The news this week was all about freedoms as some put themselves at risk through their freedom of speech, while others learned the hard way that the freedom to spend on credit can lead to a lack of freedom when you’re in debt.
What @NeedaDebitCard Says About Our Credit Knowledge
The social media world was shaken up this week by the discovery of a Twitter account that was retweeting pictures that other users had taken of their debit and credit cards.
The @NeedaDebitCard handle’s info says “Please quit posting pictures of your debit cards, people,” suggesting the feed was meant to “tweet-shame” users who shouldn’t be posting pictures of their cards for security reasons. If hackers or identity thieves get control of your full name and credit card number, you could be targeted for fraud.
“It is said that cyber security is only as effective as its weakest link. Human beings are the weakest link,” says Adam Levin, Co-Founder and Chairman of Credit.com. ”This is the most compelling argument for financial literacy education in high school and college.” @CreditExperts @kgeldis
Libor’s Moment in the Limelight
The biggest financial news of the week was undoubtedly the resignation of Barclays CEO Robert E. Diamond, Jr. Diamond resigned in the wake of a scandal over manipulated interest rates.
The crux of the scandal involved the Libor, the London interbank offered rate. Essentially, this rate is an average of the interest rates at which banks are lending money to each other. The problem with the rate is that it is self-reported by the banks, which means that a bank could report that it is borrowing money at lower interest rates than it actually is and there are no checks and balances to ensure the rates are correctly reported. The scandal should play out over the next few weeks, as consumers are already protesting the bank in England. @nytimes
To celebrate the Fourth of July, we put together a list of the five freedoms that debt denies you in the hopes that it will deter readers from taking on more credit than they can chew.
Some of the freedoms included were the freedom to say no and the freedom to have fun. Check out the article for more of the freedoms you lose to debt.
@CreditExperts @GerriDetweiler
The Newest Prepaid Card Celebrity Sponsor? Magic Johnson
Magic Johnson joined the likes of Suze Orman, Kim Kardashian and Russell Simmons by launching his own prepaid card, called the MAGIC Mastercard.
Like Chase’s virtually fee-free Liquid card, launched earlier this year, the MAGIC card carries a $4.95 monthly fee. However, it also carries a $4.95 activation fee and a 50-cent bank teller fee. Reporter Jeanine Skowronski says this one’s not a game changer for the prepaid market.
Image: NS Newsflash, via Flickr
Kali Geldis Kali Geldis is Credit.com's Deputy Managing Editor. She writes about a wide range of personal finance and credit topics. She previously ran MainStreet.com, the personal finance website powered by TheStreet. She has also worked for The Wall Street Journal as a Dow Jones Newspaper Fund intern and at The Huntington Herald-Dispatch as a reporter.
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