National Bank Appeals Process:
Appeal of the Treatment of
Credit Cards by a Liquidating Entity - (Fourth Quarter 2001)
Background
A credit card
bank, in liquidation, appealed the OCC's decision regarding the
continued existence and treatment of its private-label credit
cards. With a few
exceptions, the credit card portfolio had been sold to an
independent third party (buyer). The credit card bank was in
liquidation and concluding its activities. In addition to the
previously issued disclosures, the OCC specifically requested that
the credit card bank send out stickers to be affixed to the
outstanding cards with current information as to customer service
and ownership of the account.
The bank
appealed that decision based on the following:
-
The substantial expense ($2-3 million) and time to comply with the decision to
issue stickers,
-
No precedence to support the decision,
-
The decision is impractical, and
-
The decision violates the principle of equal treatment with other similar
national credit card banks.
The
liquidation of the credit card bank had been structured so that the
buyer became the owner of the account and the issuer of credit to
the account holder.
However, the ownership of the actual plastic credit card
remained with the original credit card bank. Upon expiration and renewal
the buyer would then issue the account holder a new credit
card. A notice
conveying the sale of the ownership of the credit card accounts was
sent to all cardholders at the time the portfolio was sold. The notice did not disclose
the ownership of the plastic credit card.
Discussion
A key area of
concern in this appeal involved the liquidation of the credit card
bank. In reviewing the
facts surrounding this appeal, the retention of ownership of the
plastic credit cards by the credit card bank became the overriding
regulatory concern because a liquidated entity cannot own
assets. Options were
explored on how the bank could resolve this issue without having an
adverse impact on the involved parties.
Conclusion
In order to
arrive at a feasible option to address all the issues involved, the
ombudsman decided on the following course of
action:
-
The credit card bank should sell the plastic credit card ownership to a third
party (either another affiliated entity or to the buyer) for a nominal fee.
-
The credit card bank should notify all account holders of the new plastic
credit card ownership.
This notification would also contain information about future re-issuance of expired cards by the
buyer.
These actions
facilitated the liquidation of the credit card bank since the bank
would no longer have ownership of the plastic credit cards. The disclosure provided
customers with information regarding the card ownership and when new
cards would be issued, therefore alleviating the need for issuing
stickers.
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