Thursday, February 11, 2010

Kwedit Wating

I browsed through an article the other day about a new service called Kwedit. If my reading comprehension (skimming comprehension?) worked, it's a service that works with 7-11s to offer a new kind of credit line so various online game addictions can access the cash of an increasingly younger audience (13+).

If I were a teen, being able to pay for a service without my parent intervening via credit card would probably be a nice thing, but it was interesting to note my negative emotional reaction to a new business that "gets kids hooked on credit." But even if my simplistic reaction is appropriate, credit will likely be a part of their adult lives; maybe it gives them time to sort it all out...?


  1. Yeah I'm not so sure a kid's brain can handle that kind of responsibility. Maybe it depends on the age range and/or how many controls are in place. I just remember going with a friend to the bank to take money out of a savings account her parents set up for school. Totally on the fly. I don't remember what it was for, but it definitely wasn't important. :)

  2. Hi, I work for Kwedit. Just a quick clarification: Kwedit is only for users >13 years old. Most social game users are between 18-34; those are the players to whom we believe Kwedit Promise will be of interest. We do encourage our teenage users to talk with their parents about the concept of credit and we offer many resources on our website to assist with conversations about financial responsibility. Please read

  3. I'll update "kids" to reflect the clarification. And really? 18-34 will be of most interest? Don't they have imaginary money to play with already via credit cards? My understanding must be too simplistic, so I appreciate the link to read up on it.

    I presume the folks at Kwedit have to deal with this negative emotional reaction a lot since humans are more rules-lawyers for emotional (irrational) ethics, and "credit" isn't exactly a popular term.

    Though I don't anticipate a reply, I wonder if the blog talks about -- for the low end of the age spectrum -- the importance of 13 and up, like if it's a somewhat arbitrary number, a marketing number ("teens and adults"), or if there is some science between the responsibility of the 13+ that makes the business approach more reliable for them.

  4. I think even my doofus kids are old enough to learn about credit and financial responsibility. But I think two things would need to be in place for that to work:
    A) Some type of income---most credit problems result because people get credit without income (wouldn't work in my case because I don't give my kids an allowance)
    B) Real consequences for credit problems that parents would actually enforce (eg. Co-signing parents pull the kids' allowance until the balance is paid off)

    In other words, parents need to have a backbone and not back down when their little boy starts whining about really wanting another game. And based on what I see, that is a very rare quality in parents.