AT&T MAY END UNSOLICITED MAILINGS OF MASTERCARDS.Byline: Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. 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 customer calls 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 David James Fletcher Hunt, Baron Hunt of Wirral, PC, MBE (born 21 May 1942), is an English Conservative politician, and was a member of the Cabinet during the Margaret Thatcher and John Major administrations. , chief executive of AT&T Universal Card Services The software support for PC Cards. PC Card applications talk to Card Services. See PC Card. , defended the program but said, ``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 ``test'' program that went out to a small number of credit-worthy AT&T card holders. Montagna would not say how many cards had gone out or how many people had called to activate them. As with most other credit cards sent in the mail, the card is inactive in·ac·tive adj. 1. Not active or tending to be active. 2. a. Not functioning or operating; out of use: inactive machinery. b. until the customer calls a toll-free number to activate it. A card that is not activated is only good for charging telephone calls. Ruth Susswein, president of Bankcard bank·card n. A card issued by a bank authorizing the holder to receive bank services and often functioning as a debit card. Holders of America, a consumer advocacy group, said her group worries that customers could unknowingly toss a card solicitation solicitation In criminal law, the act of asking, inducing, or directing someone to commit a crime. The person soliciting another becomes an accomplice to the crime. The term also refers to the act of obtaining bribes, as well as to the crime of a prostitute who offers sexual 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. |
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