This was probably inevitable: the minute that Dodd-Frank cracked down on the fees charged by credit cards aimed at students, some other bright financial innovation would crop up. This time, a debit card aimed at students. Which carries lots of fees. Ylan Mui reports that a company called Higher One has started signing up colleges around the country, taking on the burden of providing cash to students. In return, it gets lots of fees:
Students say several of the fees associated with Higher One’s card are particularly irksome, including the $19 inactivity fee, a 50-cent charge for using a PIN to make a purchase rather than a signature, and a $2.50 fee for using other banks’ ATMs…
Higher One said that only 1 percent of customers have been charged an inactivity fee and that more than half are charged the 50-cent fee only once. All fees are listed on Higher One’s Web site, along with tips on avoiding them.
“We have a big effort with educating students on how to use the account,” Smith said. “We’re very passionate about financial literacy.”
If the fees are listed on Higher One’s website, they’re not exactly prominent. I did find this page, eventually, via this blog entry, but it just says that “when you swipe & sign, you won’t be charged the PIN-based transaction fee”. I haven’t been able to find a page showing a 50-cent transaction fee anywhere*, although I did manage to find this page, showing a $25 fee for domestic wire transfers and a $50 fee for international wire transfers. “Higher One offers less costly alternatives for transferring funds”, it says, without giving any indication what they might be; I suspect that what they’re talking about is transfers to or from people who have already registered somehow with Higher One.
It should go without saying that any firm which is “very passionate about financial literacy” would encourage, rather than penalize, simple, cheap and safe PIN-debit transactions. It would not give students a debit card and then tell them that if they want to avoid fees they should select the “credit” option rather than the “debit” option when they come to pay.
And I can’t think of any good reason to charge a $19 inactivity fee to people who haven’t used their cards in 9 months.
The fact is that students are often very naive when it comes to money, and it’s easy to gouge them once or twice before they learn that banks are not necessarily on their side. If you can get your card accepted by a majority of freshmen every year, and then come up with all manner of weird fees to hit them with, that’s a great way of making money out of ignorance.
Meanwhile, all students should have a bank account: giving them a debit card instead only serves to maximize the number of unbanked students. So while I’m sure cards like this are attractive to colleges, it would be great if either the colleges or else the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau started being a lot more critical of them. Prepaid cards only ever make sense if the alternative is being completely unbanked; that should not ever be the case for students.
*At Southern Oregon University, Higher One agreed to waive the 50-cent PIN-debit charge, but only if there was a simultaneous “swipe-and-sign” campaign. If the campaign is unsuccessful and students do the sensible thing by using PIN debit, then the university can be charged $2 per student for “PIN fee elimination”.
Update: Higher One’s Donald Smith responds:
Higher One was founded 10 years ago by three college students (undergraduates at the time) who were looking for streamlining the way financial aid refunds were distributed to students. Today we work with more than 675 campuses across the country, have a 97% client retention rating, and an A+ rating with the BBB.
The OneAccount is Higher One’s optional, no minimum balance, no monthly fee, FDIC-Insured checking account created by students for students. We do not offer a stored value card. We are very open with our fee schedule. We post it on every program website for all to access, explain each fee, discuss how to avoid each fee, and provide students with a web page that tells them how to use the account for free (which you’ve already found). Because of this, we believe that our customers pay less than half the amount in fees that the average bank checking account customer pays per year.
Two of the fees you referenced in your blog are the PIN fee and the Abandoned Account Fee. The PIN fee is easily avoided by choosing a signature based transaction at the checkout. The majority of students uses it in this manner and is in turn protected by MasterCard’s Zero Liability Policy against fraudulent charges (a safer way of purchasing than a PIN based transaction). We do not have an inactivity fee on our fee schedule – we don’t penalize students who do not use their accounts. We do have an Abandoned Account Fee of up to $19, for those who have abandoned their accounts, but this has been charged to less than 1% of all OneAccount holders in our company’s history because of our proactive outreach plan.
Higher One offers no instruments of credit. As a matter of fact, we’re generally in favor of initiatives restricting students’ access to credit cards and promoting financial literacy. This is why we offer a full range of financial literacy resources along with the services we provide.
