In yesterday's The Haggler column in the New York Times, David Segal writes about how he had been throwing away his credit card bill because it had begun arriving in a plain envelope with no return address on the outside. "The Haggler can’t prove it, but this seemed like a brilliant, low-cost way to pocket a fortune in late fees." The bank, Bank of America, said it changed the envelope after the "acquisition of several credit card companies" in 2006 and denied that it was trying to fool people.

In an article titled "JPMorgan Chase Ends Credit Card Arbitration", Maria Aspan writes for the American Banker that JP Morgan Chase has joined Bank of America in abandoning mandatory arbitration clauses as part of their credit card agreements.

In an editorial this morning, the New York Times chastises Sen. Thad Cochran for voting on Wednesday to block a bill by Sen. Chris Dodd that would have accelerated implementation of credit card reforms.

Chase has announced the addition of two new credit cards - Ink and Ink Capital - to its Ink portfolio of business cards that provide additional purchase rewards or an interest-payment refund to customers with Chase business checking accounts. READ MORE

Pentagon Federal Credit Union (PenFed) and American Express have announced a strategic new partnership under which PenFed will issue American Express-branded credit cards. The new PenFed Premium Travel Rewards American Express Card will carry the American Express logo and will be accepted on American Express' global merchant network.

According to the two companies, PenFed and American Express have an exclusive arrangement under which, for a limited time, PenFed will be the only credit union to issue an American Express-branded card in the United States. READ MORE

In an article titled "A Squeeze on Customers Ahead of New Rules", Andrew Martin and Lowell Bergman write for the New York Times about credit card issuer actions to increase interest rates and cut credit lines ahead of new rules on credit card issuers scheduled to take effect in February.

One hundred percent of credit cards offered online by the leading bank card issuers continue to include practices that will be outlawed once legislation passed in May takes effect next year, according to a new report by the Pew Health Group’s Safe Credit Cards Project titled "Still Waiting: ‘Unfair or Deceptive’ Credit Card Practices Continue as Americans Wait for New Reforms to Take Effect".

The report also found that advertised credit card interest rates rose an average of 20 percent in the first two quarters of 2009, even as banks’ cost of lending declined. With the Federal Reserve currently developing rules to ensure penalty charges are “reasonable and proportional” as required under the Credit CARD Act, the report also includes policy recommendations for regulators. READ MORE

In an editorial titled "Credit Card Chicanery", the New York Times continues its editorial efforts to get Congress to accelerate the effective dates for the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act - writing that "it is time that Congress looked out less for the credit card companies and more for American consumers."

In today's editorial titled "Last-Minute Credit Card Tricks", the New York Times takes credit card issuers to task for "driving already outrageous interest rates still higher and imposing fees that are pushing struggling families further into debt." The editorial urges passage of pending legislation that would accelerate the effective date of credit card legislation signed into law earlier this year.

Bank of America reported financial results this morning for the third quarter of 2009. In its Global Card Services unit, the bank reported card purchase volumes declined over 14% year over year from $63.3 billion to $53 billion. The charge-off rate doubled - from 6.4% to 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Debit card purchase volume grew slightly about 3% from $53.2 billion to $54.7 billion.

In an article titled "Credit-Card Losses Underscore Challenges Facing Lenders", Aparapjita Saha-Bubna writes for the Wall St. Journal on the financial results reported by major US credit card issuers - noting that "the latest numbers indicate that consumers continue to struggle amid high joblessness, as delinquency rates, a key gauge of future losses, continue to rise for most card issuers."

Citigroup reported financial results for the third quarter of 2009 this morning. In its Citi Cards unit, end of period open accounts were 54.6 million, down 11% from 61.1 million a year ago. Purchase volume on its cards was $65.5 billion, down 13% from $75.5 billion. Managed net credit losses were 10.29% vs 6.39% a year earlier.

In an article titled "Turmoil in Arbitration Empire Upends Credit-Card Disputes", Carrick Mollenkamp, Dionne Searcey and Nathan Koppel write for the Wall Street Journal about credit card consumer debt dispute handling via arbitration - and, in particular, about Minneapolis-based NAF - National Arbitration Forum.

Discover Financial Services has reported financial results for its third quarter 2009. Discover reported that Discover Card sales volume declined 7% from the prior year to $23 billion but increased 6% from the prior quarter. Managed loans of $51 billion were relatively unchanged from the prior quarter. The third-quarter managed net charge-off rate rose to 8.39%, up 319 basis points and 60 basis points from the prior year and the prior quarter respectively.

Saying it is responding to "consumer demand for a card that offers the convenience of credit with simplified rates and terms," Bank of America has announced the BankAmericard Basic™ Visa card. "The new card features one basic rate for all types of transactions, including balance transfers and cash advances. That rate, which is tied to the U.S. Prime Rate, will not change over the life of the account." READ MORE

Over on PaymentsViews.com in a post titled "The Era of Responsible Credit Card Borrowing Begins Today", Glenbrook's Bryan Derman takes a look at Chase Blueprint - saying that it "represents a significant generational inflection point in the evolution of the US credit card business."

