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Store cards had some success stories, particularly Dayton Hudson's Target card, but many other retail cards lost ground last year.
It was, except for a few small growth companies, an essentially flat year for most private-label card issuers. Several of the leaders, Household Retail Services, JC Penney Co. Inc., Beneficial National Bank USA, and Banc One Private Label Credit Services actually declined in terms of outstandings.
However, most of the declines were negligible; for instance, Banc One's outstandings slipped from $2.51 billion a year ago to $2.35 billion this year. But two declines were notable; SPS Payment Systems Inc., Riverwoods, Ill., lost nearly $350 million in outstandings, slipping from $2.22 billion to $1.89 billion, due mainly to writing off bad debt. And JC Penney, Dallas, dropped $285 million, from $5.01 billion to $4.72 billion, and lost over two million cardholders, finishing 1997 with 14.8 million.
Among the few issuers to show a major gain were Minneapolis-based Dayton Hudson Corp., which jumped 11% to $2.42 billion from $2.18 billion a year ago; Jackson, Miss.-based Proffit's Inc., whose acquisition of Carson Pirie Scott doubled its outstandings from $421 million to $880 million;...