Justin Bieber Debit Card Prepaid Promotion for Teenagers, Singer Talks of New Payment Option in VIDEO [WATCH]
Pop singer Justin Bieber is featured in a new promotional video urging teenagers to use a prepaid debit card introduced by the SpendSmart Payments Company.
The video was posted Thursday on Bieber's YouTube channel, Facebook page and Twitter account. Upcoming videos, called Real Talk, will also feature Bieber discussing finances. In the new video Bieber urged viewers to "have a talk with your family about money"
"Managing your money is important," he said, "and there's a great company that can help you do that called SpendSmart."
He spoke about his own upbringing as well, and the lessons he has learned about watching his own money:
"You know when I was a kid, we didn't have a lot of money, so me and my family had to watch the money that we spent. It wasn't easy but I definitely learned some important lessons, like how to save for stuff that I really wanted and how to make a budget. I learned if you have $100 or $100 million - if you spend more than you have, you're going to go broke."
The 19-year-old Beauty and a Beat signed a deal with BillMyParents to endorse its SpendSmart prepaid card. Bieber is being paid $3.75 million for a 14-month contract, monthly payments based on the growth of the card, and an option to buy 2 million SpendSmart shares, according to The New York Times.
The average age of a SpendSmart user is 16 and the card is most often used to purchase food, gas, gadgets and clothes, the news report noted. The card has a monthly fee of $3.95, additional charges to load money onto the card, a lost card replacement fee of $7.95, ATM fees of 50 cents per balance enquiry, $1.50 every time cash is withdrawn and a $3 charge if the card is inactive for 90 days.
Parents can be alerted of purchases their teens make with the car via text messages and a smartphone app. Parents may block purchases from websites and instantly lock the card if they object a purchase.
Introduced in 2009 as BillMyParents, the company renamed the card and company SpendSmart to promote its "mission of being a responsible teen spending company," said company CEO Michael R. McCoy.
Watch Bieber's SpendSmart video below.
