Business Spark
Capital One’s second quarter Spark Business Barometer discovered that millennials (18-33-year-olds) were the most optimistic group surveyed when asked about their sales volume, economic outlook and plans for growth.
MasterCard Launches Twitter Sweepstakes
Americans are using less cash today than they did 10 years ago, according to the results of a survey released today by MasterCard. The “World Beyond Cash” survey asked Americans for their two cents about the growing trend towards a cashless society, including their spending plans for Mother’s Day and the frustrations of dealing with…
MasterCard Settlement Prepayment Approved
The United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York
has approved the “Agreement To Prepay Future Payments At A Discount between Lead
Counsel and MasterCard International Incorporated”, dated July 1, 2009.
MasterCard will make a single payment
of $335 million in lieu of making its remaining four annual $100 million
payments due through 2012. Pursuant to the “Prepayment Agreement”,
Constantine Cannon LLP and Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP expects
to receive MasterCard’s payment on September 30, 2009, and will thereafter be able
to make lump-sum distributions of the residual MasterCard payments instead of making
installment payments over the next four years of any residual amounts.
Financial Literacy Gap Among Students Found
Taking on new financial responsibilities means different things to
female high school seniors than it does to their male counterparts,
according to a recent Capital One Financial survey of 500 graduates
throughout the U.S. As a matter of fact, 65.4% of male students regard
themselves as “highly knowledgeable” in personal finance, compared to
only 49.2% of female survey participants. This confidence correlates
with findings demonstrating 45% of male survey participants have taken a
financial education class, whereas 61% of female students have not. Overall,
33.8% of both male and female are unsure or unprepared to manage their
own banking and personal finances, 80% have had a bank account for 1-2
years, 73% of which balance their checkbooks at least once each month.
Additional findings show 85% of those surveyed periodically set money
aside savings, 50.6% implement a budget, 70% reported their parents
provide advice on money management and 27% said that their parents are
primary financial resource.
Cap One Expands Card Lab for Affinity Cards
Capital One has introduced a new service for credit card affinity programs of all sizes to create their cards and access free marketing tools to stimulate fundraising. The new “Card Lab Connect,”
has already been through a successful pilot phase, which allowed a select number of community-based nonprofit organizations to test the program. Nonprofits can register for “Card Lab Connect,” create a series of up to three uniquely designed credit cards for their organization, and use online tools to encourage their supporters to apply for the affinity card. All rewards earned on these cards, including one percent of net purchases and an additional $25 with the first purchase, go directly to support the affiliated nonprofit organization. There are no complicated contract negotiations, no member quotas and no exchange of membership/mailing lists as is the case with most other affinity programs.
Citi & Cap One Execs Join the FRB Council
The Federal Reserve Board named ten new members to its “Consumer Advisory Council.” Among the ten new members: John Carey EVP/Chief Administrative Officer for Citi Cards and Andy Navarrete, SVP/Chief Counsel for National Lending and Regulatory matters for Capital One.
Edna Sawady, an economic inclusion consultant based in NYC was designated Chair and Michael Calhoun, President of the Center for Responsible Lending, was designated Vice Chair. The Council advises the Board on the exercise of its responsibilities under the Consumer Credit Protection Act and on other matters in the area of consumer financial services. The Council meets three times a year in Washington, D.C. The new members will serve three-year terms.
Americans Mostly Understand Financial Basics
The third annual survey of America’s IQ on personal finance shows that Americans understand financial management basics, but that significant gaps still exist in their knowledge. The national survey of 1,003 men and women, conducted by consumer advocacy group Consumer Action and Capital One Financial finds that many Americans are missing important savings opportunities, and don’t take simple steps to protect themselves from crimes like identity theft. The 2007 survey found that: the majority of Americans (64%) consider themselves highly or very knowledgeable when it comes to personal finance; a strong majority of Americans use budgets to stay on top of their daily finances – 64% reported using budgets regularly; most Americans (53%) are still using traditional passbook savings accounts for their savings; and one in five Americans (22%) claim they do not know the interest rate on their mortgage.
PowerWallet
Qpass and eHNC Monday announced ‘PowerWallet’, a new service that gives online shoppers the speed and convenience of a supermarket’s express checkout lane. ‘PowerWallet’ fills in any form on the Internet, manages online receipts and keeps track of site-specific user names, secure passwords and other shopping preferences. Key solutions include allowing shoppers to fill out their credit card and billing information once, store it securely in the Qpass network data center and then activate it with a mouse click to complete a transaction at any secure point of sale on the Web.