I particularly dislike the implication, here, that PIN-based transactions are unsafe. They’re not; they’re just less lucrative, in terms of interchange fees, than signature-based transactions.
When profits are down business owners tend to dwell on formulating the next big idea, a new marketing strategy, and, of course, on what they are doing wrong. But there are other areas that many people don’t think of exploring - or avoid all together. These are the emotional blocks to money, success and happiness.
Money, or the lack of, stimulates fear. Survival instincts are threatened and negative emotions that may have been stored deep inside will often surface, only to aggravate the situation and lessen the ability to succeed.
Let’s take a look at three areas that you can explore to free yourself of the emotional barriers that will keep you from the success and profits that you deserve.
Forgiveness – If you are an entrepreneur then you have most likely suffered your share of financial trauma. After all, entrepreneurs are risk takers and money is one of the first things we put at risk when we have an idea that we belief in. Money loss is a trauma that we tend to minimize because it’s “just money”. But financial security is an important value to nearly everyone because it dictates our ability to survive in this world. For men, who our ancestors labeled as the providers, financial security is often a very important core value. Therefore, losing money can affect them to the core and the guilt, shame and worry may remain embedded within them for a very long time.
It’s time to forgive yourself. Plain and simple; being an entrepreneur isn’t always a choice – it’s who you are. Taking risk is a part of the learning and the experience that takes you toward success. If that means that you “fail” from time to time, so be it. Releasing this emotion and pain is critical to your future success. Guilt and shame create a heavy burden, how can you let it go?
Consider some less conventional techniques like hypnosis or the emotional freedom techniques. Sometimes talking about it and rationalizing it isn’t enough. Take another risk and find a new way to let go so that you can let success into your life.
Feeling – If you can’t feel wealth, you won’t attract wealth. How much do you believe that you were born to achieve success? Can you close your eyes and feel, smell – truly experience wealth? This is something to practice on a daily basis. The more you believe it and experience it, the more your behavior and thinking will shift to allow for wealth. Begin with only 30-60 seconds of imagining your life of success. Create a snapshot of your successful future and practice stepping into the feeling of it. You might notice a swelling of the heart, the sensation of excitement and expectation, or a sense of overall peace. Hold this positive feeling in place and get used to it. Increase the time of your visualization as you become more adept at it. Before long you will begin to notice opportunities coming into your life or things may just begin falling into place for you. It’s a simple attitude adjustment that will make a difference.
Fearlessness – Fear has a paralyzing effect on our creativity and ability to act. If you are living in fear you are less likely to have a clear picture of your next action steps. You may find that procrastination and overwhelm are your daily companions and at the end of the day it seems nothing notable has been achieved. Sound familiar? It’s time to let go of the fear and step into your fearless state. I’m not suggesting that you become reckless, but that you find creative ways to rectify your situation and act from a collected, rational, and confident place.
If money is an issue you’ve probably run circles in your mind trying to think of solutions but haven’t acted on any of them. Is it time for a part time job? This doesn’t mean you are quitting your dream, just allowing it to become a bit more accessible. Do you have another skill that you can put to work while you build your business? Can you market to past customers to create a boost in sales? Think outside of the box and act on your solution.
Do you have a fear of success or failure? If you perceive that there are any negative consequences to success it's time to explore this limiting belief. Again, try something that may be considered “unconventional” to explore if these fears exist so that you can let them go. Ask someone who you see as successful what they’ve done to combat their fears – believe me, they’ve had them too! And try stepping out of the box to experience a different type of risk and reignite your energy. Is there something adventurous that you’ve always wanted to try but never have? What will “shake it up” a bit to unearth your courage and commitment to moving forward? How can you break the pattern and step into your fearless state?
These may sound like simple steps, but this type of change is a tall order. Surround yourself with support as you make create change; a coach, mentor and mastermind group are all a tremendous source of support and fresh ideas.
Have you found your way to a “Million Dollar Mindset?” Share your experience and tips with us here!
