Bank of America Bank today reported second-quarter 2009 net income of $3.2 billion down slightly from last year's $3.4 billion. The bank's Global Card Services unit had a net loss of $1.6 billion compared to a $582 million of net income in the same quarter last year. Loans outstanding declined 8% to $220 billion. Credit card purchase volume fell dramatically, down 19.5% year/year to $51.9 billion. Debit card purchase volume increased slightly to $55.2 billion.

JPMorgan Chase this morning reported second-quarter 2009 net income of $2.7 billion, an increase of 36% compared with net income of $2.0 billion in the second quarter of 2008.

In its credit card business, JP Morgan Chase reported that charge volume declined over 16% year over year to $78.3 billion. End of quarter outstandings declined 4% year over year to $148.4 billion. The managed net charge-off rate for the quarter was 10.03%, up from 4.98% in the prior year and 7.72% in the prior quarter. The 30-day managed delinquency rate was 5.86%, up from 3.46% in the prior year and down from 6.16% in the prior quarter, reflecting normal seasonal patterning. The managed net charge-off rate for the quarter was 10.03%, up from 4.98% in the prior year and 7.72% in the prior quarter. The 30-day managed delinquency rate was 5.86%, up from 3.46% in the prior year and down from 6.16% in the prior quarter, reflecting normal seasonal patterning.

In terms of outlook for its credit card business, JPM said it expected losses on the Chase portion of its card portfolio could approach 10% next quarter while it expects losses on the WaMu portion of its card portfolio to approach 24% by the end of 2009. The bank said it expects continued pressure on charge volume and outstandings.

A presentation on the quarterly results is available online.

In an article titled "Retailers Prepare to Fight Credit Card Fees" in Thursday's New York Times, Andrew Martin writes about how merchants in the US are mounting a "fresh offensive" against payment card interchange fees.

Martin reports that the retailers sense that the momentum has shifted in their favor - while the banks and payment card networks are gearing for a "furious battle on Capitol Hill."

The Federal Reserve Board has approved an interim final rule amending Regulation Z (Truth in Lending) to require creditors to increase the amount of notice consumers receive before the rate on a credit card account is increased or a significant change is made to the account's terms. The amendments also allow consumers to reject such increases and changes by informing the creditor before the increase or change goes into effect. READ MORE

Auriemma Consulting Group says that "reduced revenues will drive credit card issuers to introduce cards with annual fees to consumers in the near future. Cards without annual fees will not feature rewards and will only offer cardholders basic benefits." READ MORE

Commenting that "sometimes the answer to a failure of competition is to require more competition", Ian Ayres and Barry Nalebuff have published an op-ed in Forbes titled "A Market Test for Credit Cards" that advocates requiring card issuers putting up account relationships for bid if they choose to change the terms (like interest rate) on the account. Consumers would have an option to move to a new issuer who bid for the relationship - or to stay put with the revised terms.

Senator Chris Dodd has sent a letter to to the Chairman of the Federal Reserve and the heads of key regulatory agencies "directing them to write and enforce robust rules to implement new requirements that credit card companies review rate increases on their customers implemented since January 1st of this year."

Dodd reminds the regulators that the recently enacted Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act (Credit CARD Act) includes a provision that will require credit card companies to review every six months any account where the interest rate has been raised since January 1, 2009 and reduce the rate if the customer has become less of a credit risk or the circumstances that warranted the increase are no longer present.

