Payroll Deduction Credit Card Unveiled

Clear card allows employees to charge items anywhere MasterCard is accepted and have the money automatically deducted over the next two months’ paychecks or six months’ if a product is purchased from on of the E-Duction’s “preferred merchants.”

The product is available to workers who make a minimum of $20,000 a year, at an annual fee of $29.   The spending limit of the card is set at 2.5% of their annual salary, for those under $75,000 a year and 4% for those above.   Annual interest rate for the card is set at zero percent.

The zero percent interest rate does have its stipulations.   Employees that voluntary close the account, lose their job or whose income drops below the minimum $20,000 per year, will see the interest rate go from zero percent to 14.99%.

E-Duction reports so far 12 employers are offering the Clear card to 2,000 employees.   The company said it is in talks with another 150 to 200 companies to offer the card to an additional 4 million workers.  

However, the new product is not without its critics.   Steve Rhode, president and co-founder of MyVesta.org Inc., a credit-counseling center, worries that employees may use the card to overspend, saying that many consumers are “poor mental accountants.”

More information on the Clear card can be found at  www.e-duction.com .