Credit Counseling

• Profits and losses In recent times, credit card portfolios have been very profitable for banks, largely due to the booming economy of the overdue nineties

• However, in the case of kudos cards, such great returns go hand in hand with risk, since the business is most one of making unsecured (uncollateralized) loans, and thus dependent on borrowers not to default in considerable numbers.

"Soft fraud" is fraud committed by the customer himself: getting a card and using it with no intention ever to repay the balance. Such customers are called "diabolicals" by the credit card companies; they try to avoid them at all cost.