TransUnion has announced that it TransUnion Credit Risk Index, a statistic developed to measure the changes in average consumer credit risk within various geographies, increased 1.98 percent from 124.79 in the fourth quarter of 2008 to 127.26 in the first quarter of 2009. On a year-over-year basis, the Credit Risk Index increased 7.10 percent (from 118.83 in the first quarter of 2008), the largest increase for that time period in this decade. The Credit Risk Index is defined as the weighted average probability of 90-day delinquency or worse among consumers in a given region relative to the nation as a whole. READ MORE

The American Bankers Association’s Consumer Credit Delinquency Bulletin reported today that in the first quarter of 2009 that bank card delinquencies rose 23 basis points to 4.75 percent (s.a.) of all accounts, compared to 4.52 percent in the previous quarter. (The record was 4.81 percent in the second quarter of 2005.) The balances on those delinquent accounts rose dramatically, up 108 basis points to 6.60 percent (n.s.a.) of the value of all outstanding bank card debt, marking a new record. READ MORE

In an article titled "Credit Card Issuers Raising Rates Ahead of New Law", Nancy Trejos writes for the Washington Post about how some US credit card issuers are raising fees and interest rates ahead of the date when new rules take effect early next year - "much to the irritation of Congress and consumer advocates."

Fitch Ratings reports that credit card chargeoffs in June were 10.44%, 62% higher on a year over year basis. 60+ day delinquencies set yet another record high at 4.45% this month after dropping seven basis points (bps) in May. Given delinquency and bankruptcy trends, Fitch expects chargeoff increases to decelerate in the coming quarter, although actual improvements are not foreseen at this time.

The Federal Reserve has published its latest annual report on the Profitability of Credit Card Operations of Depository Institutions. Section 8 of the Fair Credit and Charge Card Disclosure Act of 1988 directs the Federal Reserve Board to transmit annually to the Congress a report about the profitability of credit card operations of depository institutions.

From the report: "In 2008, credit card banks with assets in excess of $200 million reported net earnings before taxes of 1.43 percent of outstanding balances adjusted for credit card-backed securitization, down 132 basis points or nearly 48 percent from 2007. The 2008 rate of return is very low by historic standards; well below the average rate of return of 3.03 percent since 1986."

Bankrate.com has published its annual Credit Card Study with this year's edition focusing on terms and conditions -- the fine print of credit card agreements. The survey looked at two cards from the top 10 issuers, one platinum card and one rewards card. Bankrate found that the terms and conditions varied by issuer, not by the card. Issuers surveyed were: American Express, Bank of America, Capital One, Chase, Citi, Discover, FNB Omaha, USAA Federal Savings, US Bank, and Wells Fargo.

Newly available over on our PaymentsViews.com sister site is a new Glenbrook research brief titled "Credit Card Acceptance for B2B Payments" by Glenbrook's Erin McCune and Carol Coye Benson.

This new research brief is based findings from a series of interviews conducted with business-to-business suppliers about credit card acceptance conducted earlier this year. There's a form in the article for you to request a download of the report.

Today's Heard on the Street column by Peter Eavis in the Wall St. Journal takes a look at American Express. Eavis writes: "The dilemma for AmEx is deciding how big its pure credit-card book, as opposed to classic charge cards, should be."

ABC News Business reported Scott Mayerowitz takes a look at the many ways frustrated consumers are dealing with their credit cards - and destroying them!

For even more fun, search YouTube using the keyword plastectomy.

In an op-ed piece in today's New York Times titled "A Fairer Credit Card? Priceless", Ryan Bubb and Alex Kaufman write about the credit cards issued by credit unions and how those credit cards "largely conform to the new rules already, while profitably maintaining the basic features that users know and love. ... Credit union cards actually offer lower annual fees and longer grace periods than regular cards."

In an article titled "Credit Score Shell Game", Nancy Trejos writes in Sunday's Washington Post about consumer frustrations with credit scores - how their credit scores are falling as a result of arbitrary credit line reductions or account closures by issuers. And, to add frustration, Trejos finds that "people who try to take matters in hand and pay to find out their credit scores discover that it can be difficult to learn the score that lenders actually use to evaluate them."

In an article titled "Cutting Off Mom & Pop Credit", Andrew Martin writes for the New York Times about how a "crackdown on credit limits by card companies is squeezing the nation’s 27 million small businesses, exacerbating the problems brought on by a stagnant economy."

