jeffj@uunet.uu.net (Jeff Jonas) (06/30/90)
A news item from AT&T's newsline (800-2ATT-NOW): AT&T's Universal Card has gotten twice the response anticipated. [surprise! When were AT&T's forecasts ever right, such as anticipating the demand of the PC6300 during the employee fire-sale?] Citibank and other banks are trying to retaliate, crying "foul" that AT&T is in the credit card business. In response, Citibank is now offering a tie-in between MCI and its VISA card, but has no intention of reducing their fees. (Did Citibank switch from AT&T to MCI in response to the Universal Card offering? Some feared that AT&T offended some of their banking customers by competing with them in the credit card arena. Then again, some financial institutions made their own telecommunications network, such as the NY Teleport as reported in the TELECOM Digest.) American Express has offered MCI's "Expressphone" for a while now, so the link between credit cards and phone service is not new. The AT&T Universal card is free for those who enroll this year, and offers 10% discount on calling card calls. The others offer no discounts. I'd say that AT&T succeeded in upsetting Citibank and all the other overpriced credit cards. Good going! The phone company is not just technology. It's finance too. Jeffrey Jonas jeffj@synsys.uucp