SYF
#We are not seeing that.
Our partners are not asking us to go deeper.
I think we have been very consistent since the crisis in our underwriting.
We have not changed underwriting.
Our portfolio has remained fairly consistent since 2011.
So I think this is where the goal should be not going necessarily deeper but ensuring that you are bringing the value and sales in another way, through marketing, through being innovative, through driving channel integration and really working it that way.
We control underwriting, it is something we feel we have to do when we do our contracts.
So that is something that I think is really important from a safety and soundness perspective from our bank and we work with the retailers.
There are many other ways to grow programs without having to necessarily always dig deeper.
I don't know, <UNK>, if you would mention really how the portfolio (multiple speakers).
The underwriting profile is very consistent with where it has been and the average FICO by account is 711, exactly flat to last year.
78% of the new accounts since 2010 are prime credits above 660 FICO.
And then if you look at the total portfolio, 72% of the accounts are prime credits above 660 FICO when that is flat to last year as well.
The overall credit profile continues to be very stable.
Yes, obviously when we launched that new value proposition we did a lot of modeling initially because we knew the through the door population of people applying for accounts was going to change and so that is part of the reason why if you remember when we launched it we launched it with a soft launch because we wanted to monitor the mix of consumers and we wanted to make sure that we were sizing lines appropriately, that it was a good experience for the prime customer, that we were generating incremental sales for Amazon.
So we had a lot of things that we were measuring but one of the big ones for the credit program was the revolver versus transactors.
And we have monitored it is coming in pretty close to what we forecast.
So far very much in line with our expectations.
And obviously the point you made is a good one which is part of why you see loyalty expense growing a little bit faster than interchange because that is a program where we do have a very attractive value proposition but we don't charge interchange to Amazon.
So there is an offset in the RSA.
It is all part of that restructuring of that agreement and part of the extension that we did with Amazon when we launched the new value proposition.
I think that varies retailer by retailer but I think if you take the whole formula of what we do, the retail is always looking to fund greater loyalty to their brand and their card.
And we have retailers who take some of the earnings off of the RSA and plow it right back into additional offers.
So it varies across.
I think the reality is right now everyone is ---+ <UNK> mentioned it early ---+ retailer sales have not been necessarily sellers.
So our retailers and our partners are really looking to us to work with them to really make sure we are continuing to get the right offers out there but the more engaged the retailer is usually the better the program performances.
And it is not really a new phenomenon.
You have to remember we did Lowe's 5% off a few years back.
I think you are seeing more of this now.
But it is a mix as well as maybe doing a little bit less one-off promotions, doing more on an everyday value prop.
Again, this is where we are using our data analytics to really determine what is the best value proposition to get the consumer to come in to spend more and so we are always looking at optimizing that mix between the one-off promotion and the everyday value prop.
We are in a full rollout now.
That really happened over holiday.
The marketing around it, it is targeted marketing and Amazon controls a lot of that but the program is performing very well, in line with our expectations and we are pleased with the marketing and the advertising around it.
We continue to see good volumes on the Amazon program.
I obviously can't get real specific around it but we were really excited when we launched it and it is performing in line with our expectations.
I would say that is why we are pretty excited.
We have been working with Walmart since 1999 and most of the value prop on the card has been kind of more pulsing promotional types of things like $0.05 or $0.10 off gas or something like that or some other types of offering.
So to get a consistent value prop that is every day use is really a big deal because that is when the consistency and the usage of the card goes up and obviously Walmart is a big retailer so we are pretty excited about it.
It is hard for us to get specific around an individual program.
You can take a look and what Walmart sales are in the US and you can calculate your own percentage but Walmart continues to be a significant growth opportunity for us.
Yes, sure.
Obviously we had a very strong quarter.
We are really pleased with the overall growth.
The only thing I would point out is the back half the comps get tougher.
If the trends continue, we could be a little bit better.
We are really pleased when we look across the portfolio, all three platforms growing really well, all the underlying dynamics in line or better than what we expected.
So we are really pleased with how we started the year.
We are not going to update guidance.
I would just remind you that the comps get a little bit tougher but as you pointed out, the start of the year has been really strong.
So I think you've got to put this in the context of kind of the overall portfolio and how we manage it and we are always looking to extend relationships.
We never let the relationship go to the end of the term before we start having dialogue.
In most cases, if something comes up like a new value prop launch that is very significant or they want to roll out a dual card or something like that.
So I would just say that this is a constant part of how we manage the overall portfolio and we are always engaging with partners to ensure that we renew them before the end of the term.
I think we will have to see how the competitive environment plays out.
I think this is where we have to do a really good job delivering for our customers and really ensuring that we actually give them no reason to RFP and try to engage with them as early as possible and we have had great success with that over the long-term relationships that we have had.
I just want to clarify one point.
I mentioned the 29%.
I just want to make sure people know it is online sales were up 29% year-over-year and if you compare that to what is happening overall in the industry, that is about 14% to 15%.
So it is online sales.
I didn't want to confuse anyone there because it might have got misinterpreted.
So just want to clarify.
