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CARDNEWS FOR CONSUMERS
(12/30/03) Latte Winners If you want a chance to win some free joe for the next two years and the opportunity to take your friends to the other side of the earth, first-class, then head over to Starbucks. Between now and February 17th, Starbucks card users making a purchase with their "Duetto VISA" or "Starbucks Gift Card" will automatically be entered to win prizes in the "Meet Your Friends at Any Starbucks" sweepstakes. -(READ MORE)	(12/24/03) XMAS 2003 Americans will have racked up slightly more than $115 billion in retail spending on their credit and debit cards as the holiday shopping season comes to a close this week. For the first five weeks of the current shopping season, consumers charged $69.6 billion to major credit cards and $20.1 billion to signature debit cards. -(READ MORE)
(12/23/03) Black Friday While "Black Friday" has traditionally been the day after Thanksgiving, a new "Black Friday" might emerge this year on the day after Christmas. Armed with billion of dollars in gift cards, and in search of marked-down items, Americans may flood into stores on December 26th. -(READ MORE)	(12/22/03) #1 Mascot Today is the final day to vote in Capital One's "National Mascot of the Year" competition. The winner will be announced New Year's Day during the "Capital One Bowl" in Orlando. As of this morning, more than 4.5 million votes have been cast in the competition with "Brutus Buckeye" showing the most momentum. -(READ MORE)
(12/18/03) Cash is Queen For the first time electronic payments have surpassed cash and checks as consumers' preferred payment method for in-store purchases. A new study, released this week, has found that cash and checks now account for only 47% of consumers' in-store purchases, as compared to 57% in 1999 and 51% in 2001. -(READ MORE)	(12/17/03) 0%-2004 While the Feds keep the lid on short-term interest rates, now might be the ideal time to give your credit cards a little scrutiny. Some issuers are continuing to offer zero percent interest rates that stretch through next December. FleetBoston is offering a "Platinum VISA" with a balance transfer APR of 0% through next year, and Citibank is offering a 12-month 0% APR on its "Platinum Select MasterCard." -(READ MORE)
(12/16/03) Santa Spending Retail spending on credit and debit cards for the first four weeks of the current holiday season has topped $67 billion in the USA. Americans pulled out major credit cards to charge more than $53 billion in retail purchases, and used off-line or signature debit cards to charge nearly $14.5 billion in holiday purchases. -(READ MORE)	(12/15/03) AmEx Wheel American Express and the popular syndicated TV show, "Wheel of Fortune" will be promoting the "Blue Cash from American Express" card this week. Through Friday, December 19th, viewers will see a blue set, custom designed for "Wheel of Fortune." -(READ MORE)
(12/12/03) AVON VISA Following the recent release of its cutting-edge and award-winning "Starbucks Card Duetto VISA," Bank One has come calling this week with yet another innovative credit card. The new "Avon Platinum VISA" rewards both cardholders as well as Avon representatives. -(READ MORE)	(12/11/03) Caesars MasterCard A new MasterCard has been launched that offers casino comp dollars as a cardholder reward. The new "Caesars Entertainment MasterCard," issued for Park Place Entertainment by Juniper Bank, offers cardholders a one percent "comp dollar" credit for all purchase transactions, plus 10 bonus "comp dollars" the first time the card is used. -(READ MORE)
(12/10/03) Credit Uptick The revolving debt machine may be cranking up as the economy begins to recover. Consumer revolving credit for September and October posted strong gains compared to last year. During October, Americans added $2.2 billion to revolving credit at an annual growth rate of 3.6%, more than twice the rate of growth one-year ago. -(READ MORE)	(12/9/03) Biz Debit Rewards Minnesota-based U.S. Bank is bucking the recent debit card trends as it expands its rewards program to business debit cards. The new "Cash Bonus VISA Business Check Card" and "Business Check Card with VISA Extras" will join U.S. Bank's four consumer debit cards that reward users for off-line signature purchases. -(READ MORE)
(12/8/03) Tesoro MasterCard If you have a gas credit card from Tesoro, then be advised that a higher octane credit card may be on the way. Tesoro Petroleum announced last week it is dropping its proprietary gas card at the end of this year, switching to a MasterCard issued by Juniper Bank. -(READ MORE)	(12/5/03) Debit Confusion If you bring a MasterCard signature debit card into Wal-Mart next year, then be prepared to use your PIN, or to whip out your checkbook, or dig in your wallet for cash at the check-out. -(READ MORE)
(12/4/03) Holiday Plastic During the first two weeks of the 2003 holiday shopping season, Americans pulled out their major credit cards to charge more than $23.5 billion, and used signature debit cards to charge $7.0 billion in retail purchases. To the delight of retailers, the figures are about 5% above last year. -(READ MORE)	(12/3/03) Napster Card Napster, the reformed music exchange service, has picked up another major distribution channel for its new prepaid music card. Six weeks ago, Napster launched the card, which offers 15 downloads for 99 cents each, and projected it would have the cards in 20,000 retail locations by year's end. -(READ MORE)
(12/2/03) Catholic VISA The separation between Church and Cards has all but disappeared with the nationwide launch of the "We Share VISA" card. The Milwaukee-based Catholic Knights group has teamed with M&I Bank to offer the card which returns 1% of all purchase totals to the Catholic parish or Catholic school of the cardholder's choice. -(READ MORE)	(12/1/03) MBNA Fees The nation's second largest issuer, and leading "super-prime" credit card specialist, has boosted fees to a "sub-prime" level. MBNA America has raised its late fees and over-limit fees to $39 for accounts with balances over $1,000. -(READ MORE)