If there's enough money to pay off gift card-holders after more senior creditors are satisfied, cardholders will be compensated for their losses, but often at a discount to the face value of their cards.
MBNA says: 'We do get a lot of people transferring from store cards and this is where you often get the biggest saving.' Other cardholders will make much more modest savings.
They've been carefully crafting Brex's list of partners over the last year and say their cardholders will earn roughly 20percentt more rewards on Brex than from any competitor program.
Then, sometime next year, the Continental cardholders will receive new Explorer cards to replace their Continental cards.
Cardholders will get discounts at retail outlets and restaurants, and "preferential treatment at designated hospitals".
(Current cardholders will not have to pay annual fees for their authorized users' cards for now).
For a $25 annual fee, cardholders will be enrolled in a basic rewards program.
Citigroup cardholders will then have until the end of January to turn down the higher interest rates.
Current cardholders will receive a refund directly to their account, and former cardholders will receive a check or have any outstanding balance reduced by the amount of the refund.
Eventually, cardholders will be able to identify themselves with the likes of one-time passwords or fingerprint biometrics, and even a wristband which authenticates a cardholder through their unique cardiac rhythm.
