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December 9, 2004 08:13 AM

Credit Card Loyalty Put to the Switch Test


Excerpt: Mr. Appel said that MBNA explained to him that it invited most of his group's 100,000 members to apply for American Express cards this fall. But it chose about 5 percent of them to switch automatically unless they notified the company that they did not want the new credit cards, known as MBNA Rewards American Express cards.

　 　

When Patrick F. McIntyre received two American Express cards in the mail last month, he did not feel as if he had been welcomed into an exclusive club. Instead, he felt like a pawn in the credit card industry's latest maneuver.

The MBNA Corporation, the issuer of the Visa credit cards that Mr. McIntyre and his wife had carried for 14 years, had switched his account to American Express without his permission, he said. He likened the tactic to "slamming," the practice some phone companies used in the 1990's to steal away competitors' customers.

By the time he realized what MBNA had done, he said, the bank had deactivated the McIntyres' Visa cards, leaving them with American Express cards that are not accepted at some places he shops near his home among the Adirondack Mountains.

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Read all 26 posts in the same category of Credit/Credit Card:

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American Express, Citi Ink Deal - Dec 26, 2004
Citigroup Says It Will Issue American Express Cards - Dec 17, 2004
MBNA Pitches Rival Visa Card - Dec 14, 2004
Credit Cards Offer Safety In Buying Online - Dec 06, 2004
How to Deal With Your Debts - Dec 04, 2004
FACTA & Your Credit - Dec 03, 2004
Warning On Internet Loans - Dec 02, 2004
High Court Sets Truth In Lending Limit - Dec 02, 2004
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Free Credit Report Details Announced - Nov 25, 2004
One Late Payment Can Hit Finances Hard - Nov 25, 2004
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