Personal snapshots now can cover a credit card

BY STEVE JORDON
OMAHA WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
July 26, 2004

At last, Americans will get a chance to put the pictures they want on their credit cards.

Fido. Your '57 Chevy. Grandkids. You at the beach. A child's drawing.

Almost anything that's in your own snapshots, clothed and in good taste.

First National Bank of Omaha is rolling out what it calls the One of a Card Visa, opening the world of credit card design to its 2 million credit card holders and new customers it hopes to recruit.

First National said it will be the first credit card in the United States that will let users cover the full card with a photo, and possibly the first in the world. Some cards insert small head shots.

"It allows you to show your personality whenever you shop," said George Schmelzel, senior vice president for marketing. "It's a card that is truly unique to the customer, a card that they'll be proud of and want to use and hopefully keep with them for years."

With several hundred million credit cards circulating, credit card issuers such as First National look for ways for a card to stand out and be used frequently.

Consumer tests indicate that people like the custom-photo cards partly because of the reactions they get from merchants, Schmelzel said. "It can turn an ordinary transaction into a conversation."

It's an easy system for people who have Internet access and digital images. Starting Thursday, a One of a Card Visa link will appear on First National's Web site, www.firstnational.com.

Advertising for the card will start Aug. 29 in Omaha and some other markets - including Sacramento, Calif.; Cincinnati and Dayton, Ohio; and parts of Colorado - to determine the best way to market the cards.

By the end of the year, the customized cards should be available nationwide, Schmelzel said. Customers will be able to change the images on their cards twice a year at no charge and for $4.50 per card after that, with the amount rebated if they use the card within 60 days.

The computer software was developed by Serverside Graphics Ltd. of London. By clicking on the Web site, you bring up a card template showing the account number, the Visa logo and other data.

Then you choose an image, shrink or enlarge it, rotate it, add a decorative border if you want, and arrange it as it will appear on the card. A few more clicks send it to the bank electronically.

At First National's data center in downtown Omaha, the images will be reviewed to make sure they are within the guidelines set by Visa International, then sent to equipment that prints and mails them to customers in a week or two.

People who repeatedly submit "unacceptable" images will be excluded from the service. "There certainly are some boundaries," Schmelzel said. "The images have to be in good taste."

Schmelzel said he already has designed his own card, which shows his 5-month-old puppy. "It was so easy to do."

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