Credit and Debit Card Notes

• CardForum reports that commercial banks charge-offs rose to $3.5 billion in the fourth quarter of last year, an increase of 26 percent over the same quarter of 2000. The charge-off rate for the quarter rose to 6.26 percent from 4.35 percent in the earlier quarter. Data are reported by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

• Do you have an i-GEN MasterCard? Since you are probably not a teenager, you may not have one. The card is issued by Next Estate and is a personalized prepaid card that is apparently directed towards teenagers. Until recently, the card's use was confined to about 3,600 Rite-Aid stores in 30 states. Now, Next has signed up the Pantry, Inc. to accept the card at its 1,325 convenience stores in the southeast. A customer buys a card for a fee of $3.95 and loads on between $20 and $500. The consumer then activates the card at the retail outlet by calling a toll-free number. Next then mails the card within about five days Additional amounts can be added at any Rite-Aid store.