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(12/24/97) Not So Merry Christmas Based on checkwriting, which represents about one-third of all retail spending, shoppers continue to hold back and remain value conscious. -(READ MORE)	(12/23/97) Saturation or Maturation Unless the card industry posts an usually strong fourth quarter 1997 will go down as a very sluggish year. Between Jan 1 and Sept 30 receivables have grown a mere 2.8%, the number of gross accounts is only up 60 basis points and the number of cards-in- force has only inched up by 1.7%. -(READ MORE)
(12/22/97) One Million Served Mark Clavin of Castleton, NY became the one millionth customer of Mobil Corporation's 'Speedpass' program. 'Speedpass' enables customers to drive up, fill up, and automatically charge their fuel purchases to a designated credit card, without opening their wallets or purses. -(READ MORE)	(12/22/97) Faults & Cures VISA's touring golf instructional program, 'Faults & Cures', announced Friday it will add eleven new cities to the tour next year and will add a program for female golfers. -(READ MORE)
(12/20/97) Flawed Analysis The Consumer Federation of America accused the banking industry of "irresponsible" credit card lending that has strapped an estimated 60 million American households with credit card debt exceeding $7,000 on average. -(READ MORE)	(12/17/97) StampsOnline The U.S. Postal Service launched a two-week test yesterday of a virtual post office. During the pilot, 2,300 pre-selected customers will be able to purchase a limited selection of stamps and stamp products on the World Wide Web via credit cards. -(READ MORE)
(12/10/97) Snow Sport Express Selling ski lift tickets via ATMs has been so successful for Wells Fargo that it is expanding the service to 550 ATMs in Northern California this week. -(READ MORE)	(12/9/97) New Rewards Card Cobranded reward cards are alive as discount apparel retailer Loehmann's and First USA rolled out a new 'Platinum VISA' Monday. The 'Loehmann's Insider Club Platinum Visa' offers cardholders a 3% rebate on all Loehmann purchases and 1% rebate on all other purchases. -(READ MORE)
(12/4/97) Electrifying MasterCard While several U.S. electric/gas utility firms are mulling cobranding relationships with credit card issuers, DE-based Delmarva Power & Light Company became the first one out- of-the- chute yesterday. -(READ MORE)	(12/19/97) VISA & Holiday Inn Promotion Holiday Hospitality has teamed up with Visa for its Holiday Inn Second Night Free winter promotion. More than 1,000 Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express hotels in the United States and Canada are participating in the promotion which will run through Feb. 9, 1998. -(READ MORE)
(12/3/97) Platinum AAdvantage The nation's largest co-branded airline bank credit card has gone platinum. Citibank and American Airlines rolled out the new 'Citibank Platinum Select AAdvantage' yesterday. -(READ MORE)	(12/3/97) Holiday Sales Weak Consumer spending for the three-day Thanksgiving weekend showed only a slight gain over last year's strong Thanksgiving weekend sales, resulting in a 1.0 percent gain in same-store sales, according to TeleCheck Services, the world's leading check-acceptance company. -(READ MORE)
(12/1/97) Easing Holiday Pressure The candy corn was barely off the shelves and the Plastic Halloween pumpkins relegated to the sale bins this year when the stores were festooned with Christmas adornments. -(READ MORE)	(12/1/97) CompuServe's Holiday Headquarters CompuServe offers a simplified approach to the holidays this season: CSi's Holiday Headquarters. A special community highlighting online areas, Holiday Headquarters lets busy professionals take care of their holiday needs. -(READ MORE)