See this earlier post about the drastic action that Advanta had to take against its small business borrowers.

In an article titled "Reg Plan Could Force GE, Retailers to Divest Banks" in today's American Banker, Maria Aspan writes that the Obama administration proposals for financial industry regulatory reform could result in certain kinds of special purpose banks, such as retailer-owned credit card banks, being eliminated.

As part of her reporting this story, Aspan spoke to a number of industry participants who "stressed that it remained early to understand the proposed reforms' full implications. But they agreed that, if the proposals are enacted as written, the days when retailers could issue their own credit cards would end — forcing the few remaining players to sell or close down their lending arms."

Discover Financial Services has reported results for its second quarter ending May 31, 2009. According to Discover, US sales volume decreased 4% versus the second quarter of 2008, reflecting lower gas prices and a general decline in consumer spending. Managed loans ended the quarter at $51 billion, essentially unchanged from the prior quarter and up 7% from the prior year. The managed net charge-off rate increased to 7.79% for the second quarter of 2009, up 131 basis points and 280 basis points from the prior quarter and the prior year, respectively. The managed net charge-off rate for the third quarter of 2009 is expected to be between 8.5% and 9%.

“While the rise in unemployment continued to have a significant impact on our financial results, I am pleased with our strong relative performance in both credit management and sales volumes,” said David Nelms, chairman and chief executive officer of Discover Financial Services. “We continue to focus on reducing expenses and maintaining a strong capital position as we manage through these challenging times.”

In an article titled "Credit Bailout: Issuers Slashing Card Balances", David Streitfeld writes for the New York Times about how some credit card issuers are "settling delinquent accounts for substantially less than the amount owed."

TransUnion.com has released the results of its analysis of trends in the credit card lending industry for the first quarter of 2009 based upon approximately 27 million anonymous, individual credit files - providing a real-life perspective on how U.S. consumers are managing their credit health.

Nationally, the bankcard delinquency rate (the ratio of bankcard borrowers 90 days or more delinquent on one or more of their bankcards) increased to 1.32 percent in the first quarter of 2009, up 9.1 percent over the previous quarter. Year over year, bankcard delinquencies increased 11 percent from 1.19 to 1.32 percent. READ MORE

In an article titled "Capital One Looks to Adapt to Credit Card Laws", Thomas Heath writes for the Washington Post about Capital One's plans to "reinvent itself for a new age of regulation."

As noted earlier, yesterday Congressmen John Conyers, Jr. and Bill Schuster re-introduced the Credit Card Fair Fee Act. The card industry has responded to this new legislative initiative directed at interchange fees.

MasterCard said in a press release that the legislation would take away the fundamental protections that US anti-trust laws provide consumers which "would result in less credit availability, along with higher prices and reduced benefits when Americans choose to use their credit or debit cards. Antitrust laws are designed to protect competition and consumers, but this bill would have the opposite effect."

In another press release, the Electronic Payments Coalition said that it "strongly opposes" the legislation - calling it "an attempt by giant retailers to make consumers pay for one of their business expenses - the cost of accepting credit and debit. It's simple: merchants do not want to pay their fair share to accept debit and credit cards, and they want consumers to foot the bill."

Photo: AustinEvan

71% of all cash acquired by consumers came from cash machines

2.9 billion cash machine withdrawals were made last year - equivalent to 91 withdrawals per second

Cash payment volumes are forecast to fall by 27% over the next 10 years

If current trends persist, next year for the first time debit card spending will overtake cash spending by value in the UK. READ MORE

Capital One has launched Card Lab Connect, a credit card affinity program that Capital One says helps nonprofits expand their giving channels while providing their supporters with a convenient and meaningful way to donate to charity programs. Unlike most affinity card programs which generally cater to larger, national organizations, Capital One Card Lab Connect is available for nonprofits of all sizes. READ MORE