Visa Streamlines Consumer Credit Card Program New Consumer Credit Card Platform Delivers Greater Flexibility for Issuers and Expands Key Cardholder Benefits SAN FRANCISCO, July 31, 2003 Visa USA today announced significant changes to its Visa Consumer Credit Card Platform that will provide Issuers with more latitude in defining the features and benefits of Visa Classic, Visa Gold and Visa Platinum cards. As an industry first, Visa will also provide Auto Rental Insurance (ARI) coverage to all Visa consumer credit cardholders, a benefit previously reserved only for select cards. A key change under the new program is the combining of Visa's Issuer operating regulations for Classic, Gold and Platinum cards into a single platform with one common set of requirements. This change, which will become effective March 1, 2004, will reduce administrative costs and provide card Issuers with more control, flexibility and opportunities to market highly-customized products. Under the refined Visa Consumer Credit Card Platform, Issuers will be free to define the benefits that distinguish their Visa Classic, Gold and Platinum card products â?? or other self-defined products â?? to better meet the individual needs of their cardholders. These increasingly differentiated products will continue to be supported by all of the Visa core brand promises, including worldwide acceptance, convenience and unsurpassed reliability. "Our Member financial institutions asked us to simplify our rules and give them latitude to introduce more creative, differentiated products," said Al Banisch, senior vice president of consumer credit products at Visa USA. "The changes illustrate Visa's commitment to offering greater flexibility to our Members and helping them be successful in today's competitive marketplace." "Competition is extremely tight in the credit card market and it is becoming imperative for issuers to strive harder to keep their customers," says Celent analyst Ariana-Michele Moore. "Issuers are going to benefit from the ability to create more precise card products that are specific to their cardholders." Issuer benefits One consistent set of Visa-defined standards. Visa will provide Issuers with streamlined standards for a single product platform rather than imposing different rules for Visa Classic, Gold and Platinum cards. Full flexibility to create credit card products to meet individual preferences. Issuers can design and differentiate credit card products to be more targeted to specific cardholder segments or to compete more effectively in specific markets. Auto Rental Insurance (ARI) becomes a Visa-funded feature provided on all cards. For Issuers with existing Visa Classic portfolios, extending this benefit to nearly 110 million additional cardholders represents a significant marketing opportunity as ARI has strong cardholder appeal. Greater control over budgeting and expenses. With greater control over which enhancements to provide, Issuers can plan and budget more effectively and satisfy specific expense management objectives. Issuers will be able to choose from an extensive menu of Visa-managed enhancements. Visa has the negotiating power to offer its Issuers 16 optional enhancements at attractive prices. These enhancements include: Personal Identity Theft Protection Purchase Security and Protection Travel Accident Insurance Roadside Dispatch And many, many more Upgrading cardholders becomes easier. Cardholders can now be upgraded within Issuer-defined Visa Classic Gold, or Platinum programs without the need to issue new account numbers. Cardholder benefits Auto Rental Insurance benefit extended. An additional 110 million Visa cardholders, and more than 240 million in total, will now benefit from ARI. Upgraded cards retain the same account number. Card numbers no longer change when cardholders are upgraded within Issuer-defined Visa Classic, Gold or Platinum programs. This means that cardholders won't experience disrupted service with merchants who keep their account numbers on file, a common benefit provided by online shopping and recurring bill payment merchants. Core benefits remain consistent. All Visa credit cards will continue to offer the following key benefits and features: Zero Liability Lost/Stolen Card Reporting Emergency Card/Cash disbursement Cardholder Inquiry Service Access Tailored programs will become available to cardholders. Consumers will benefit as Visa Issuers will increasingly develop more tailored credit card programs offering bundled enhancements that better meet individual cardholders needs. Examples include: Frequent travelers could be offered cards that feature benefits such as Companion Airline Ticket, Travel Accident Insurance, Travel Emergency Assistance and Lost Luggage Insurance in addition to the core ARI benefit. Cardholders who use their Visa cards primarily for retail purchases could be offered a customized product featuring benefits such as Purchase Security (price protection) and Warranty Manager Service. The new Consumer Credit Card Platform reflects Visa's commitment to adapt to the changing needs of both its Issuers and cardholders. Visa's vision is to lead the payments industry by helping foster the relationship between each Issuer and its cardholders in order to develop the best consumer credit programs possible. link: http://www.usa.visa.com/personal/newsroom/press_releases/nr172.html
Can I have a LOWER INTEREST RATE and they can keep all their FRILLS??? Can I have DOUBLE MILES and they keep all their FRILLS??? Can I have a FREE miles card and they keep all their FRILLS???
