CAMARILLO, CA--(MARKET WIRE)--Oct 26, 2007 -- International Card Establishment, Inc.
(I.C.E.) (OTC BB:ICRD.OB - News) today announced that it intends
to launch a unique Community Card program in the Thousand Oaks, California area in January
2008. The community card will enable local residents to earn rebates from participating merchants while also benefiting local school
districts and charities. Merchants will not have to pay any fees to enroll in the program
and will rebate a percentage of each participating customer's purchase to the consumer.
Here is how it works: I.C.E. will sell the Community Card to local residents through its sales teams. Each sales team may include
students or other fund raising groups, such as a little league team. Participating residents benefit by receiving rebates from local businesses,
merchants benefit from additional business and local school districts and charities
benefit from contributions made by I.C.E. I.C.E. will pay their salesmen, whether students or fund raising group, a portion of the
proceeds from the initial card sale. I.C.E. will contribute a portion of those proceeds to
the school district or local charity. I.C.E. will send a check to the Community Card holder for his or her cumulative rebates
on a periodic basis. The Community Card will be automatically renewed, subject to an
annual fee, by credit card at the end of each term.
One problem that many gift and rewards programs face is
convincing the consumer to carry an additional card in their wallet. Many consumers
already feel inundated with credit and other plastic cards that overstuff
their wallets. To overcome this objection, I.C.E.'s Community Card program
allows consumers to earn rebates by simply using their existing credit and debit cards, including Visa, MasterCard, and American Express
as their Community Card. Once the consumer registers their credit or debit card of
choice, they will earn rebates automatically from participating merchants
by using the designated card for payment.
Consumers will also be able to monitor their savings by logging on to a dedicated I.C.E. website. Merchants will likewise have a dedicated I.C.E.
website to track how much additional business they generated by their participation in the Community Card program.
I.C.E. recently conducted a beta test with 12 student-salesmen selling for three hours per day on Saturday and Sunday. During this six-hour period,
they sold in excess of 100 cards at $20 per card.
Separately, the company announced that M.A.G. Capital, LLC, I.C.E.'s
largest shareholder, extended a $500,000 line of credit to enable I.C.E. to
launch the Community Card program. The line of credit provides for monthly
interest only payments at 8.5% per annum, with principal due 18 months from
the date of each advance.
"This initiative is a creative way to grow our existing revenue base
through a new sales channel that draws on our gift and rewards expertise
and transaction processing experience," said William Lopshire, CEO, I.C.E.
"While, like all new ventures there are significant risks, the potential
returns of the Community Card program are significant. Assuming a
successful launch in the Thousand Oaks, California area, we plan to expand
the Community Card program to several other local communities with
populations generally exceeding 100,000 residents."
Mr. Lopshire went on to add, "There are literally hundreds of communities
that fit this demographic criteria in California alone."
About I.C.E.
http://www.cardnetone.com
I.C.E. is a rapidly growing provider of diversified products and services
to the electronic transaction processing industry. I.C.E. establishes
merchant accounts for businesses that enable them to accept credit cards,
debit cards and other forms of electronic payments; supplies point-of-sale
systems; facilitates processing; and markets a proprietary "Smart Card"-based system that enables merchants to offer
store-branded gift and loyalty cards.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release may contain forward-looking statements that are subject
to risks and uncertainties. Important factors which could cause actual
results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements,
include but are not limited to: the company's short operating history which
makes it difficult to predict its future results of operations; the
company's initial history of operating losses with possible future losses
which could impede its ability to address the risks and difficulties
encountered by companies in new and rapidly evolving markets; the company's
future operating results could fluctuate which may cause volatility or a
decline in the price of the company's stock; the possibility that the
company may not be able to price its services above the overall cost
causing its financial results to suffer; and other factors detailed in this
press release and in future company filings with the Securities and
Exchange Commission, at such time as the company is required to report its
results of operations under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as
amended.
