Ecount News & Press Releases
Introducing the Chase i-Card - A Rewarding Experience Both Online and Off
Cardholders Earn a 1% Reward on All Purchases To Be Redeemed With Online Gift Certificates
NEW YORK, JULY 17, 2001 - Eight out of ten Internet users will buy products and services online by the year 2003. Designed to meet customer demand and preferences around online use, Chase today announced the launch of the Chase i-Card, a new credit card featuring a flexible reward program and a host of other online features. Interested cardholders can apply for the Chase i-Card online or offline. Rewards are received in the form of a Webcertificate™, the online gift certificate developed by Ecount.
Chase i-Card customers will earn a 1% reward on each purchase made with the card. When a value of $10.00 in rewards is reached, Ecount will send an e-mail notification to the cardholder that a Webcertificate reward has been earned. This online gift certificate is a re-loadable Prepaid online debit card that can be used to shop anywhere MasterCard is accepted.
The new Chase i-Card also offers a suite of Chase online services including:
A free Chase Companion e-wallet to store account numbers and addresses in one location and organize merchant records to make shopping online faster, easier and safer Online Account Access to get instant, secure information on your Chase i-Card account any time of day, as well as other online financial management tools Chase Online Shopping Guarantee providing security to cardholders by guaranteeing they will not be held liable for any unauthorized online purchases Special Chase online offers to take advantage of monthly discounts from select merchants
In addition to the rewards and other valuable benefits and services, the Chase i-Card has no annual fee and a low introductory Annual Percentage Rate (APR) of 2.99% for six months on all purchases and balance transfers. The card also provides worldwide acceptance at more than 16 million locations and offers cash access at over 880,000 banks and ATM locations worldwide.
"The messages that we're hearing loud and clear from our customers are around providing an incentive for credit card purchases and making it easier and more rewarding and secure to shop online with a Chase credit card," said Patricia Tiffany, Vice President of e-Business marketing at Chase. "The new Chase i-Card gives our cardholders a flexible reward program that is easy to use and good anywhere MasterCard is accepted. In addition to the unique reward program and money-saving benefits, the i-Card also provides all of the security, convenience and robust functionality for online use."
"We are excited to provide Chase with an innovative and powerful reward program for their i-Card," said Matt Gillin, President and CEO of Ecount, the developers of Webcertificate.com. "The combination of i-Card's robust suite of online services, with Webcertificate's unparalleled ease of use and acceptance, delivers a winning value proposition to Internet savvy consumers."
Ecount develops and supports "next generation" stored value cards, virtual accounts, and electronic payment solutions. Through its proprietary payments platform, Ecount facilitates payments of any type: business-to-person; person-to-business; person-to-person; and business-to-business. With an extensive line of product applications, Ecount delivers turnkey offerings to financial institutions, marketing organizations, affinity groups, web communities, and leading businesses in other key industry segments. To date, more than 320 companies, including 23 of the Fortune 100, have utilized one of Ecount's e-payment solutions. A Forbes "Best of the Web" award winner, Ecount is a privately held company headquartered in Conshohocken, PA. For more information on Ecount, visit http://www.corp.ecount.com. For more information on Ecount's Webcertificate program, visit http://www.webcertificate.com.
Chase's credit card portfolio, issued and owned by Chase Manhattan Bank USA, N.A., has more than 20 million accounts and over $38 billion in outstandings. Chase is the fourth largest bankcard issuer in the United States, and its joint venture with First Data Corporation is the largest merchant acquirer in the U.S.
J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM, www.jpmorganchase.com) is a premier global financial services firm with assets in excess of $714 billion and operations in more than 50 countries. The firm is a leader in investment banking, asset management, private equity, custody and transaction services, retail and middle market financial services and e-finance. Headquartered in New York, JPMorgan Chase serves over 30 million consumer customers and the world's most prominent corporate, institutional, and government clients.