Credit card issuers paid more than $83 million to colleges and educational organizations in 2009 in connection with affinity card programs, according to a Federal Reserve Board report released Monday.
The payments were calculated based on 1,044 college credit card agreements that 17 issuers filed with the Fed per requirements of the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act of 2009.
U.S. Bancorp, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and FIA Card Services, a subsidiary of Bank of America Corp., accounted for about 96% of all agreements the Fed received, the report said. The issuers also accounted for the bulk of payments made to colleges, alumni groups, foundations and other organizations. FIA paid about $62 million, JPMorgan Chase $13.9 million and U.S. Bancorp paying $2.5 million to their partners.
The data shows that 53,164 new card accounts were opened under issuers' agreements with colleges last year. The total number of accounts opened during or before 2009 that remained open as of the end of the year was just over 2 million.
Under the CARD Act, issuers now are required to report the information to the Fed for each calendar year and the Fed is required to submit the information to Congress.
The CARD Act also put new restrictions on marketing to students. One requirement is that people under 21 have a co-signer or demonstrate repayment capability. It also prohibits issuers from giving gifts for submitting a card application on or near campuses.
New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo sent letters to roughly 300 schools in the state in September seeking details about their contracts with debit and credit card issuers. The letters were part of a probe into deceptive marketing practices that may be in violation of the CARD Act.
