A recent article in the Credit Union Times shed some light onthe experiences of some of the credit unions that have sold theircredit card portfolios and partnered with third-party institutionsfor credit-card issuance.

Building on some of the data collected by Asset Exchange, asubsidiary of Fidelity National Information Systems offers a goodopportunity to look more closely into a topic in which we havefound intense credit union interest.

The Fidelity/Asset Exhange study, as referenced in the article,confirms that a majority of those that sold their credit cardportfolios would do so again. At the same time, however, it alsoindicates that the partner selected the first time through has toooften disappointed their client credit union on some level. This isnot surprising to us, as we see many credit unions focus to a highdegree on the financial offers presented, assuming that the otherfeatures of the program will more-or-less take care of themselves.Nothing could be further from the truth. While an attractivefinancial outcome is important, when one's members are confrontedby higher fees, increased rates or inflexible servicing the overalloutcome is sure to disappoint.