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Whether JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s takeover of Washington Mutual Inc.'s credit card portfolio will change existing terms of WaMu credit card contracts remains uncertain, a Chase Card Services spokesperson tells CardLine. But Chase will continue its policy of not repricing card terms based solely on changes in cardholders' credit scores, the spokesperson says. In the second quarter, WaMu's card services group posted a net loss of $175 million compared with net income of $133 million for the second quarter of 2007 (CardLine 7/23). In July, WaMu reported $169 million in credit card charge-offs for the second quarter, up 59.4% from $106 million in charge-offs during the second quarter last year. And WaMu reported earlier this month it was setting aside an additional $600 million to cover potential losses in its credit card portfolio (CardLine, 9/12). Chase issued $148.4 billion in credit card loans on a managed basis in 2007, making it the third-largest issuer of card loans behind Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp., according to PaymentsSource, a CardLine sister Web site and data service. WaMu managed $11.5 billion in managed credit card loans in 2007, earning it a 10th-place ranking, according to PaymentsSource.
