London. Early June. A limpid Saturday morning. Just gone half eight. I've pulled up outside Caffè Nero in Crystal Palace to buy the usual beginning of the weekend double tall skinny cap/skinny blueberry muffin (for me), double tall skinny latte/raspberry and Belgian white chocolate muffin (for her), and croissant to share (for them). Outside, the sun is shining and I feel, for a split second, faintly optimistic about life. That second soon passes.
Walking back to the car, tray in hand, corporate confectionary swinging limply from my jaw, I notice a traffic warden scribbling away eagerly, kind of like his life depended on it. As I approach, he delicately lifts up my windscreen wiper and tucks an angry yellow and white, cellophane-wrapped ticket underneath (it all happens so slowly).
He tells me my front wheel is marginally, maybe two inches, over the front edge of the single parking space, which makes it an illegal park, that he has the pictures to prove it, and that it's going to cost me a nifty. I reply, as nonchalantly as I can, that this ridiculous state of affairs has just cost me a week's wages — his wages — wish him a good day and drive off.
It's small mindedness like this, (his, not mine), and unnecessary penalties that made me scream with joy when I heard about First National Bank Omaha's Purity Card. It's a thing of beauty, it really is. You can check it out for yourself
here, but the Purity Platinum Edition Visa Card, with an APR fixed at 9.99%, promises:
- No late fees
- No balance transfer fees
- No overlimit fees
- No cash advance fees
- No annual fees
OK, the cash advance rate is a little naughty, at just under 24%, and it has a penalty rate of 23.82%, but if you're in relative control of your finances, this card is a result (not to mention a revelation).
Now, on the surface, there's nothing web 2.0 about this card at all, so you're probably wondering why the hell I'm writing about it. Well, you'd be wrong. Web 2.0 is a mindset as much as an online movement: it encapsulates concepts such as transparency, honesty, openness and fairness — not petty mindedness.
There's a groundswell of anti-fee sentiment globally and issuers, like First National, who recognise it, will cut the competition to ribbons.