In an article titled "Turning to Premium Credit Cards", Alex Mindlin writes for the New York Times how US credit card issuers are focusing their solicitation efforts on premium cards - including the MasterCard World and Visa Signature cards.

Driven by a significant decrease in satisfaction with fees and rates, overall credit card customer satisfaction has declined to a three-year low, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2009 Credit Card Satisfaction Study released today.

"The study finds that overall credit card customer satisfaction decreases to 703 on a 1,000-point scale—the lowest level since the study’s inception in 2007. Overall satisfaction among credit card customers remains the lowest across the financial services industries in which J.D. Power and Associates conducts research, including insurance, banking and investment services." READ MORE

In an article titled "Final Semester for Credit Cards Aimed at Students?" in this morning's American Banker, Maria Aspan writes about the new rules affecting marketing of credit cards to anyone under 21 that take effect next February as part of the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act. Between now and then, Aspan writes, "some industry members expect to see issuers conduct business as usual when marketing and issuing to students — if not accelerating their efforts."

In an article titled "It May Be Time to Find a New Credit Card", Ron Lieber writes for the New York Times about where to turn if your current credit card issuer has adjusted the terms on your account in a bad way. He suggests, depending upon your circumstances, that you think about taking your business elsewhere instead.

Chase Card Services has announced the launch of Chase Sapphire - calling it "the next generation rewards card designed for the affluent market." According to Chase, "Sapphire has been built from the ground up to address the needs of the top 15 percent of U.S. households by income who expect premium rewards, outstanding value, and exceptional service."

Earlier this summer, Chase had announced the Ultimate Rewards program where Sapphire was initially mentioned. READ MORE

In an article titled "There Goes The Prize", Nancy Trejos writes for the Washington Post's Sunday edition about how credit card issuers are adjusting their reward programs to be "suddenly less rewarding."

In an article titled "Annual Fees: Citi Takes Leap" in tomorrow's American Banker, Maria Aspan reports that Citi "has started adding annual fees to some of its existing credit card accounts in one of the first such attempts by a major issuer to offset the effects of the government's crackdown." Many have expected to see a return to annual fees for more accounts as a result of Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act signed into last May.

Chase has announced a new program that gives its checking account customers "more rewards on every purchase when they use their Chase Freedom credit card."

“This is one more way to thank customers for doing more business with Chase,” said Scott Powell, head, Consumer Banking. “That’s especially important as consumers watch every dollar they earn and spend.”

According to Chase, its "Chase Exclusives program rewards Chase checking account customers with better rates, more rewards and bigger discounts on nearly all the financial products offered through Chase’s bank branches." READ MORE

New research from TowerGroup titled "Shuffling the Cards: The Migration of Frugal Consumers and Cautious Lenders to a Debit Card World" finds that "debit cards are far more resilient in the current recessionary economy than credit cards. In less than 15 years, debit card transactions in the United States grew from 1 percent of noncash transactions to more than 50 percent. TowerGroup predicts that debit card transaction volume and card spend will grow through 2015, through the current recession and ensuing economic recovery." READ MORE

In an article titled "Cardholders Get Rude Surprise at the Register," Mary Pilon writes for the Wall St. Journal about credit card issuers quietly cancelling accounts before cardholders have received notification about their accounts being cancelled. Instead, cardholders are having their purchases declined at checkout and, when they call their card issuer, being told that their account had been cancelled and a letter was on its way. Issuers claim that under current law they can cancel the account and only have to notify the cardholder within 30 days following cancellation.

In an article titled "Law Hits Home as Cards Opt Out of Overlimit Fees", Maria Aspan writes for the American Banker that American Express and Discover are both "eliminating overlimit fees on consumer credit cards, in one of the first concrete examples of how a new law will restrict issuers' abilities to turn a profit."

American Express today held a Financial Community Meeting in New York City. Along with the webcast, copies of the presentation slides used along with CEO Ken Chenault's opening and closing remarks are available online. Reuters covers the meeting highlights here.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has sent out a reminder to CEOs of national banks in the US reminding them that, effective August 22, 2010, banks must conduct the periodic reviews required by theCredit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009 on any accounts on which the APRs were increased on or after January 1, 2009. To fulfill their obligations, banks "must maintain and have available such information concerning APR increases for such accounts as needed to enable them to conduct the required reviews."

US Airways, Barclaycard and MasterCard have announced a new suite of Dividend Miles Select benefits for US Airways Premier World MasterCard that enable award travel with fewer miles.

The results of a recent survey by MasterCard "demonstrated the heightened importance of travel rewards value in the current economy. More than half of surveyed Americans (51 percent) agree that the current economy has made them more conscious of the value and benefits of rewards credit cards, such as an airline co-brand card. Visiting family and friends is also now the most appealing vacation for the majority of travelers (54 percent) - particularly for college graduates, parents and married adults." READ MORE