Biff Matthews
CardWeb.com’s CardExecs database of payments industry movers and shakers today features Biff Matthews, President & Founder of Cardware International.
Bank of America Launches New Credit Card Rewards
Bank of America introduced its BankAmericard Better Balance Rewards card. Rewarding customers with up to $100 annually for responsibly managing their monthly credit card payments, the new card allows customers to receive $25 for every quarter that they pay any amount more than the monthly minimum due and make payments on time. Also, cardholders receive $25 quarterly cash rewards when payments are made on time and for more than the minimum amount due, $5 bonus per quarter for having another qualifying Bank of America account and can choose to have their cash rewards automatically credited to their card balance or deposited into a Bank of America checking or savings account or Merrill Lynch Cash Management Account with no annual fee.
Bank of America Deploys EMV Chip Credit Cards
Bank of America is deploying its chip technology on many of its consumer credit cards to increase acceptance and security of the cards for international travelers. Also known as EMV (EuroPayMastercard Visa), the cards are embedded with a microprocessor chip that encrypts and stores the account information. The cards also include the traditional magnetic stripe, which is used by U.S. merchants. The bank will include the chip technology in all newly issued Merrill Lynch credit cards, U.S. Trust Accolades, BankAmericard Travel Rewards, BankAmericard Privileges, and Virgin Atlantic travel credit cards. Customers will be able to request the chip card options at the banking center or via phone beginning this week and online later this year.
Bank of America Launches Three Travel Rewards Credit Cards
Bank of America is launching three new travel rewards credit cards that give consumers and small businesses the flexibility to use points to pay for a variety of travel expenses, including flights, hotels, vacation packages, cruises and rental cars. They include the BankAmericard Travel Rewards™, BankAmericard Privileges® with Travel Rewards, and WorldPoints® Travel Rewards for Business and charge no foreign transaction fees, no expiration on points and no blackout dates. All three travel credit card programs include no limit on the total number of points earned and no expiration on points; no blackout dates; ability to purchase travel through any website or travel agent; 24 hour travel and emergency assistance; auto rental collision damage waiver; travel accident insurance and lost luggage reimbursement; complimentary access to concierge service.
BOFA Launches New Cash Rewards Credit Card
Bank of America, the Official Bank of the San Fransisco Giants, launched an integrated marketing program that ties the game’s ultimate defensive play with the new “BankAmericard Cash Rewards” credit card. Automatically rewarding customers with 1 percent, 2 percent and up to 3 percent cash back on their most common purchases, the new card is in response to customer requests for a program that rewards consumers for the spending categories they use most, such as gas and groceries. It rewards customers automatically earn 1% cash back on all purchases, 2% cash back on grocery store purchases, and 3% on gas station purchases. Customers earn the 2 percent and 3 percent cash back on gas and grocery purchases on the first $1,500 they spend in those combined categories per quarter. After that, they continue to earn one percent on purchases.
Bank of America Launches New Cash Rewards Program
Bank of America is launching “BankAmericard” Cash Rewards and Cash Rewards for Business MasterCard credit cards that reward customers with up to 3% cash back on certain purchases. The “BankAmericard” Cash Rewards card includes a 10% bonus when customers deposit their cash rewards into their Bank of America checking or savings account. Both cards have no expiration on rewards. The new “BankAmericard” Cash Rewards credit card includes 1% cash back on all purchases; 2% back on grocery store purchases; and 3% on gas station purchases. Meanwhile, customers earn 2-3% cash back on gas and grocery purchases up to the first $1,500 per quarter. For Business MasterCard credit card offers 1% on all purchases; 3% on all restaurant purchases; and 3% on office supply store, gas station and computer network service purchases.
CardTrak.com Names Ten Best New Cards of 2009
With new credit card rules in place the top issuers launched more consumer and business friendly products in 2009. Among the best new card products of the year is a truly “green” card and a debit card with discounts for teens. CardTrak.com has compiled a list of the ten best new cards of 2009. And the winners are: 1. Gconomy Visa; 2. Chase Ink; 3. BofA Basic Visa; 4. Citi Forward; 5. Chase Sapphire; 6. AmEx Gold Premier Rewards; 7. Discover Current; 8. U.S. FlexPerks Visa; 9. Priceline Visa; and 10.BBVA Compass ClearPoints. The “Gconomy Visa” offers points for each purchase, donates a portion of every purchase to a “green” schools program, and rewards households for recycling. The Chase “Ink” card is a new business card portfolio that includes four distinct cards and marks the issuer’s first introduction of a pay-in-full charge card. The “BankAmericard Basic Visa” has simplified rates and terms offering the same APR for purchases, balance transfers and cash advances. The “Citi Forward” credit card lowers the purchase interest rate by a quarter percent when cardholders use credit wisely and rewards them with points has emerged each billing period for paying on time and staying under the credit line has emerged. The Chase “Sapphire” is targeted at the upper 15% of U.S. households in income and offers no preset limit, offers personalized customer service and is linked Chase’s “Ultimate Rewards” program. The American Express “Premier Rewards Gold Card” offers the opportunity to earn triple “Membership Rewards” points on airfare purchases, double points on gas and grocery purchases, and one point for all other purchases. The Discover “Current” card isa debit card for teens that offers members-only in-store coupons and online discounts at hundreds of merchants. U.S. Bank “FlexPerks Travel Rewards” earns double points for spending on gas, groceries or airline purchases – whichever is highest for the customer during the month as well as double points on most cell phone related charges. Barclays launched the “priceline.com Visa” enables cardholders to use their points as soon as they post to the account (typically within two days). Sunbelt-based BBVA Compass introduced the “BBVA Compass ClearPoints” credit card that features clear, simple and transparent terms and conditions, as well as pricing terms that will never change.
