At&T; May Abandon Credit Card Venture

AT&T confirmed Thursday that it is considering ending a program that sends MasterCards to AT&T calling card customers without their permission.

AT&T has been sending letters since April to some of its callingcard holders, alerting them they will soon receive an AT&T Universal MasterCard. Unless the customer calls an 800 number to cancel the mailing, they get the MasterCard, which replaces their calling card.

An internal memo that went out last Thursday from David Hunt, chief executive of AT&T Universal Card Services, defends the program but says, “We cannot discount the negative impact of the recent news coverage.”

Mitchel Montagna, an AT&T Universal Card spokesman, said Thursday that his company has not decided whether to end the mailings, which he described as a “test” program that went out to a small number of credit-worthy AT&T cardholders.

As with most other credit cards sent in the mail, the card is inactive until the customer calls a toll-free number to activate it. A card that is not activated is only good for charging telephone calls.