Bank kills Kardashian Kard after criticism over high fees

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Bank kills Kardashian Kard after criticism over high fees
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After just three weeks on the market, a controversial Kardashian Kard is being yanked from store shelves after charges that the prepaid debit card was designed to exploit younger consumers.

The card is branded with a MasterCard logo and images of the Kardashian sisters of reality-show fame. Soon after the card was released on Nov. 9, its high fees were widely condemned by consumer groups.

St. Paul, Minn.-based University National Bank announced today that it was terminating the card and would issue fee refunds to the 250 consumers who had bought it.

The bank's official statement didn't give a reason for the card's termination, but the announcement came just days after Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal called the card "predatory" and warned his office would investigate whether the fees violated consumer-protection laws.

In a letter sent to the bank on Friday, Blumenthal complained of the card's "egregious fees," which included enrollment fees of $59.95 for six months of use or $99.95 for 12 months, plus $7.95 for each additional month. Cardholders also had to pay $1 to check a card's balance; $1.50 to use an ATM; $1.50 speak with a customer-service representative; and $6 to cancel a card.

Those fees were in addition to whatever money the cardholder wants to add to the card balance.

"I am deeply disturbed by this card's high fees combined with its appeal to financially unsophisticated young adults," Blumenthal wrote in the letter. "In reality, no family can ‘keep up with the Kardashians' using this card."

Even before the bank pulled the plug on the card, the Associated Press reported that the Kardashian sisters -- Kim, Khloe and Kourtney -- were seeking to disassociated themselves from it.

 

Copyright 2012 stltoday.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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