The Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009 (the “Credit CARD Act”) requires the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (the Board) to submit to the Congress, and to make available to the public, an annual report that lists certain information submitted to the Board concerning agreements between credit card issuers and institutions of higher education, or certain affiliated organizations, such as alumni associations or foundations, that provide for the issuance of credit cards to college students.
Issuers of credit cards are required to submit 1. the amount of payments made by the issuer to the institution or affiliated organizations 2. the number of new credit card accounts opened, and 3. the number of open college credit card accounts at year-end.
Nearly 40 percent of agreements submitted to the Board were between a credit card issuer and an institution of higher education. An additional 33 percent were between an issuer and an alumni association. In 2009, a total of 1,044 agreements were made, which resulted in the opening of 2 million credit card accounts. Three banks accounted for 96 percent of the agreements: Bank of America, Chase, and U.S. Bank.
Duke Alumni Association, Inc. rounded out the top 10 largest agreements by payments by credit card issuer in 2009 with $1,375,000 worth of payments by Chase Bank, the credit card issuer, and had 8,418 accounts opened by the end of 2009. Other North Carolina organizations that received considerable amounts of payments from a credit card issuer included: The General Alumni Association of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill received $1,250,000; The Foundation of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Inc. received $120,610; Wake Forest University received $108,715; East Carolina University Alumni Association, Inc. received $100,000; and the University of North Carolina Greensboro Alumni Association received $41,300.
Other organizations in North Carolina that received payments from a credit card issuer included: Barton College, Bennett College National Alumnae Association, Catawba College, Chi Psi Fraternity of Chapel Hill, Elon College, Fayetteville State University, Guilford College, Lenoir-Rhyne College Alumni Association, Meredith College, Methodist College, NC A&T, NCCU Alumni Association, Pi Kappa Phi Foundation of Charlotte, Sigma Xi – The Scientific Research Society of RTP, The Development Foundation of Western Carolina University, UNC-Asheville Foundation, UNC at Pembroke, and Wingate University.
