New Cards

Carroll County's public assistance and food stamp recipients, approximately 1,500 of them, didn't get welfare checks or food stamps in the mail this month.Instead, they got new cards that allow them to withdraw cash from MOST automatic teller machines and pay with plastic at the supermarket.The conversion "is going very well, considering," said David Ensor, assistant director for income maintenance at the Carroll County Department of Social Services.He said the staff found only a few glitches, such as incorrect codes entered into the computer.

NEW YORK -- As General Motors, General Electric and other corporate giants rush into the lucrative credit card business, you may be bewildered by the cacophony of bells and whistles used to hawk the new plastic.Today, credit cards offer cheaper appliances, discounted phone calls, lower-priced cars, free plane trips and cash rebates. Gone are the days when you'd whip out a Visa or MasterCard simply to make big purchases easier.But before reaching for one of the new cards, be careful. You might pay for such bonuses through high interest rates, annual fees or by having to shop at stores that may not have the best prices.

General Motors Corp. is expected to announce today that it will issue a new MasterCard -- and possibly a Visa credit card -- designed to build loyalty among car buyers.Although the world's largest automaker has been tight-lipped about the card, GM executives and analysts said the card's features include no annual fee and an interest rate set at 10.4 percentage points above the prime rate, now 6 percent.That matches the lowest primary rate, now offered by American Telephone & Telegraph Co., although some cards offer lower rates for the best customers.

Pacific Trading Cards' fifth edition of Major Soccer League Cards is out. The set has 170 cards, down from last season's record 220, and is available in packs of 12 and factory sets.This is a sharp-looking set and makes a quantum leap past its predecessors. Card stock is better, and card style is more sophisticated.Card fronts have Pacific's customary glossy coating (don't sort your cards lying on the sofa -- they're likely to slip-slide all over the place). Angles are in, with the left border widening to a near-triangle to accommodate a vertical nameline, as another triangle runs along the bottom, giving team affiliation and position.

They're back -- smaller but better.Topps is bringing back its 1953 baseball cards. The '53s were larger than today's cards (2 5/8 x 3 3/4 vs. today's standard 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 ), and they came in wax packs with gum. Factory sets didn't exist.The new '53s, which are in hobby shops, are cards of the '90s. They're printed on Stadium Club-quality stock, are modern-era-sized and go by the name Topps Archives -- The Ultimate 1953 Set. They come 12 to a pack, wrapped in foil and sell for $1.25 a pack -- no gum included -- and, in a classic touch, no factory sets.

NEW YORK -- Computer technology has come to the aid of health care administration.A new microcomputer with the look, size and function of a credit card can help both doctors and insurance companies rid themselves of paper gridlock, say makers of a product known as Onecard.The card is designed to store medical and health care claims information, and to extend patients a credit line for their treatment. Ultimately, cards will be distributed by insurance companies that agree to participate in the system.

Lenders call bankruptcy a "10-year mistake," because it can be listed on credit reports for up to 10 years.But in reality, just months after declaring bankruptcy you might be able to get new credit cards -- or even a home mortgage. There's plenty of credit available, even though it will probably cost more following a bankruptcy.In fact, one study of credit bureau reports in the Northeast showed that people who declared bankruptcy were able to obtain credit six months after filing for bankruptcy, according to the Credit Research Center at Purdue University.

Consumers finally are beginning to see some downwar movement in credit-card interest rates as competition builds among card issuers."Competition is definitely heating up," says Gail Liberman, editor of Bank Rate Monitor, a weekly newsletter. "What's happening is that a number of banks are coming out with additional credit cards that are aggressively priced."Robert McKinley of Frederick-Md. based RAM Research, a credit-card tracking service, believes pressures will mount on the nation's top 10 card issuers to trim their rates before year's end.The top 10 issuers, which control over half the market, have kept interest rates above 19 percent despite the fact that other rates have fallen substantially.

Can collecting pictures of baseball players inside tiny viewers stir even half the passion of collecting baseball cards?Christian Kirby, Diana Shade and Stephen Farley hope so.The three are principals of Baltimore-based Sports View Inc. The new company manufactures and markets color slides of popular Major League Baseball players -- such as Cal Ripken Jr., Nolan Ryan and Dwight Gooden -- inside a telescopic viewer imprinted with the player's team logo.The...