SAN FRANCISCO -- Bank of America announced that customers in the San Francisco Bay Area will have the option of placing a color photograph of themselves and their signature on the front of BankAmericard MasterCard or Visa credit cards.
Bank of America introduced the photo card in the San Diego area last April and plans to expand the program to other California markets by March 1995.
It is also available in Arizona and Washington.
The new photo cards are designed to help reduce bank card fraud, which cost the card industry more than $1 billion in 1993.
According to Bank of America, almost half of this loss occurred from lost or stolen cards and another 20% occurred from cards stolen in the mail.
Customers may obtain the photo card free of charge by going into Bank of America branches in the Bay Area to have their photos taken.
