATMs around the planet, not just the US. If you have a debit card through your bank, take a GOOD look at your monthly bank statement - considering that most reloadable cards charge either lower fees than banks (and a lot charge no fees at all), you may just change your mind (and your tune).

[COKid]

I don't know about where you guys bank, but we have 100% Free Checking at Bank of the West. We've had the account for 5 years and there's never been a fee for anything. Period. I'm not sure which banks charge a fee for using a debit card linked to a checking account.

Now, does my bank get some of the transaction fees charged to the merchants where I use the card, along with the cut MasterCard gets? I have no idea. But I've never seen any service charges or anything like that on my bank statements, so what do I care?

[Cheatyface]

it's better not to have those mistakes linked to a bank account

Disagree. Without *real* consequences for irresponsibility or carelessness, the lesson is rather severely diminished and nothing will be learned. The prevailing attitude among the majority of youths and their parents now is "I didn't lose anything important, so why should I care?" and that's a serious problem. Real consequences breed real accountability and responsibility.

[PGHammer]

I don't know about where you guys bank, but we have 100% Free Checking at Bank of the West. We've had the account for 5 years and there's never been a fee for anything. Period. I'm not sure which banks charge a fee for using a debit card linked to a checking account.

Now, does my bank get some of the transaction fees charged to the merchants where I use the card, along with the cut MasterCard gets? I have no idea. But I've never seen any service charges or anything like that on my bank statements, so what do I care?

That's part of my point, COKid - your bank is atypical in NOT depending on such fee income. (Same applies to credit unions - they typically aren't reliant on such fees, either.)

Most of these cards are, in fact, offered THROUGH banks; both VISA and MasterCard tend to get nervous going through an institution that isn't a bank or credit union. (In the case of General Electric - specifically, GE Financial Services, it sounded particularly silly, as even BEFORE the creation of GE Money Bank, GE Financial was one of the largest non-bank lenders - in either commercial OR residential lending - on Earth. VISA knew it - so did MasterCard. Yet it took the establishment of GE Money Bank to get GE over that seemingly nonsensical qualm. VISA and MasterCard applied that same stricture to Walmart - again, seemingly silly. Only American Express - the original non-bank bank - gets around it (SERVE now competes head-on against VISA and MC in debit cards - including the reloadable market).

I'm not saying that you in PARTICULAR should care, COKid - however, banks (and credit unions) like Bank of the West aren't exactly commonplace or available to all.

[Denis W. Veteran]

Credit vs debit cards (In the UK);

If you buy something, turns out it's crap and you want your money back, or heck, maybe you don't get your money back at all.

Debit card: Go to the company and hope they send you your money, otherwise, you've lost it.

Credit card: Refuse to pay for the item you haven't recieved or aren't happy with and tell the credit card company, they will get the money back from the company and you won't lose out.

As much as I hate credit cards, they have that very good point about them.

Good point.

Personally I find the best practice is to use a credit card as a debit card. Keep the limit low and pay off the transaction once it shows up on your online statement. For me my credit card comes from my bank so clearing off my credit card balance is the same as moving money between accounts.

Then you've got the convenience of money on the card, with a level of protection in case you get hit with a dodgy transaction, and you can avoid high interest fees. What I'm not too sure of yet is if clearing off balances this way will contribute towards your credit score.

[Growled Member]

Never understood all the stupid "hero worship" that goes on with people like this. I wouldn't even wipe my feet on 'em.

Me either. They are people just like us, but with more money (in most cases). That doesn't make them smarter or better.

[Hum]

So he's not doing this out of the goodness of his heart.

Well how else will he pay for his next exotic car ... ?

Me either. They are people just like us, but with more money (in most cases). That doesn't make them smarter or better.

Just more talented. :p

[Hum]

... sucks for the actual talented homeless people.

You've hit on he next Reality show. :shifty: