Beating Broke

Personal Finance from the Broke Perspective

How to Overcome Disappointment When Our Financial Role Models Fail Us

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One of the biggest surprises about the whole Suze Orman “Approved Prepaid” Scam/Fiasco, to me, is that Suze Orman is a person who has been a role model, financially, for many people. She has been dispensing her brand of advice for many years, has multiple best-selling books on the subject, and regularly appears on news and talk shows trying to help people lead better financial lives. So, to have someone of that public stature, essentially attack someone I know and trust, led to some amount of disappointment. Disappointment in how she portrayed herself, and, also, eroded the trust that many had in her and her advice. (I should note that I never really cared for her style or advice, but many do and did.)

So, how do we overcome that level of disappointment when someone we trust to give good advice, and to behave in a professional manner, doesn’t?

  1. First and Foremost, remember that the person is human.  People have bad days.  They have lives outside of the limelight, and sometimes that life can bleed over and cause them to do or say things that are uncharacteristic.
  2. Remember that it’s still just advice.  You should be doing your own research and assessing what is right for you in any situation.  Remember when your mom would ask you “If your friends jumped off a bridge, would you do the same?” Well, the obvious point she was trying to drive home was that you need to be an independent thinker.  Whenever someone recommends a product, service, or action, you have to determine if you should take that advice, or find an alternative.
  3. Express your disappointment.  Many times, people will disappoint us and not even know they’ve done it.  Tell them why they’ve disappointed you.  Do it constructively, don’t be a jerk.  If they truly meant well, they’ll want to know, and they’ll want to find a way to improve.
  4. Move on.  Take what you have into account, and decide if you can continue to trust the person’s advice.  If you can, let it go, and move on.  If you can’t, let it go, and move on.  (See what I did there?)  Holding a grudge, or reacting negatively won’t help you, and it will reflect poorly on you.

People are disappointed with their role models all the time.  People that we hold in high regard do something stupid, and fall from our good graces.  It’s important to take the lessons that are available, improve upon your filter, and move on.

As I mentioned in the previous post, I don’t think that Suze Orman’s card is, necessarily, a bad card.  I think it’s entirely possible that she created the card with the best intentions, and truly believes that it can be a useful tool for those that use it.  I do think that the marketing for the card is far too broad, aimed at people who shouldn’t be using the card at all.  I do think that she (or whomever is running her twitter account) overreacted to the criticism that was being presented by PT and others.  Suze lost a lot of trust with a lot of personal finance writers over the whole fiasco.  Depending on how the fallout from the whole situation lands, she might get some of that back, she might not.  But, it’s those writers, expressing their disappointment, that might save a few people from using the card when they shouldn’t.  It’s those same writers that may cause Suze to change her course, and improve upon the card based on the recommendations they made.

Disappointment is normal.  We feel it all the time.  How we react to it, and handle it, is what makes the difference.

Suze Orman Releases Prepaid Card. Wait, What?

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Suze Orman, one of the most well known personal finance gurus in the media, announced a few days ago that she had created, and was releasing, a new prepaid debit card.  Prepaid debit cards, if you’re not familiar with them, are cards, like credit cards, where you prepay and then can only use the card for amounts up to what you’ve prepaid.  In most cases, they are marketed towards people who are unable to get credit cards because of bad credit.

Phil, from PT Money, blasted Suze for the card, on his site and on twitter.  I can’t say that I entirely disagree with him.  His problem with the card, and mine, is that prepaid cards should be a last resort for people who are unable to get a bank or Credit Union account that has a debit card attached to it.  What Suze is doing with this card, however, is pushing it to the general public who really have no use for it, and, by using it instead of a debit card from their bank or CU, are going to be lining the pockets of Bancorp (the bank behind the card) and Suze.  That’s shady, when you are claiming to be “America’s Most Trusted Personal Finance Expert”.  If she is an expert, she should know better. And, I think she does.  Which is why, instead of responding to PT (and others) on Twitter with a factual defense of the card, she had this to say:

Suze Orman Calls PT Money an Idiot
Suze Orman Calls PT Money an Idiot

Terrible way to take criticism, Suze.  To some degree, I discount her response because of the “sassy” way that she responds to questions and such on her shows, but I think she crossed the line here.  It’s one thing to tell the guy who calls in and asks if he should buy a new car when he’s 500k in debt an idiot, but another thing altogether when you’re calling a guy an idiot simply because he thinks your new prepaid card is a bad product.

Is the card a bad product? To Suze’s credit, unlike some prepaid cards that have had celebrity endorsers, this one has plenty of good things going for it.  It includes a credit watch program, and a free credit report with credit score.  It’s got a program to allow you to put money into a separate account for an emergency fund, free bill pay, and the ability to transfer money from one cardholder to another.

But, my Credit Union has all those things.  A $3/month fee on the card isn’t the worst of the cards, but it’s still a fee.  $36 a year to have access to your own money via a debit card?  Come on.  Again, my Credit Union does that, and they do it for free.  Yes, there are some who are unable to get a bank account.  And for those people, if you absolutely need to have access to a Visa/Mastercard card, then go for it.  But, despite what Suze is claiming, don’t expect it to improve your credit score.

There is no way that any of the credit agencies are going to take your activity on a prepaid card into account.  They’ve never taken your cash spending habits into account, and a prepaid card is no different than spending cash.  Would it be nice?  Absolutely.  Many of us who make most of our transactions on debit cards or with cash would agree.  But, it isn’t going to happen.  Your cash spending has nothing to do with your credit, so why would a credit score take that into account?

I just don’t see enough difference between this, and other similar cards to say that Suze went out on a limb here and created a product that is going to change the industry.  As a prepaid card, it’s decent.  There are better.  In the end, it’s still just a prepaid card that should be used as a last option when you can’t/won’t get a bank or credit union account with a debit card.

Read what some other Personal Finance Bloggers are saying:

Suze Orman’s “Approved Card” gets Denied; Thinks PF Bloggers are Idiots

Suze Orman’s new prepaid debit card: The Approved Card

My two cents on Suze Orman and her prepaid card

Young, Gullible, and Broke: Suze Orman’s debit card FAIL

Suze Orman’s prepaid debit card scam

Suze Orman’s Card is Not Approved by Me

Suze Orman’s Approved Prepaid Debit card is Bad for Consumers

Suze Orman Shows True Colors with Her Approved Prepaid Debit Card

And that’s just a smattering of the posts on the subject.  I have yet to come across one that is entirely positive about the card. What do you think? Do you think that Suze did a good thing here, or is it just another way to milk some money out of her followers?