BREAKING <b>NEWS</b>: Drunk & Naked Charlie Sheen Trashes Hotel Room <b>...</b>
Trouble seems to follow Charlie Sheen - whether it be in Los Angeles, Apsen, or now, to New York. Police were summoned to the posh Plaza hotel early Tuesday, where a drunken and naked Sheen had trashed his hotel room, RadarOnline.com ...
Fox <b>News</b> Crew Gets Scolded At Democratic Meeting (VIDEO)
A Fox News camera crew showed up unannounced at a Democratic meeting in Wisconsin Monday, prompting a confrontation that eventually forced the show's producer into a rather startling admission: he understands why Democrats are wary of ...
Debian Project <b>News</b> - July 26th, 2010
Debian Day in New York, MiniDebConf in India, Debian Installer beta1, Debian Podcast, how to attract more users?
bench craft company complaints
bench craft company complaints
BREAKING <b>NEWS</b>: Drunk & Naked Charlie Sheen Trashes Hotel Room <b>...</b>
Trouble seems to follow Charlie Sheen - whether it be in Los Angeles, Apsen, or now, to New York. Police were summoned to the posh Plaza hotel early Tuesday, where a drunken and naked Sheen had trashed his hotel room, RadarOnline.com ...
Fox <b>News</b> Crew Gets Scolded At Democratic Meeting (VIDEO)
A Fox News camera crew showed up unannounced at a Democratic meeting in Wisconsin Monday, prompting a confrontation that eventually forced the show's producer into a rather startling admission: he understands why Democrats are wary of ...
Debian Project <b>News</b> - July 26th, 2010
Debian Day in New York, MiniDebConf in India, Debian Installer beta1, Debian Podcast, how to attract more users?
bench craft company complaints bench craft company complaints
This was probably inevitable: the minute that Dodd-Frank cracked down on the fees charged by credit cards aimed at students, some other bright financial innovation would crop up. This time, a debit card aimed at students. Which carries lots of fees. Ylan Mui reports that a company called Higher One has started signing up colleges around the country, taking on the burden of providing cash to students. In return, it gets lots of fees:
Students say several of the fees associated with Higher One’s card are particularly irksome, including the $19 inactivity fee, a 50-cent charge for using a PIN to make a purchase rather than a signature, and a $2.50 fee for using other banks’ ATMs…
Higher One said that only 1 percent of customers have been charged an inactivity fee and that more than half are charged the 50-cent fee only once. All fees are listed on Higher One’s Web site, along with tips on avoiding them.
“We have a big effort with educating students on how to use the account,” Smith said. “We’re very passionate about financial literacy.”
If the fees are listed on Higher One’s website, they’re not exactly prominent. I did find this page, eventually, via this blog entry, but it just says that “when you swipe & sign, you won’t be charged the PIN-based transaction fee”. I haven’t been able to find a page showing a 50-cent transaction fee anywhere*, although I did manage to find this page, showing a $25 fee for domestic wire transfers and a $50 fee for international wire transfers. “Higher One offers less costly alternatives for transferring funds”, it says, without giving any indication what they might be; I suspect that what they’re talking about is transfers to or from people who have already registered somehow with Higher One.
It should go without saying that any firm which is “very passionate about financial literacy” would encourage, rather than penalize, simple, cheap and safe PIN-debit transactions. It would not give students a debit card and then tell them that if they want to avoid fees they should select the “credit” option rather than the “debit” option when they come to pay.
And I can’t think of any good reason to charge a $19 inactivity fee to people who haven’t used their cards in 9 months.
The fact is that students are often very naive when it comes to money, and it’s easy to gouge them once or twice before they learn that banks are not necessarily on their side. If you can get your card accepted by a majority of freshmen every year, and then come up with all manner of weird fees to hit them with, that’s a great way of making money out of ignorance.
Meanwhile, all students should have a bank account: giving them a debit card instead only serves to maximize the number of unbanked students. So while I’m sure cards like this are attractive to colleges, it would be great if either the colleges or else the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau started being a lot more critical of them. Prepaid cards only ever make sense if the alternative is being completely unbanked; that should not ever be the case for students.
*At Southern Oregon University, Higher One agreed to waive the 50-cent PIN-debit charge, but only if there was a simultaneous “swipe-and-sign” campaign. If the campaign is unsuccessful and students do the sensible thing by using PIN debit, then the university can be charged $2 per student for “PIN fee elimination”.
