Metris Cos. said it has a five-year deal to provide card registration services for Household International Inc.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Metris, a direct marketer and supplier of consumer credit products, has said it wants to move beyond issuing credit cards. This is its first big deal beyond its customer base.
The Minnesota-based company will begin to offer fee-based registration services for Household's 16 million Visa and MasterCard customers in January.
"We want to set ourselves apart from monoline companies who are only in the card business," said Ronald Zebeck, Metris' president and chief executive.
Metris started offering card registration services to its own data base of 1.1 million card members in September and has enrolled more than 100,000 members.
"Metris has a 53% penetration of fee-based products in its own customer base, and we want to extend that to alliances with larger players in the market," Mr. Zebeck said. "Having an alliance with Household, one of the fastest-growing companies, is a tremendous opportunity for us."
For a $45 fee, cardholders will get three years of benefits that include check protection, theft reward, car rental discounts, and emergency air fare coverage.
Ideon's SafeCard subsidiary previously provided card registration for Household.
"Metris will allow us to have a greater involvement in marketing to our customers," said Dawn Byram, a spokeswoman for Household in San Jose, Calif.
