TNB Card Services Acquires Two More Credit Card Portfolios

TNB Card Services has purchased the credit card portfolios of two more credit unions, and will operate those card programs through its agent issuer organization. TNB issues credit cards for more than 90 credit unions. It began its agent issuer program in 2002.

Selling their portfolios were Vision One Credit Union of Sacramento, California, and Albuquerque VA Credit Union, which recently merged with Rio Grande Credit Union.

?TNB continues to watch for good opportunities to work with credit unions that want to offer their members an effective and competitive credit card program, but not operate that program themselves,? said Jay Kurian, first senior vice president of TNB Card Services. ?With our perspective, as a credit union-owned and operated organization, we are in an ideal position to help them accomplish their goals.?

Vision One Credit Union, originally chartered in 1951, is aimed primarily at optometrists. Its membership consists mostly of California practitioners, but it now offers membership to doctors in a total of 16 states and is planning to add more states. The 2,072-member credit union has assets of $29 million.

Deanna Miyata, senior vice president and chief financial officer, said Vision One CU had been thinking for a couple of years about selling the card program, feeling it was ?no longer part of our core business model.?

With the sale of the program to TNB, Miyata said, ?We hope to free up our staff to focus on customer service, and not credit card administration. We also hope to provide our members a more competitive credit card.?

For Albuquerque VA Credit Union, the merger with Rio Grande Credit Union, also based in Albuquerque, triggered the sale. Rio Grande sold its card program to TNB in early 2005, and the additional accounts from Albuquerque VA also became part of TNB?s agent program.

The merged organization, which kept the Rio Grande name, has 14,500 members and assets of $88 million. Its four branches serve City of Albuquerque, Bernalillo County, and Albuquerque Veterans Administration Hospital employees, retirees, and families. It also extends membership to other select employee groups, Catholic Parish members, and residents of a portion of the city of Albuquerque.