For more details visit CardTrak.com.
BofA Issues a Credit Card Clarity Commitment
Bank of America is mailing out a one-page summary of customers’ rates, fees, and payment information tomorrow to 40 million current cardholders. The “Credit Card Clarity Commitment” is part of a number of initiatives by BofA to simplify loan information for consumers. The bank recently launched the “BankAmericard Basic,” which has one rate for all transactions and no over limit fees. Earlier this year, BofA unveiled a “Clarity Commitment” with a simple one-page loan summary for mortgage and home equity customers; introduced new options for checking account customers to limit overdraft fees; and recently debuted an easy-to-navigate Web site, bankofamerica.com/solutions, that provides tools and resources to help consumers manage their finances.
BofA Credit Card Charge-Offs Near 13% in Q3
Bank of America global credit cards posted a $1.0 billion loss in the
third quarter compared to a $167 million loss for 3Q/08. Third quarter
global cards revenues declined slightly from the prior quarter to $7.3
billion, and compared to $7.8 billion for the third quarter of last
year. Third quarter charge-offs rose sharply to 12.90%, compared to
11.73% for 2Q/09 and 6.40% one-year ago. However, the managed 30+ day
delinquency ratio decreased to 7.35%, compared to 7.64% in the second
quarter and 5.89% for 3Q/08. The managed 90+ day delinquency ratio also
declined to 3.76%, compared to 4.21% in the second quarter and 2.88% for
3Q/08. The provision for credit losses increased to $7.0 billion from a
year earlier due to higher net losses driven by economic conditions and
higher bankruptcies. The increase in losses was partially offset by
reductions in the reserves as a result of improving delinquencies. This
compares with reserve additions in the year-ago quarter. For complete
details on Bank of America’s 3Q/09 performance, visit CardData
(www.carddata.com).
BOFA CREDIT CARD NET INCOME
(Global Cards; Excludes Business Cards)
3Q/08: (-$167 million)
4Q/08: (-$9 million)
1Q/09: (-$1874 million)
2Q/09: (-$1617 million)
3Q/09: (-$1036 million)
Source: CardData (www.carddata.com)
BofA Goes Back to Basics with a New Card
The impact of the new credit card rules became clear today as Bank of
America announced plans to launch a new credit card next month with a
core interest rate of prime +14%, compared to the prime +9.9% APR that
dominated the market for the past decade. The new “BankAmericard Basic
Visa” is being promoted as a card with simplified rates and terms.
Indeed the APR is the same for purchases, balance transfers and cash
advances. BofA’s current cards charge an APR as high as 24.44% for cash
advances. The over-limit fee is gone and the late payment fee is $39,
regardless of the amount past due. BofA says the new card will also
feature an easy-to-understand, single-page disclosure. The new “Basic”
card is one of four new cards in a simplified suite of cards offered
under the BankAmericard brand. Other cards in the suite include:
“BankAmericard Power Rewards Visa”; “BankAmericard Cash Rewards Visa”;
and “BankAmericard Visa.” All four cards will also offer up to 20%
cash back on purchases through the “Add It Up” program. The new card
will be available in October.
MC EUROPE 2Q/09
Purchase transactions on MasterCards in Europe rose 7.2% in the second quarter to 1.68 billion. Gross dollar volume rose 2.1% while purchase dollar volume increased 3.0% in the quarter. In the quarter, MasterCard closed a number of significant business agreements across the region. In Turkey, Akbank launched “Carrefour Axess,” a co-branding partnership with Europe’s biggest retailer. In Italy, a new partnership with BankAmericard, the acquiring division of Deutsche Bank and Autostrade per Italia, the leading Italian highways company was started.
In April, Russia reached a significant milestone with over a million premium cards in circulation in the country. In Spain Santander Private Banking introduced the “Unlimited” card program. In Turkey Garanti relaunched its Turkish Airlines exclusive air miles credit card program “Shop&Miles” with MasterCard and also added “PayPass” to the product.
As of June 30th, 196 million MasterCard cards (excluding Maestro and Cirrus) had been issued by MasterCard customer financial institutions across Europe, up 3.8 % compared to the same quarter in 2008. For complete details on MasterCard’s second quarter performance visit CardData (www.carddata.com).
CardFlash Looks Back to October 2007
VISA Inc. announces the completion of its restructuring, having received broad member approval for the series of transactions by which VISA Canada, VISA U.S.A. and VISA International have become subsidiaries of VISA Inc. Discover Financial Services “PULSE” launches its new neural network based fraud detection system across its entire network, following a three-month beta development program involving several financial institutions. The J.D. Power and Associates “2007 Credit Card Satisfaction Study” finds that Citi, Chase and U.S. Bank top the rankings. Houston-based Paymetric releases “XiPayNet” that manages the payment card acceptance workflow. The Office of Thrift Supervision announces that it closed the Atlanta-based $2.5 billion NetBank and appointed the FDIC as receiver. TSYS and Discover Financial Services inked an issuer processor agreement. Chase Paymentech signs an expanded, multi-year contract to provide payment processing services for all Sears’ retail businesses, which include Sears, Kmart and Lands’ End. Fair Isaac introduces “Collection Scores.” Bank of America re-launches the original “BankAmericard” credit card. Chase, Continental Airlines, General Motors and MasterCard have teamed to launch “MasterCard World for Business” credit cards. First Data acquires Canada’s POSTNET. About 10,000 New York City taxi drivers strike over new rules that require then to install credit card readers and GPS technology in their medallion cabs by October 1st. GA-based Synovus’ Board of Directors approves an agreement and plan of distribution for a TSYS spin-off.