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CARDNEWS FOR CONSUMERS
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(8/29/02)
Mileage Plus
Faced with a possible bankruptcy this fall, United Airlines is reaching out to its "Mileage Plus" and "Mileage Plus VISA" cardholders with assurances that earned air miles are safe and secure. The company has also gone to great lengths to assure cardholders that award travel will continue to be available despite cutbacks.
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(8/28/02)
Point Psychology
Reward programs linked to credit cards, retailers, airlines and hotels can bring out the best or the worst in people. A first-of-its-kind member study of the "Priority Club Rewards" program has identified six distinct behavior patterns of people playing the loyalty game including, "Swinger," "Shepherd," "Stasher," "Snob," "Sherlock," and "Slacker." What category do you fit in?
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(8/27/02)
SuperScrip Card
Fundraising for non-profit organizations has been simplified with the advent of a new stored value American Express card. The "SuperScrip Card," will sell in denominations of $25, $50 and $100 to non-profits at a 5% discount per card.
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(8/26/02)
Credit Tightening?
Some credit card issuers are tightening the screws on new applicants. A survey on lending practices shows that 14.7% of domestic banks indicate they had tightened standards on credit card loans over the past three months...
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(8/23/02)
Cruise Cards
Credit cards associated with cruise lines are sailing to new heights with the introduction of Norwegian Cruise Line's suite of MasterCards. The new program, issued through MBNA, offers an extremely generous rewards program.
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(8/22/02)
Amex Tennis
American Express is scoring an ace with this year's US Open with lots of new goodies for cardholders and a new advertising campaign that leverages the "Official Card" status AmEx holds with the major tennis event. AmEx is also beefing up a special Web site to deliver player news and photos, updated scores and highlights, neat games, and other stuff.
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(8/21/02)
Financial Survival
A new, free financial education program has been released for college students which uses interactive discussions of specific financial situations and choices available to young consumers. The Consumer Federation of America and MasterCard International have teamed to offer the "Financial Survival" program to colleges and universities nationwide.
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(8/20/02)
Money Skills
More than half of U.S. parents are using the traditional back-to-school season as an opportunity to teach their children basic money management skills. An annual survey conducted by VISA also found that more than 90% of parents want students to learn practical money skills before the graduate from high school.
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(8/19/02)
Subaru MasterCard
Subaru of America is shifting into all-wheel drive with the re-launch of its MasterCard program through Chase Manhattan Bank. The new "Subaru Platinum MasterCard from Chase" offers cardholders the opportunity to earn "SubaruBucks" on 3% of all net purchases, up to $500 per year.
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(8/16/02)
Debit Fees
A new study shows that one out of four U.S. financial institutions impose a transaction fee on all or part of their debit cardholders. Roughly half of these institutions impose a transaction fee on all debit cardholders when they make an online, or PIN-based, purchase instead of signing for the transaction.
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(8/15/02)
Bankruptcy Soars
Bankruptcy filings for the twelve months ending June 30th hit an all-time record of 1.5 million. One year ago, annual filings totaled 1,386,606. Bankruptcy filings first broke one million during the 12-month period ending June 30, 1996.
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(8/14/02)
Cashless Sodas
Soft drink vending machines that take credit cards are slowly making their way into the USA. This week the nation's second largest Pepsi bottler announced plans to deploy 80 credit card-enabled machines in Chicago.
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(8/12/02)
Credit Uptick
American consumer wallets are opening again, but slowly. Driving by historically low credit card rates, Americans added nearly $4 billion to revolving credit, mostly credit card debt, during June.
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(8/9/02)
Midwest Airlines MasterCard
The top-rated airline in the nation has beefed-up its MasterCard program after switching banks. Midwest Express Airlines confirmed this week that its credit card portfolio is in the process of being sold by U.S. Bank to Juniper Bank.
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(8/8/02)
OPEN Delta
Air miles for business owners has become a real bonanza. This week Delta Air Lines opened its credit card program with American Express to small business owners. The new program is part of "OPEN: The Small Business Network" from American Express.
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(8/7/02)
Stocks Stink
About four out of ten Americans indicate that heavy losses in the value of their stock portfolios make them less willing to incur more credit card debt. Among those earning $75k or more per year, nearly half say they will cut back on card use due to the wacky stock market.
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(8/6/02)
Card Losses
Charge-offs among the top ten issuers of VISA and MasterCards increased by nearly 22% during the second quarter of this year compared to second quarter of 2001, driven largely by the rise in sub-prime losses. Providian and Metris/Direct Merchants reported the largest jump in losses, 70% and 38%, respectively.
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(8/5/02)
CardMeter
Credit cards and taxis are coming together like peas and carrots. Two companies teamed up this month to introduce a new high-tech taximeter gizmo that offers real-time authorization of credit cards within three seconds.
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(8/2/02)
Debit MegaRewards
Rewards for debit cards continue to surface and have now been extended to some business cards. This week, Ohio-based Charter One Financial unleashed the "MegaRewards Business" program.
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(8/1/02)
Sears Acceptance
The difference between a store credit card and a bank credit card in the USA is about 4 million merchants. However, Sears is seeking to narrow the gap by lining up other merchants to take its store credit card.
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