WILMINGTON, Del. First USA, the credit card subsidiary of Bank One Corp., has introduced its first smart card product, the smart Visa card from First USA, which bears both a magnetic stripe and an integrated circuit chip.
First USA began marketing the card last week through the Internet and with a direct mail campaign. Company spokesman Jeff Unkle said nationally broadcast television commercials will follow.
Two other Visa issuers, FleetBoston Financial Corp. and Providian Financial Corp., have introduced smart cards this fall, and American Express Co. debuted its Blue card more than a year ago.
First USAs offering differs from the others because it uses the chip to store such data as favorite Web sites and passwords, address and shipping information, and credit card numbers even those of non-First USA cards, Mr. Unkle said. Customers can use this feature to fill out forms at all Web merchants at the click of a mouse, he said.
The company is giving away smart card readers and software with the card and is offering 5% cash back at certain online merchants, including Amazon.com, Bluefly.com, and eToys.com.
