(Image source: SuzeOrman.com)

BY DAVID EARL

ANCHOR NATHAN BYRNE

“Don’t get me started with all these credit card fees...these banks...these companies...it’s like what are they thinking?”

That’s personal finance guru Suze Orman. She hates fees....so she wants you to use her new prepaid debit card to make sure you get a fair shake. There are a lot of endorsed debit cards out there, but, if you charge her card with cash --- you avoid all those nasty fees. Right?

“Amex has a card with 1 fee, Lil Wayne Discover, 7 fees, the Rush Card 17,  Suze Orman’s card has 20 fees. 20 fees.”

HLN tallies up the fee frenzy you’ll face with Suze Orman’s Approved Card...

“Simply purchasing Orman’s Approved Card costs $3. Then, there’s a monthly fee of $3, but the good news is the first month’s fee is waived. The card is associated with ATMs in the Allpoint network and costs $2 per transaction, $1 to check a balance and another $1 if the card is declined by the ATM."

It also costs you anywhere from $3.50 to $4.95 to load money on the card. And if you lose the card? Three bucks. Orman insisted during a TIME interview that her card helps people manage their money... (I wouldn’t normally want to go to her twice in the same piece, but I get that the first one is more of a nat-sound open.)

“What the world needs is another prepaid debit card or debit card that gets people to pay in cash. People have got to learn if they don’t have cookies in the cookie jar, they can’t eat a cookie.”

So, Orman’s debit card is like an electronic cookie jar, and she says her debit card works to help build people credit. Fox Business ain’t buyin’ it.

“The reality is, if someone is going to lend you money, they want to know you will make do in the future. This doesn’t do that.”

Bloomberg’s Businessweek found Orman a little ticked at all the bad press. And it quotes....

“I am the personal financial expert of the world...I know what I’m talking about ... just keep it in cash! You don’t need the damn card.”

So, you need the card … but you don’t need the card … Either way, if you pick it up, be prepared to pay.