Banking UP

Banks deserve to be protected… Banks are consumers: they consume our life-spendings when we don’t read the fine-print.

Stephen Colbert interviewing Barney Frank

The Colbert Report Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c Consumer Protection Agency – Barney Frank

Frankly, I was quite taken aback when I saw all the media buzz around “Kwedit” in the otherwise serious financial and payments trade press a few weeks ago.

While many of us are busy devising new products and services that allow people to be more responsible with their money, Kwedit essentially encourages young users to buy virtual goods with money they don’t have yet.

This is introduced the exact same month when the CARD Act finally starts making credit cards less accessible to users less than 21 year old with the hope of curbing student debt and reducing the abuse of young users by big card companies.

Given the pedigree of the founders and investors, there is no doubt that Kwedit will execute nicely on a product that is not only useless, but is pro-actively contributing to the disastrous level of financial illiteracy in this country.

So, I was delighted to hear that Stephen Colbert devoted his “The Word” segment to Kwedit.

Here its is: “Kid Owe”