HispanicBusiness

For millions of Americans, she's the blunt, brash and sassy preacher of wise money management.

Now personal finance guru Suze Orman is selling one of the financial world's more notorious products: a prepaid debit card. On Monday, Orman launched "The Approved Card," a purple plastic debit card that's self-branded with her name. In Orman's exuberant fashion, she calls it the start of "a financial revolution to empower Americans" to connect with their money.

Like other celebrities who launched their own branded prepaid debit card (hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons' "Rush" and the ill-fated Kardashian Kard, among others), hers is raising some eyebrows in the consumer credit industry.

What inspired her?

"My absolute aggravation and disdain for banks turning their backs on consumers," Orman said in a phone interview from New York. In the last few years, as the recession was raging, credit card companies were gouging consumers with fees and ignoring their pleas for help, she noted.

At the same time, Orman said, many prepaid debit cards "were charging exorbitant fees for no services," such as $10 if you wanted to cancel your card.

Enter the "Approved Card," which Orman said she and her three partners spent a year getting to market. Reportedly, she's put $1 million of her own money into the project.

She touts the card's benefits: Low fees, free ID-theft protection, free credit scores and credit reports, free text or email alerts every morning with current balances.

The card, issued by Bankcorp Bank and FDIC insured, can be used at 37,000 Allpoint ATMs nationwide, which are in gas stations, grocery stores and large retailers such as Target and Costco.

And, in what she says is a nationwide first, consumers can elect to have their debit card activity reported -- anonymously -- to TransUnion, one of the three credit reporting bureaus. Currently, when it comes to credit scores, "People who pay on credit cards get rewarded. People who pay in cash or debit cards get penalized," said Orman. "Somebody tell me: What is wrong with that equation?"

She said the hope is that in 18 to 24 months, TransUnion might have enough card usage history to include debit payments as a factor in consumers' credit scores.

Some financial experts expressed surprise that Orman jumped into a class of products with a poor reputation.

As prepaid debit cards go, Orman's card is "pretty much in line with the two best of the breed": Green Dot and American Express, said John Ulzheimer, consumer education expert with SmartCredit.com.

"But let me qualify that: We're talking about a group of financial products -- prepaid debit cards -- that are not a good group of (products). (Orman's card) is the best of the worst, is the proper way to say it."

Likewise, Ben Woolsey, consumer research director at CreditCards.com, a debit and credit card comparison site, said Orman is potentially risking her reputation on a card that appeals to consumers who are financially troubled or unable to access conventional bank accounts.

"If they're in financial trouble, I don't see where loading a piece of plastic and paying fees every month really helps them," Woolsey said.

He noted that Orman's card carries many of the same fees as other prepaid debit cards, including a $3 monthly fee, $2 for paper statements, $2 for customer service calls (the first one monthly is free), as well as some bill payment fees up to $25.

Some of the fees -- such as $2 for Allpoint ATM withdrawals -- are waived if the consumer deposits at least $20 a month onto the card.

Noting the Kardashian sisters' debit card that "died a Titanic-type bloody death" when its ultra-rich fees were revealed, SmartCredit's Ulzheimer said he hopes consumers who sign up for Orman's card "don't find themselves getting fee-ed to death."