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Article: Amex launching an array of Optima products. (American Express)
- Article from:
- American Banker
- Article date:
- August 4, 1994
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1994 SourceMedia, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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American Express Co. has learned some hard lessons about credit cards. but now it feels it is ready to graduate to the real world.
And this time. the financial services giant says it is in the revolving credit business for keeps.
The Optima card was American Express' first experience with revolving credit, and it turned out to be a disaster. Early Optima card borrowers defaulted at a high rate, costing American Express $192 million in chargeoffs at the nadir in the second quarter of 1992, and a total of $1.4 billion since the product's introduction in 1987.
Optima customers were supposed to be a safe bet because they had already proved their creditworthiness by ...