Update: Higher One’s Donald Smith responds:
Higher One was founded 10 years ago by three college students (undergraduates at the time) who were looking for streamlining the way financial aid refunds were distributed to students. Today we work with more than 675 campuses across the country, have a 97% client retention rating, and an A+ rating with the BBB.
The OneAccount is Higher One’s optional, no minimum balance, no monthly fee, FDIC-Insured checking account created by students for students. We do not offer a stored value card. We are very open with our fee schedule. We post it on every program website for all to access, explain each fee, discuss how to avoid each fee, and provide students with a web page that tells them how to use the account for free (which you’ve already found). Because of this, we believe that our customers pay less than half the amount in fees that the average bank checking account customer pays per year.
Two of the fees you referenced in your blog are the PIN fee and the Abandoned Account Fee. The PIN fee is easily avoided by choosing a signature based transaction at the checkout. The majority of students uses it in this manner and is in turn protected by MasterCard’s Zero Liability Policy against fraudulent charges (a safer way of purchasing than a PIN based transaction). We do not have an inactivity fee on our fee schedule – we don’t penalize students who do not use their accounts. We do have an Abandoned Account Fee of up to $19, for those who have abandoned their accounts, but this has been charged to less than 1% of all OneAccount holders in our company’s history because of our proactive outreach plan.
Higher One offers no instruments of credit. As a matter of fact, we’re generally in favor of initiatives restricting students’ access to credit cards and promoting financial literacy. This is why we offer a full range of financial literacy resources along with the services we provide.
I particularly dislike the implication, here, that PIN-based transactions are unsafe. They’re not; they’re just less lucrative, in terms of interchange fees, than signature-based transactions.
When profits are down business owners tend to dwell on formulating the next big idea, a new marketing strategy, and, of course, on what they are doing wrong. But there are other areas that many people don’t think of exploring - or avoid all together. These are the emotional blocks to money, success and happiness.
Money, or the lack of, stimulates fear. Survival instincts are threatened and negative emotions that may have been stored deep inside will often surface, only to aggravate the situation and lessen the ability to succeed.
Let’s take a look at three areas that you can explore to free yourself of the emotional barriers that will keep you from the success and profits that you deserve.
Forgiveness – If you are an entrepreneur then you have most likely suffered your share of financial trauma. After all, entrepreneurs are risk takers and money is one of the first things we put at risk when we have an idea that we belief in. Money loss is a trauma that we tend to minimize because it’s “just money”. But financial security is an important value to nearly everyone because it dictates our ability to survive in this world. For men, who our ancestors labeled as the providers, financial security is often a very important core value. Therefore, losing money can affect them to the core and the guilt, shame and worry may remain embedded within them for a very long time.
It’s time to forgive yourself. Plain and simple; being an entrepreneur isn’t always a choice – it’s who you are. Taking risk is a part of the learning and the experience that takes you toward success. If that means that you “fail” from time to time, so be it. Releasing this emotion and pain is critical to your future success. Guilt and shame create a heavy burden, how can you let it go?
Consider some less conventional techniques like hypnosis or the emotional freedom techniques. Sometimes talking about it and rationalizing it isn’t enough. Take another risk and find a new way to let go so that you can let success into your life.
Feeling – If you can’t feel wealth, you won’t attract wealth. How much do you believe that you were born to achieve success? Can you close your eyes and feel, smell – truly experience wealth? This is something to practice on a daily basis. The more you believe it and experience it, the more your behavior and thinking will shift to allow for wealth. Begin with only 30-60 seconds of imagining your life of success. Create a snapshot of your successful future and practice stepping into the feeling of it. You might notice a swelling of the heart, the sensation of excitement and expectation, or a sense of overall peace. Hold this positive feeling in place and get used to it. Increase the time of your visualization as you become more adept at it. Before long you will begin to notice opportunities coming into your life or things may just begin falling into place for you. It’s a simple attitude adjustment that will make a difference.
