<<BEAVERTON -- A beleaguered Beaverton bank with 1,200 Oregon employees will shutter a big chunk of its credit card operations unless it finds a buyer for them in the next three months.
Meantime, an auditor of the bank's parent company, the Spiegel Group, is expressing "substantial doubt" about the company's future.
First Consumers National Bank manages MasterCard and Visa accounts nationwide and retail credit cards for Spiegel Group holdings, including Eddie Bauer, Newport News and Spiegel Catalog.
Under a federal cease-and-desist order, the 14-year-old business must dissolve itself as a bank, forfeiting its credit card lending authority, and sell or liquidate its MasterCard and Visa business by April 30.
It's unclear what will happen to the bank's employees or how many jobs might be at risk. The company's Oregon employees work interchangeably on the retail and credit card operations.
Debbie Koopman, vice president for corporate and investor relations for the Spiegel Group, said it would be "unfair to speculate" whether any employees would lose their job. It will depend on whether anyone acquires the credit card business.
Either way, Koopman said, some Beaverton employees will continue to manage the retail credit card operation.
She didn't know how many card holders the bank has.
At the end of 2001, the bank's credit card customers had $1.3 billion in outstanding balances and its retail credit card holders had $2.3 billion, Koopman said.
If Spiegel can't find a buyer, anyone who owns a First Consumers MasterCard or Visa probably would have to stop using the card as they pay off the balance after April 31, Koopman said. ...>>
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