Kwedit!

[Bells]

Kwedit is a new, innovative way to purchase digital content and virtual goods safely, easily, and quickly without a credit or debit card.

Kwedit is not credit. We are not a lender, we don't charge interest and we are not a financial institution. Our service is for people who don't have a credit or debit card or who prefer to pay with cash for budgeting, privacy or security reasons.

Kwedit Promise is not for children. It is a service for adults and teens, 13 and older.

Kwedit provides two services: Kwedit Direct and Kwedit Promise.

Kwedit Direct allows you to make payments at a local store such as a 7-Eleven, by mailing cash, or by asking a friend or relative to pay on your behalf using a convenient service called Pass the Duck -- the world’s first social payment network. Friends and relatives who agree to pay on your behalf via Pass the Duck can use any of the methods provided by Kwedit Direct, or they can pay with a credit or debit card.

Kwedit Promise is an amazing new way to get goods now in exchange for Promises to pay for them later. When you’re ready to pay back your Promises, you can use any of the methods provided by Kwedit Direct.And what can you use Kwedit for?

To purchase goods on exciting venues like Facebook apps or Online games aimed at children like Foopets ( Virtual Puppies ) or Puzzle Pirates or Tetris Friends!

But i think the best explanation comes from one Mr Colbert Himself:

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/265469/march-02-2010/the-word---kid-owe

http://kwedit.com

...this can't end well.


EDIT:

I forgot this little Golden Nugget

What happens if I don't pay back a Kwedit Promise?
If you make a Kwedit Promise but do not pay it off, Kwedit notifies the publisher that a payment was not received and the publisher decides on the appropriate action. At a minimum, you may not be able to make further Promises to that publisher. In addition, your Kwedit Score will decrease, and that may impact your ability to use Kwedit in the future with other publishers.

[Amake]

If I was an evil person, I'd be tempted to hurry up and buy stuff for the maximum allowance before they have sorted out how to make people actually pay for it.

[Donomni]

I wouldn't be surprised if this whole thing imploded by the end of the month.

[Ibian]

I... think, that this will stick around. Think about it, adults are already, as the funny guy in the vid said, spending money they don't have on things they don't need. And contrary to what a lot of people seem to want to believe, kids do what they see their parents do, not what their parents tell them to do.

I always pay in cash when i can get away with it. Makes it much harder to overspend.

[Revising Ocelot]

"Kwedit"? Sounds a little too much like Elmer Fudd to me...

[bluestarultor]

This is nothing short of irresponsible and possibly not even legal. I don't think kids can actually be held to a contract, but there's likely some legal clause built in to screw the parents. I see this eventually going to court, but I don't even want to think about the proceedings or result. Hopefully, Kwedit loses the case.

[Tev]

I foresee entire Chinese villages buying up hordes of virtual things using Kwedit and then selling them for real money to Americans. Then not paying back their debt. That way once things get sorted out, they have the money and someone else gets shafted when the publisher deletes the item for non-payment.

[Geminex]

I only just realized that "Kwedit" is the cutesy-baby pronunciation of "Credit".

Fuck this service.

[Loyal]

Do we seriously need a harder depression at this point in time?

And holy shit what is with that FooPets thing.

[Donomni]

I only just realized that "Kwedit" is the cutesy-baby pronunciation of "Credit".

Fuck this service.

Considering they have a duck as a mascot, they should've went with Quedit.

[DFM]

The most disturbing thing about this is Foo Pets.

[Nique]

What. The. Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu...

This is just beyond ridiculous. My 'Kwedit' score goes down? Please.

By the way, if you ever doubted that there was some kind of effort to indoctrinate people into the 'debt' lifestyle, I uh, I hope you don't still doubt that.

[Professor Smarmiarty]

Couldn't you just get a debit card? They are free, you can get one in like 5 minutes, and they effectively like spending cash.

[Nique]

Can 13 year olds get debit cards?

[Professor Smarmiarty]

As long as they have a bank account.

[Jagos]

You don't need one for that.

There's gift cards and then there's prepaid cards that you can replenish.

[DFM]

I'll look like an idiot and admit I don't get credit cards.

I guess if you like can't afford food for a week or so until payday they'd come in pretty handy but if you're pushing it that much don't they have like monthly fees and shit that could get you a weeks worth of beans and rice or something?

[Tev]

I'll look like an idiot and admit I don't get credit cards.Credit cards are an amazing convenience to those who aren't stupid with them. I have no problem spending someone else’s money for a month as long as I can pay it all back later. They allow for better budgeting and greater spending flexibility. The problem is that some people spend far more than they can pay back.

As a concept they are an awesome financial tool. Unfortunately the practice of predatory lending diminishes its greatness.

[Amake]

There's apparently credit cards that don't have fees unless you use them. People do use them for emergency situations. I talked to one guy who had one such card with a 1000 dollar credit just in case. I asked, why not just save up 1000 bucks just in case instead? But noo, money in the bank isn't as good as a way to get yourself in debt whenever you need to.

But mostly they're for taking money from people who don't realize you have to pay eventually, even if you appear to get free stuff at first. And that the longer you wait to pay your bill, the more you have to pay. Like people who buy the Eiffel tower, I feel a little sympathy for those whose only crime is being stupid.

It would take a special kind of stupidity to give your kid a credit card and unsupervised internet access though. . .

[Funka Genocide]

My credit card doesn't have a fee. I don't know why you'd get one with a fee, that just seems silly. Of course it does have an APR, but if you pay off your purchases in the same month you buy them it doesn't accrue so it's pretty much just like spending the money you'll have in the future.

In theory at least, because my balance went through the roof at some point and I'm still paying that fucker down, but I digress. If you're not a dumbass its convenient.

This though, this is obviously just an attempt to take the buying power away from parents by force. They know young kids are on the internet and that they have no concept of money or how to spend it and they're hoping they'll make a bunch of purchases that their parents will then have to pay for.

I foresee a lot of ass beatings in the future as a direct result.

[DFM]

Credit cards are an amazing convenience to those who aren't stupid with them. I have no problem spending someone else’s money for a month as long as I can pay it all back later. They allow for better budgeting and greater spending flexibility. The problem is that some people spend far more than they can pay back.

As a concept they are an awesome financial tool. Unfortunately the practice of predatory lending diminishes its greatness.

I'll give you the flexibility, that's pretty clear/convenient, but I'm not sure how it allows for better budgeting, isn't it slightly harder to keep track of money you haven't actually spent? I mean it's not hard to just keep the receipts and add it up, but I'm not sure how that's easier to keep track of.

[Funka Genocide]

Well, allowing you to delay payment on stuff is just another budgeting tool in the right hands, it makes sense.

It helps when unexpected expenses pop up too, meaning a set of new breaks won't completely throw your budget out the window.

But really it's just a means of circumventing the process of saving for a purpose when making larger than normal purchases. I can get that big screen tv now instead of 3 months from now etc. etc.

[Tev]

Pretty much what Funka said. In the right hands having greater flexibility in spending increases overall budgeting potential.

As an example, and I'm sorry I can't find the article on it at the moment, but I think it was the NY Times that did a piece on one of the more powerful merchandising men of this century. When interviewed he noted how appalling it was that businesses were settling to pay their venders somewhere between "on time" or "30-60 days" for merchandise they sell. He told the paper that he never settled for less than 90 days flexibility to pay back bulk vendors and contractors for services and merchandise he sold to others. It was this extra flexibility that gave his company room to grow and become an economic powerhouse.

[Mirai Gen]

There's also the fact that online banking makes it pretty easy to regulate payments to the appropriate people, credit cards included.

EDIT: also HAHHAHA oh man this is dumb.