Big Pimpin’, Russell Simmons Style

Mark Winston Griffith

Big Pimpin’, Russell Simmons Style

For some time now, hip hop impresario and would-be social justice activist Russell Simmons, through his company UniRush Financial Services, has been offering the Baby Phat Prepaid Visa RushCard. The RushCard promotional material claims the Baby Phat Visa card "offers you the convenience of a credit or debit card but uses only the money you put on your card. With it you can pay bills, shop online and around town and even get cash at ATMs. You can use it everywhere Visa debit cards are accepted. Get your card card NOW with no credit check and start saving!"

Understand, that although the Visa RushCard is used like other forms of plastic to make purchases and withdraw money, it cannot extend credit, nor is it tied to a checking account like a traditional debit card. It's more like a high priced electronic wallet into which you must load money, such as through direct deposit or through retail cash loading locations like MoneyGram. The RushCard claim that it will help you save money is like saying popping Viagra will help you maintain your virginity.

How generous of Russell to offer the gift that keeps on taking. In addition to the $19.95 "activation fee", and the "unlimited purchases each month for a maximum of $10 in transaction fees (ATM transactions are an additional $1.50 each)", the not-so-fine fine print on the RushCard reveals "you may be charged additional fees by the institution that owns the ATM...loading locations will charge anywhere from $3.95 to $5.95 per load up to $1,000."

In other words, if you buy a card, load $100, and then another $100 on it, and use it 5 times, you could conceivably spend $40 in fees. Not even credit cards are capable of such gouging. And if your card is stolen and "used in commercial card or ATM transactions, or PIN transactions not processed by Visa or Interlink", screw you, you're liable.

To be fair, there are lots of celebrities peddling these kinds of exploitative products, more than you can count. But Russell Simmons, who has led voter registration drives, advocated against the Rockefeller Drug laws, dropped progressive polemics with his Def Poetry Jam productions, and positions himself as a defender of disaffected youth through his activist organization Hip-Hop Summit Network, uses an effective mixture of culture, politics and commerce to strike his particular pimp pose.

Writers like Anya Kamenetz and Tamara Draut of Demos have meticulously detailed the financial culture, and burdens, of young people, otherwise known as generation debt and generation plastic. Russell, being the astute business man that he is, clearly knows that 50.4 percent of the spending done among 18- to 24-years- is done using plastic or on-line transactions. And by saying in the RushCard promotion that there are "no check cashing fees" and by offering to facilitate direct deposits, tax returns and government benefits, the Simmons card stalks low-income consumers who are estranged from banks, hovering like a vulture to gobble up each dollar that comes into their lives.

Comments

And here I was thinking that CD price gouging and some of the lesser artists he's promoted lately where the only ways Simmons was up for scamming my pocketbook.

He really should know better, he's one of the good corporate moguls on a number of things.

Winston Griffith captures Simmons scandalous Pimp-acious moves well. Simmons scheme will place members of already marginalized communities in the wake of further financial wreckage.

Kudos to the author for bringing this story to light.

Winston Griffith captures Simmons scandalous Pimp-acious moves well. Simmons scheme will place members of already marginalized communities in the wake of further financial wreckage.

Kudos to the author for bringing this story to light.

To the writer: Have you ever been poor ? I have not used such cards, but it would seem that they are better in helping one contain costs/expenses and do initial financial planning. The card also offers an alternative to high interest credit cards, that when you are late go from low to high percentage rates and increase your payment by 1/3 of the bottomm line. $40 compared to $1,000+ it would seem is much better to manage. In addition you don't have to deal with identity theft and utilization of a line of credit that is used to capacity when the card is stolen. I went from an unused credit line balance to owing an addtional $1,800 after theft of the card and inability to pay due to lack of planned work. Although very able to work.

Posted by: Michele P. Ellison, ACSW, M.Div. | February 16, 2006 03:20 PM

The question I would ask, Michele is NOT "Have you ever been poor?" Nor would I be directing my questions to the sage writer. Rather, I'd be asking Russell Simmons, "Do you really believe in karma?"

The fact of the matter is that we need not look at solutions in binary form: RushCards or traditional check cashing operations. Instead, we need to spotlight other REAL social entrepreneurs who offer such needed financial services that are non-exploitative and are devoid of the profit-maximization angle that UniRush so poorly conceals.

Thanks for the name-check; I did a story about Russell Simmons and the RushCard last year, around tax season:

http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0516,kamenetz,63032,6.html

it's really bad when you are mislead to beleave that someone is helping there people and after reading about the rush card, i was just hirt.