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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

CardService International Lays Off 84 After Merger

CardService International Lays Off 84 After Merger By SLAV KANDYBA Staff Reporter CardService International, a Moorpark-based credit card payment services company, has laid off 84 employees about 20 percent of its workforce, a company spokesperson said. The layoffs occurred in April as a result of the firm’s acquisition by Colorado-based First Data Corp. in 2002. The lost jobs were at the company’s call center operations in Moorpark, which were consolidated with First Data’s Maryland operations. “There was a lot of redundancy,” said Samantha Smith, a spokesperson for CardService. “In order to merge the company successfully those things needed to be in the same place.” CardService International was established in 1988 and processes more than $12 billion in electronic transactions annually. It has a worldwide customer base of 200,000 merchants, 295 independently owned sales offices and 3,000 sales representatives. The firm provides advanced risk management and customer service in more than 140 languages and dialects. When CardService issued a layoffs notice to the state and local economic development agencies, it didn’t come as a total surprise to Moorpark city officials. “We knew there was some consolidation about a year ago,” said Julie Hernandez, a senior analyst for economic development with the City of Moorpark. “When the first wave of consolidation happened, there was a lot of movement.” When the 84 employees were notified, the Ventura County Economic Development department’s Rapid Response Team contacted CardService to provide outplacement services for affected employees. A resume and interviewing workshop was held at the company. CardService has plans to offset some of the job losses by the end of July, when about 40 positions will become available as result of the relocation of the payments system of Concord EFS Inc., which was acquired by First Data in February, Smith said. As far as the City of Moorpark is concerned, job cuts at CardService are not part of any trend in the city, Hernandez said. In fact, it’s the opposite. “Our companies here seem to be growing and doing well,” Hernandez said. She added companies are contacting her office inquiring about doing business in the city.

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