Kardashian debit card? Even Kardashians panned it.
Kardashian debit card, criticized for high fees, was terminated after less than a month in operation.
Actress Kim Kardashian arrives at the Teen Choice 2010 Awards in Los Angeles in this Aug. 8 file photo. The Kardashian sisters, through a lawyer, pulled their names from their Kardashian debit card, which was criticized for its high fees. On Monday, the issuing bank pulled the plug on Kardashian Kard after less than a month.
Jason Redmond/Reuters/File
Prepaid debit cards are not the best of deals. They come with lots of fees without all the protections of a credit card.
But even by those standards, the Kardashian debit card stood out for its high fees: a $9.95 activation fee and charges of $7.95 per month, with a $1.50 fee to call customer support and a $6.00 fee to shut down the card.
Which is why reality quickly caught up with the E! reality-show sisters. Criticized by personal-finance guru Suze Orman and on the verge of an investigation by Connecticut's attorney general, the Kardshians through a lawyer said Monday they no longer wanted their names associated with the card.
Later in the day, University National Bank and its partner, The Revenue Resource Group LLC, pulled the plug on the venture. Launched Nov. 9, the Kardashian Kard didn't last a month.
Existing cards will be active for 30 days and then receive refunds of any balances and any pre-paid fees, University National Bank said in a statement.
So how many people actually ponied up for the celebrity card? All of 250, according to the bank.