MBNA Hopes New Site Reassures Credit Unions Contemplating Card Portfolio Sale

WILMINGTON, Del. - MBNA Corp, one of the leading purchasers of credit unions' card portfolios, hopes its new Web site (www.mbnamembersplus.com) extolling its credit union agent program will reassure credit unions thinking of offering their portfolios for sale. Even though the site has only been active for a couple of weeks, MBNA executive vice president John Zavoyna reported that the card issuer, one of the biggest in the U.S., has received two requests for preliminary bids from credit unions considering selling their card portfolios. "Our goal for the site was to provide a space which could be safe and accessible and which credit unions could approach at their own speed and without worrying about getting a sales pitch," Zavoyna said. The company got the idea for the site from the members of its credit union advisory council who did not specifically recommend a Web site but who urged the company to take a more pro-active and in-depth approach to addressing credit union concerns about the sensitive topic of selling their card portfolio. "We recognized that we were seeing many of the same questions over and over again," Zavoyna explained "and while we didn't want the site to be a Frequently Asked Questions file, we wanted to address some of the concerns we saw repeatedly." The site offers testimonials from credit unions that have sold their portfolios to the bank, as well as pages that explain how an MBNA partnership will benefit the credit union and the results from relationships MBNA has already established. Zavoyna explained that the company hoped the site would be the first step credit union management might take when considering whether to sell their portfolio. "There is no commitment on the site, no one is calling to try to sell anything. Visitors don't have to make a decision to sell or not. All the site provides is information," he said. Keith Floen, managing director at InfiCorp, the Atlanta-based bank which is also a leading purchaser of credit union card portfolios, welcomed the MBNA site and pointed out that his firm had long had a site at www.infistar.com. "Of course, the difference between our site and MBNA's is that they needed a separate site for their credit card program," Floen said. "Credit union visitors to the main MBNA site would have had to wade through all their other competing products," Floen noted. Issuing and managing cards is InfiCorp's only business. -dmorrison@cutimes.com