Surf City Parents Charged Up Over Credit Card Fiasco

Huntington Beach officials do want people to sign up for their revenue-generating Surf City credit card -- just not as badly as it may have seemed in recent days.

Because of a direct-mailing fiasco, dozens, maybe hundreds, of children mistakenly received invitations to apply for a city-endorsed U.S. Bank Visa card.

As many as 200 parents have called the city this week to complain, officials said. Dave Biggs, city economic development director, has been fielding the calls.

Biggs said he could sympathize with the angry parents.

When he picked up his family’s mail Saturday, he found two solicitation letters addressed to his sons, he said.

“They’re 10 and 7,” Biggs said. “And I thought to myself, uh-oh.... We are absolutely horrified that this happened.”

The city does not sell mailing lists, he said. But last fall, it did provide U.S. Bank with a list of 22,300 names and addresses of people who have used community services programs.

The city has a deal with the bank to issue Surf City credit cards. The so-called affinity cards allow the issuing bank to target a specific group of potential customers in exchange for a share of revenue. For every Surf City card issued, Huntington Beach receives $20, and for every $100 charged, the city receives 10.4 cents. The money supports city services, including parks and cultural programs.

On Jan. 31, the bank sent a letter to 18,000 people from the list, some of them children, inviting them to apply for a card.

None of the children would have actually received a credit card, Biggs said, because applicants must be at least 18.

Many parents fear that their children would now be targeted for more solicitations, Biggs said. But that won’t happen because the list “can’t be used [by] or sold to a third party.”