Introduction:
CardWorks Servicing—previously known as Cardholder Management Services, or CMS—was founded in 1987 to provide servicing, operational support, and portfolio management to North American credit card issuers. The company is now a nationally recognized leader in the bankcard servicing industry, supporting a wide variety of credit cards, national debit cards, pre-funded cards, and other unique card products. CardWorks Servicing also provides third-party customer service, collections, risk management, and portfolio management services to more than 6 million total MasterCard® and Visa® card accounts.
CardWorks Servicing is the largest privately held provider of outsourcing support services for bankcard-related products to clients in the US and Canada, and is a subsidiary of CardWorks, Inc. Merrick Bank is an FDIC-insured Industrial Loan Corporation that issues non-prime credit cards and stored value cards, and is also a subsidiary of CardWorks, Inc.
Timeline:
2008: CardWorks, Inc. acquires the operating assets of Pay-By-Touch Processing, Inc. and forms two new operating companies: CardWorks Processing and CardWorks Acquiring.
2007: CMS changes its name to CardWorks Servicing in order to better reflect the full scope of its comprehensive bankcard services.
2004: CardWorks partners with ORCC to provide enhanced web-based card products and services to card issuers.
2003: CardWorks signs a Successor Servicer Agreement with MBIA that enables CWS to take over the tracking and collection of credit card accounts for the private label programs of Spiegel, Eddie Bauer and Newport News catalogs and specialty stores, totaling $2 billion in receivables.
2002: Merrick Bank becomes a Top 30 Issuer, while CWS surpasses the 2 million mark in the number of accounts serviced and managed.
2002: In a joint venture with Salomon Smith Barney and Goldman, Sachs & Co., CardWorks acquires 1.3 million sub-prime credit card accounts from Providian Financial Corporation. The company receives the Asset Backed Security (ABS) Deal of the Year award for its work on the deal.
2001: CardWorks, Inc. is formed as the parent company of CWS and Merrick Bank.
1999: CWS opens its second servicing facility in Pittsburgh, PA.
1997: CWS establishes the Merrick Bank Corporation, an FDIC-insured Industrial Loan Corporation, to extend credit to an underserved consumer market exclusively through non-prime MasterCard® and Visa® cards.
1989: CWS begins to provide consulting services to non-bank entrants to the credit card business.
1987: CardWorks Servicing is founded under the name Cardholder Management Services, or CMS, to provide servicing and operational support to credit card issuers with new or small portfolios.