TNB, MasterCard Unveil Family Account Program

TNB Card Services, Dallas, and MasterCard International, Purchase, N.Y., have introduced a credit card tool designed to help families teach young people how to handle their finances responsibly.

The MasterCard® Family Account™ is designed to allow families to set up credit card subaccounts for individual members that are tied to the main account controlled by a parent or guardian. The Family Account is a credit card solution, says Rollie Penn, executive vice president of TNB Card Services, "that offers a unique combination of control and convenience for everyone in the family."

The account features one shared credit line assigned to the primary cardholder, typically a parent or other supervising adult. The primary cardholder determines who receives a subaccount and sets the spending limit for each individual cardholder. Accounts are linked, yet individually numbered. This provides independence for individual cardholders, yet maintains a safety net of parental supervision.

This provides an ideal setting for adolescents and others to learn how to responsibly manage their money and debt. "The MasterCard Family Account provides TNB and its credit unions with an edge in responding to the diverse payment needs facing today's families by providing their cardholders a customizable offering featuring the control and convenience they demand," says Brian Stangle, MasterCard’s vice president, product development.

Account benefits include flexible payment arrangements, which allow individual cardholders to make their own payments or channel all the payments through the primary cardholder, to be allocated to the related accounts. "The MasterCard Family Account can help our credit union clients tap into the youth market and build relationships that can last a lifetime," says Penn. "As we work with credit unions to help young people grow into smart money managers and consumers, everyone benefits."

At Government Employees Credit Union of El Paso, Texas, the first issuer of cards under a Family Account pilot program, the cards proved popular in a market where the primarily Hispanic population traditionally tends to prefer cash vs. credit. Jesus Medrano, Government Employees’ card services manager, says the credit union saw "excellent feedback from parents about the fact that they’re able to control and monitor their children’s funds and their spending trends, and that they can be sure the funds are being used for their intended purpose."

As members became more aware of the Family Account program, which Government Employees rolled out in April 2003, Medrano says, "We found that we were selling people on cards who hadn’t really been interested in cards before because of the family orientation of this product."

For information, call TNB Card Services at 888-742-0260, or visit www.mastercardbusiness.com.