FDIC Completes Liquidating Failed Colo. Bank's Card Assets

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has unloaded the last of Boulder, Colo.-based BestBank's credit card holdings.

Credit Store Inc. of Sioux Falls, S.D., announced Monday that it paid the FDIC $4.8 million for the $10.4 million, 13,000-card subprime portfolio. The $314 million-asset BestBank failed in July 1998.

"This purchase is an excellent way to increase the Credit Store's profitable base of performing credit card receivables," said chairman Martin Burke 3d in a press release.

The $4.8 million price nearly matched the $5 million that the FDIC recovered this year from a second, far larger BestBank portfolio.

In March, the FDIC announced it would liquidate a $250 million, 400,000- card BestBank portfolio because it could not find a qualified buyer. The cards had been marketed mostly to high-risk people, and nearly half of the accounts were nonperforming. Unlike the accounts bought by Credit Store, these required membership in a travel club that cost $498.

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