MBNA Continued to Draw Big Card Portfolios in 2005

WILMINGTON, Del. - MBNA, the monoline card issuer that was acquired by Bank of America as of Jan. 1 2006, ended 2005 by acquiring five significantly sized credit union card portfolios. The noted card brand put a policy into place in 2005 of only bidding on credit union card portfolios worth more than $10 million dollars. The five new credit union partners include the $381 million IBM Texas Employees FCU, headquartered in Austin, Texas (roughly 6,000 card accounts in Sep. 2005, worth roughly $18 million in outstanding balances); the $283 million SAC FCU, headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska (roughly 5,000 accounts, roughly $11 million); the $317 million First Atlantic CU, headquartered in Eatontown, N.J. (roughly 4,200 accounts, roughly $17 million); the $194 million Bay Gulf CU, headquartered in Tampa, Florida (roughly 7,000 accounts, roughly $14 million); and the $669 million Tropical Financial Credit Union (roughly 12,000 accounts, roughly $27 million). Christa Hartnet, manager with MBNA confirmed that all the trades had been made before the Jan. 1 merger close and said the card issuer wanted to signal that it is still interested in credit union card accounts. She also said that a new brand would be announced that would reflect the merger and that the new company would retain its policy of transparency when it came to its card issuing clients.