Ford unit seeks to buy Amoco card portfolio.

Associates Corp. of North America confirmed this week that it had signed a letter of intent to buy Amoco Corp.'s credit card portfolio.

Chicago-based Amoco is the largest credit card issuer in the oil industry, with 8.6 million accounts and $2.4 billion in annual charge volume.

Associates, a Dallas-based unit of Ford Motor Co.'s financial services group, said a contract to take over the card operations and receivables should be signed within 90 days.

First Retail-Card Venture

Associates intends to take over Amoco's 500-employee card operations center in Des Moines.

Associates issues cobranded cards for other petroleum retailers, including Unocal and Pure Oil. The Amoco deal would be its first retail-card venture.

Associates has a long-term MasterCard-issuing relationship with Amoco, said Frederick H. Stern, senior vice president of Associates.

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