top 25 credit card issuers
WASHINGTON -- Federal regulators on Thursday adopted sweeping new rules for the credit card industry that will shield consumers from increases in interest rates on existing account balances among other changes.
The rules, which take effect in July 2010, will allow credit card companies to raise interest rates only on new credit cards and future purchases or advances, rather than on current balances.
Amid the economic crisis and rising job losses, consumers -- even those with strong credit records -- have been defaulting at high levels on their credit cards. Banks battered by the mortgage and credit crises have been bleeding tens of billions in red ink from the losses.
Roughly 16,000 companies in the U.S. issue credit cards. The biggest lenders include Discover Financial Services, Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Capital One Financial Corp., American Express Co. and HSBC Holdings.
As early adopters of this technology, these four top card issuers recognize the value that the online collections service adds to their Internet channels, particularly through significant reductions in losses and collections costs," said Bill Kinnelly, president of Online Resources' Card & Credit Services Division. "The trend is now set for agencies, debt buyers, holders of consumer loan portfolios, and creditors across multiple industries to empower themselves with a service that functions as a virtual collections agent."
The issuers' decisions to use Online Resources Collections were based primarily on service capabilities and strong research findings.
# Results of a five-month pilot conducted in 2005 with a top three U.S. based credit card issuer show the collections service enabled an improvement of 310 basis points in reduction of losses, or an annualized savings of $3.1 million for an organization with $50 million in delinquent outstandings.
# Research results and feedback from delinquent account holders indicate convenience, ease-of-use and lack of stress as key factors in acceptance of the service
# Multiple self-curing options are available within the service enabling the ability to pay immediately or enroll in rules-based payment programs.
# The web channel has proved particularly effective in reaching early stage and late stage delinquent account holders, particularly those who were not reachable by phone.
Two issuers recently deployed the service and two will implement it later this year, along with multi-faceted consumer marketing to drive account holders to the collections web site.
About Online Resources
Online Resources powers Internet financial services for over 800 firms nationwide. The Company's proprietary account presentation, payment, relationship management and professional services are branded to its client banks, credit unions, card issuers and payment acquirers. The Company serves over 4 million consumer end-users and processes approximately $15 billion in payments annually. Founded in 1989, Online Resources (Nasdaq: ORCC, Website: www.orcc.com) has been widely recognized as one of the nation's fastest growing technology firms.
This news release contains statements about future events and expectations, which are "forward-looking statements." Any statement in this release that is not a statement of historical fact may be deemed to be a forward-looking statement. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the company's actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Specifically factors that might cause such a difference include, but are not limited to: the company's history of losses and anticipation of future losses; the company's dependence on the marketing efforts of third parties; the potential fluctuations in the company's operating results; the company's potential need for additional capital; the company's potential inability to expand the company's services and related products in the event of substantial increases in demand for these services and related products; the company's competition; the company's ability to attract and retain skilled personnel; the company's reliance on the company's patents and other intellectual property; the early stage of market adoption of the services it offers; consolidation of the banking and financial services industry; and those risks and uncertainties discussed in filings made by the company with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including those risks and uncertainties contained under the heading "Risk Factors" in the company's Form 10-K, latest 10-Q, and S-3 as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These factors should be considered in evaluating the forward-looking statements, and undue reliance should not be placed on such statements.
Under the new rules, credit card lenders will be required to apply any payment above the minimum to the part of the balance with the highest interest rate.
The so-called subprime cards for people with low credit scores typically have no more than a $500 credit limit but require a large upfront fee.
The rules cap that fee at 50 percent of the credit limit and allow the cardholder to pay off the initial balance over a year, not immediately.
The Consumer Federation estimates that credit card debt held by U.S. consumers is about $850 billion, some four times what it was in 1990.
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