I think it's important to note a few things: 1) The Classic, Gold, and Platinum designations won't go away. Rather, the feature set for each will no longer be imposed by VISA itself. Instead, issuers (i.e., usually banks) will be able to decide how each classification of card will benefit consumers. Of course they may ultimately disappear because such classifications are no longer mandated by VISA. 2) Card issuers are also free to come up with their own new classifications. Kryptonite VISA, anyone? 3) Previously, if a card issuer upgraded you from Classic to Platinum, they were required to give you a new card number. These kinds of rules -- mandated by VISA -- created bureaucracy that ultimately discouraged product upgrades in some cases. These kinds of impediments now disappear. I fear that this move may not ultimately benefit consumers. For example, since issuers are now free to determine the feature set, Capital One (let's say) could issue a new Platinum VISA which is no better than the Classic card -- or even inferior for that matter. Without regulation from VISA proper, the categories become meaningless window dressing, and the door is opened to confusing marketing shenanigans. Doc
Yeah, I can see it now. It'll be issued by Providian Bank - a see-through green color card that glows in the dark. But if you use it, IT WILL KILL YOU for their high 29.9% interest rate!
VISA GIVES ISSUERS FREEDOM TO TAILOR CARD PRODUCTS Visa USA announced today that it will give member banks greater control over the Classic, Gold and Platinum designations on consumer credit cards. The changes will allow Visa issuers to bundle benefits to better target various cardholder segments. Visaâ??s operating regulations for the Classic (standard), Gold, and Platinum cards will be combined into one set of requirements beginning March 1. Visa says the changes, which were requested by members, will allow issuers to decide which enhanced benefits to offer for each of the categories and to move a cardholder from one category to another without changing the account number. The three card categories will no longer have their own BIN, or bank identification number, according to Sarah Thompson, vice president of Visaâ??s consumer credit product office. Core benefits for all Visa consumer credit cards will be reduced to auto-rental insurance funded by Visa, emergency card disbursement, lost and stolen card reporting and the zero-liability program. Beyond the core, member banks will have the flexibility to "pick and choose from the toolbox of" 16 Visa enhancements, such as travel and emergency assistance and identity-theft coverage, says Thompson. Members requested greater authority to build cards directed toward cardholder interests like traveling or shopping, she says. "Issuers have a wealth of information about cardholders. They can use that to tailor their products," says Thompson. Bank One Corp., the largest Visa card issuer, already has been marketing an "individual" approach to consumers, allowing cardholders to design their own cards, says Doug Filak, Bank Oneâ??s senior vice president of marketing strategies. "Rewards, interest rates, payment-due date and card design are the big four" options that consumers want to control says Filak. Chicago-based Bank One has been heavily advertising its individual card program on television for the last few months. The Internet has made shopping more interactive and consumers want to do that with their cards as well, he says. "Our vision is that eventually the consumer will design his own card from scratch," says Filak. "This gets us closer to that." Visaâ??s new changes do not apply to the Visa Signature and Infinite cards, or to any Visa debit, small-business or other commercial cards. link: http://www.cardforum.com/cgi-bin/readstory.pl?story=20030731CLDN656.xml
