Have you applied for your new Kardashian credit card? Celebrities whom Famewhore themselves to riches.

•    Open a bank account and use a debit card that has no fees attached to it. For some, this may require some work as they are considered “not bankable”.  Many banks are now working specifically with this population, especially local community banks, so your job is to find a local bank that will work with you.  Even if you have to open a “second chance” bank account with restrictions (no writing of checks allowed, no overdraft allowed, close monitoring, etc.).

•    Seek out and join a credit union in your area that has a loan builder program that allows you to establish credit and will provide you with a credit card.

•    Go to bankrate.com and select a secured credit card that has no fees. Anybody, even those with poor credit, can get a secured credit card. The beauty of a secured card is that it actually has a line of credit and on time debt repayments will go towards improving your FICO score where the pre-paid debit card has no impact on your FICO score.

4. Spread knowledge to others – It is frustrating to me when people label this as common knowledge then just sit on this information. The one thing that I have learned through life is that common sense isn’t always common. Even if you feel you know of all that was stated in this article, why aren’t you out there advocating that these cards be taken off the market or at least boycotted?  MasterCard obviously feels that this is a lucrative market because they continue to find new ways to sell these products. With the onslaught of legislation  of banks that has limited their practices you can be certain that banks will continue to promote additional ways to increase their bottom line regardless of how unethical the practices. The community has to become more accountable for the products we are choosing to use AND to spread knowledge and information to other consumers who might not have as strong of a grasp of the information as you. If you are one of the ones who are considering using this card or another similar card…shame on you as well!

In summary Kardashian…stick to fashion and entertainment and leave the financial literacy to the experts. Next time that MasterCard comes to you with this brilliant idea about how they can teach the people how to budget understand they have an ulterior motive to make money at all costs. They are hurting because they feel the new rules do not allow them to gauge the American people for billions of dollars as  much as they used to so they are now using you as their new tool to suck the economy dry from its last dollar.  Not to say that the American people don’t have a role in this because with adequate knowledge we can put the pre-paid debit card industry out of business.  I would love to partner with you to promote some real financial literacy one day.  Until then…stop the nonsense!