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 CMS to take over the tracking and collection of 4 million 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 CMS 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: CMS opens its second servicing facility in Pittsburgh, PA.
1997: CMS 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: CMS 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.