GE Money, a leading provider of retail banking and credit services to consumers and retailers, and guitar maker Fender Musical Instruments Corp. this week launched the GE Money Music credit card. The Kettering, Ohio-based unit of General Electric Co. will provide the consumer financing for the private-label card under the multiyear agreement, the companies announced in a news release.
“The addition of the GE Money Music Card will help individuals invest in one of life’s most rewarding hobbies, learning and making music,” Paul Jernigan, vice president of global channel and marketing for Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Fender, states in the release.
Representatives from GE Money and Fender were unable to provide additional information by PaymentsSource deadline.
Cardholders may use the GE Money Music card at 3,500 Fender dealerships nationwide. GE Money’s Sales Finance unit will manage the card program, according to the news release. Fender retailers also may use GE Money’s Web-based Business Center, a financial-management service, as part of the agreement.
The initiative is “refreshing,” considering private-label cards had “come to a halt in 2009,” says Brian Riley, research director for bankcards at TowerGroup Inc., a Needham, Mass.-based research and advisory firm. Additionally, “it is exciting to see that the Fender card is the first product launched since the CARD Act took effect (last month), and it is an indication that GE wants to be back in the card business,” he adds.