Fearlessness – Fear has a paralyzing effect on our creativity and ability to act. If you are living in fear you are less likely to have a clear picture of your next action steps. You may find that procrastination and overwhelm are your daily companions and at the end of the day it seems nothing notable has been achieved. Sound familiar? It’s time to let go of the fear and step into your fearless state. I’m not suggesting that you become reckless, but that you find creative ways to rectify your situation and act from a collected, rational, and confident place.
If money is an issue you’ve probably run circles in your mind trying to think of solutions but haven’t acted on any of them. Is it time for a part time job? This doesn’t mean you are quitting your dream, just allowing it to become a bit more accessible. Do you have another skill that you can put to work while you build your business? Can you market to past customers to create a boost in sales? Think outside of the box and act on your solution.
Do you have a fear of success or failure? If you perceive that there are any negative consequences to success it's time to explore this limiting belief. Again, try something that may be considered “unconventional” to explore if these fears exist so that you can let them go. Ask someone who you see as successful what they’ve done to combat their fears – believe me, they’ve had them too! And try stepping out of the box to experience a different type of risk and reignite your energy. Is there something adventurous that you’ve always wanted to try but never have? What will “shake it up” a bit to unearth your courage and commitment to moving forward? How can you break the pattern and step into your fearless state?
These may sound like simple steps, but this type of change is a tall order. Surround yourself with support as you make create change; a coach, mentor and mastermind group are all a tremendous source of support and fresh ideas.
Have you found your way to a “Million Dollar Mindset?” Share your experience and tips with us here!
bench craft company complaints
BREAKING <b>NEWS</b>: Drunk & Naked Charlie Sheen Trashes Hotel Room <b>...</b>
Trouble seems to follow Charlie Sheen - whether it be in Los Angeles, Apsen, or now, to New York. Police were summoned to the posh Plaza hotel early Tuesday, where a drunken and naked Sheen had trashed his hotel room, RadarOnline.com ...
Fox <b>News</b> Crew Gets Scolded At Democratic Meeting (VIDEO)
A Fox News camera crew showed up unannounced at a Democratic meeting in Wisconsin Monday, prompting a confrontation that eventually forced the show's producer into a rather startling admission: he understands why Democrats are wary of ...
Debian Project <b>News</b> - July 26th, 2010
Debian Day in New York, MiniDebConf in India, Debian Installer beta1, Debian Podcast, how to attract more users?
bench craft company complaints bench craft company complaints
BREAKING <b>NEWS</b>: Drunk & Naked Charlie Sheen Trashes Hotel Room <b>...</b>
Trouble seems to follow Charlie Sheen - whether it be in Los Angeles, Apsen, or now, to New York. Police were summoned to the posh Plaza hotel early Tuesday, where a drunken and naked Sheen had trashed his hotel room, RadarOnline.com ...
Fox <b>News</b> Crew Gets Scolded At Democratic Meeting (VIDEO)
A Fox News camera crew showed up unannounced at a Democratic meeting in Wisconsin Monday, prompting a confrontation that eventually forced the show's producer into a rather startling admission: he understands why Democrats are wary of ...
Debian Project <b>News</b> - July 26th, 2010
Debian Day in New York, MiniDebConf in India, Debian Installer beta1, Debian Podcast, how to attract more users?
bench craft company complaints bench craft company complaints
BREAKING <b>NEWS</b>: Drunk & Naked Charlie Sheen Trashes Hotel Room <b>...</b>
Trouble seems to follow Charlie Sheen - whether it be in Los Angeles, Apsen, or now, to New York. Police were summoned to the posh Plaza hotel early Tuesday, where a drunken and naked Sheen had trashed his hotel room, RadarOnline.com ...
Fox <b>News</b> Crew Gets Scolded At Democratic Meeting (VIDEO)
A Fox News camera crew showed up unannounced at a Democratic meeting in Wisconsin Monday, prompting a confrontation that eventually forced the show's producer into a rather startling admission: he understands why Democrats are wary of ...
Debian Project <b>News</b> - July 26th, 2010
Debian Day in New York, MiniDebConf in India, Debian Installer beta1, Debian Podcast, how to attract more users?
bench craft company complaints bench craft company complaints
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