A Chip Off
the Old Block
H&R Block is
getting out of the credit card business and selling its portfolio to
Providian Financial Corp. The portfolio, worth $181 million, consists
primarily of members of CompuServe which H&R Block sold last
year.
"As the former
majority owner of CompuServe, it made sense to utilize on-line
technology as a distribution channel for financial services such as
WebCard Visa," said Frank Salizzoni, Blockís president and
chief executive. "Now that weíve divested CompuServe,
weíre focusing on offering financial services to our 15
million customers through our nationwide network of 8,800
offices."
Providian, which
is known for lending to people with poor credit, recently purchased
600,000 accounts from Morgan Stanley Dean Witter and also a portfolio
from First Union.
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