 Shopaholics can now break their spending-spree habits with a new handbag that is designed to shut you out and let you know when it thinks your credit card spending is out of control. The iBag, invented by Australian comparison website creditcardfinder, uses radio-frequency identification technology to watch your credit card spending. The bag can be programmed to shut, flash and send text messages at times and locations where you may be tempted to overspend.  Owners of the iBag can even nominate a 'responsible other' who receives a text every time you take out your purse. Creditcardfinder Head of Publishing Jeremy Cabral says the iBag was created for women initially, because the company's research shows they are more likely to splurge and less likely to pay off their credit cards in full each month. 'The core function of the iBag centres on teaching people to be aware of their spending urges and help them monitor when they are using their credit cards,' he said. 'We wanted the iBag to snap shut whenever you entered a "danger-spend-zone" - areas where you splurge the most - but that posed a safety risk. Instead, we designed flashing lights to act as a deterrent to spending.'  Consumers interested in the iBag are currently being asked to register their interest. While the bag's prototype has been released, it will be only produced on mass if there's enough demand. If put in to full-scale production, the bag will retail for $199 Australian dollars, which ironically could make a dent on the credit card. While there have only been 41 people to register for the product, Creditcardfinder's Michelle Hutchison says the hype around the iBag has been building online.  'We have seen a lot of interest in the iBag on social media which has been really exciting, with over 3,000 tweets about it, more than 7,500 Facebook likes for posts about the iBag and over 57,000 views of our Youtube and onsite videos,' Ms Hutchison said. 'Interestingly, users who register their interest seem to be evenly split between men and women. In fact, it skews slightly more towards men ordering the bag (51%), although only a quarter are interested in the male version of the iBag.' 'Not one woman who has registered her interest for the iBag has ordered a male version of the iBag – so guys want one to help their girlfriend's curb their bad spending, but girls aren't keen to do the same for their boyfriend.' 'With so much interest in the idea of the iBag across the world, it is possible that we will receive enough interest in going into full scale production. We don't have a timeline for production and we have no deadline which makes it flexible to watch and see how much interest we receive over time,' Ms Hutchison added.
Via: DailyMail |
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