It’s been a long held belief of mine that each and every high school in the country needs to implement some kind of required personal finance course to help kids learn the fundamentals of money, and how to use it.  It’s obvious with our current economic situation that we could’ve used this program a long time ago.

Unfortunately, we don’t live in a world that makes sense, and so we’re left with a generation of kids that throws caution (and money) to the wind and buys what they want, when they want it, payment be damned!  And now thanks to a segment on The Colbert Report, I see there’s a website that looks to make that kind of spend-thrifting that much easier: Kwedit.com.

Baby wants his Kwedit.

According to the company’s website (www.kwedit.com), Kwedit is “a new, innovative way to purchase digital content and virtual goods safely, easily, and quickly without a credit or debit card.”

So…they’ve found a way to extend the five-finger discount to the internet?  Not quite.   Kwedit seems to (at least for now) only really let you purchase items in online games that no one’s ever heard of (no Mafia Wars support?  WTF?) with real world cash.  The site claims that, “[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.”

Okay, that sounds reasonable.  It actually sounds like a decent service.  The name may be pretty stupid, but hey, this could be a good way to teach kids to be frugal about their money and, later, their credit.

And then you get to the explanation on how it works.

Passing the “duck”

There are 2 ways to use Kwedit: Kwedit Direct and Kwedit Promise.  You can use the Direct approach to buy digital goods and paying with real world cash at your nearest 7-Eleven, or by mailing the cash to Kwedit themselves.  Or you can Promise to pay for the item later – Kwedit recommends within a week or two – receive the item, and continue to play like nothing happened.

You also have the option to “Pass the Duck”; what Kwedit calls “the world’s first social payment network”, Passing the Duck is a way for Kwedit users to ask other people to pay for their items for them.  That’s right, if you’ve reached the point in an online game where you need real money to continue, don’t bother paying for it yourself – get someone else to do it for you.  Just like in real life. 

Is this what they’re teaching you kids these days?

Like Stephen Colbert already pointed out, this service basically exists to let people pay real money for something that doesn’t even exist.  And if they can’t pay for it themselves, they can try and get someone else to do it for them. 

Kwedit even has their own variation of a credit score (you can guess what they call it).  The higher your score, the more Kwedit a game publisher may extend you.  Then, as you pay down your woans—I mean loans, you’ll eventually waise yo Kwedit wimit…..er, that is, raise your Kwedit limit, allowing for more extended points.  (Who thinks it’s a good idea to hire Elmer Fudd for your marketing?  Seriously?)

Anyway, while in theory, this is a decent idea to teach teenagers about credit and finance in general (Kwedit doesn’t allow anyone under 13 to register for the service), the fact that it actively encourages passing the buck to someone else when the bills come in is pretty discouraging to say the least.  And not even for real world items that you can actually use, but for a virtual doghouse for a pixilated puppy.

Folks, if you wanna teach your kids and teens about credit (and you really should), stick to real world dollars and cents.  And for the love of common sense, make sure they know not to buy something if they can’t afford it.  That’s just widiculous.

For more information on how to find real world debt relief or credit repair, contact a specialist at My Credit Group.