Card Briefs: Beneficial Works Out Deal with Discounter

BJ's Wholesale Club has agreed to pay $1.3 million to Beneficial National Bank USA as part of a legal settlement over a credit card dispute, the bank announced last week.

Beneficial sued BJ's in September, saying the retailer was unwilling to make changes in a cobranded MasterCard program that was losing money for the bank. The discount chain's countersuit was dismissed. Under the settlement, Beneficial will be able to charge annual fees on unprofitable accounts. The 12,000 wholesale club customers whose accounts were terminated will be reinstated, the bank said.

"This settlement allows us to continue to offer a BJ's MasterCard to BJ's customers, with the popular accompanying rebates known as BJ's Bucks, while enabling us to bring the terms of our program into line with current industry practices," said Kevin T. Peck, general counsel to Beneficial.

"Amendments made to the program will help us stem the millions of dollars of losses that Beneficial had been sustaining from this program due to contract restrictions."