ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, July 19, 1996 TAG: 9607190076
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NEW YORK
SOURCE: Associated Press
AT&T confirmed Thursday that it is considering ending a program that sends MasterCards to AT&T calling card customers without their permission.
AT&T has been sending letters since April to some of its calling-card holders, alerting them they will soon receive an AT&T Universal MasterCard. Unless the customers call an 800 number to cancel the mailing, they get the MasterCard, which replaces their calling card.
An internal memo that went out July 11 from David Hunt, chief executive of AT&T Universal Card Services, defends the program but says, ``We cannot discount the negative impact of the recent news coverage.''
Mitchel Montagna, an AT&T Universal Card spokesman, said Thursday that his company has not decided whether to end the mailings, which he described as a ``'' Montagna would not say how many cards had gone out or how many people had called to activate them.
Ruth Susswein, president of Bankcard Holders of America, a consumer advocacy group, said her group worries that customers could unknowingly toss a card solicitation, or that someone could steal a card out of the mail and use it.
Montagna said AT&T has taken steps, which he could not specify, to prevent theft or fraudulent use of the cards.
The mailings are legal but ``just this side of the law,'' Susswein said.
``Credit card issuers are not allowed to send a card unsolicited through the mail unless it is a replacement card. The question is, is it a replacement card? AT&T says yes, it is. But I think they are certainly stretching the definition to its limit.''
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