Illinois League Service Corporation bids on credit card portfolios

<p>NAPERVILLE, IL – The ICUL Service Corporation, a CUSO held by 49 Illinois credit unions, is been reported to have bid on four Illinois credit card portfolios, according to Cardfax a credit card tracking service. No one from the Service Corporation was available to confirm the report as of press time. According to Cardfax, the Service Corporation hoped to “thwart” sales of credit card portfolios to MBNA and other banks. Instead the Service Corp hopes to buy the portfolios and manage them. The Service Corporation will reportedly sell shares in its card management program to other credit unions who don’t want to run their own programs. The report did not reveal the names of the four Illinois credit unions nor the names of the three others outside Illinois which the Service Corporation has reportedly also contacted. The report also did not mention whether any other potential buyers were bidding for the portfolios. Credit unions have been selling their card portfolios in droves during the last year. TNB Card Services, Payment Systems for Credit Unions, two of the nation’s largest credit card service providers, recently started purchasing portfolios. About 5,000 of the nation’s 10,356 CUs have card portfolios.</p>