News

NEW YORK - Benefits cards look to be the next new thing in the card industry as American Express announced it has begun to offer a benefits card which employers can use to help them and their employees manage spending attached to health savings accounts, flexible spending accounts and other...

NEW YORK - MasterCard Inc., formerly MasterCard International, will probably make roughly $2.8 billion from an initial public offering of stock that is planned for later this year, analysts said on May 3 when the card brand filed details of its offering with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Credit Union 24, the credit union-owned ATM and EFT network headquartered in Tallahassee, has eliminated membership fee minimums for its member-shareholders. The decision by the EFT network's board is one of the immediate benefits of a new switch-processing agreement with Fifth Third Processing Solutions, the CU said.

EAST LANSING, Mich. - At least 11 students at the University of Michigan who are also members of the $1.2 billion MSU Federal Credit Union face money laundering and other charges resulting from a scheme to defraud the CU through the CU's ATMs.

CHICAGO - Banks sent a record number of credit card solicitations last year even as the percentage of recipients who responded to those offers dropped to a new low, according to Synovate Research, a market research firm whose Mail Monitor program tracks the industry.

DURHAM, NC - The $25 million Latino Community Credit Union, the relatively young CU formed to serve the burgeoning Hispanic population in North Carolina, has begun to offer a credit card.

LAKE BLUFF, Ill.- Do credit unions that sell their card portfolios to banks do their members a disservice? Ondine Irving, a former card executive and consultant who has branched out to start her own firm suggests that in some cases they have.

CUSOs are in a better position to handle the pressures of innovating. Read about that and more in the special report on pages 22-24.