NextCard was a credit card issuer seeking to exploit the growing e-commerce market in the United States. It was founded in 1996, saw a successful initial public offering in 1999, and became an affiliate of Amazon.com, the largest online retailer. The year 2000 was a year of growth for NextCard, with the number of accounts more than trebling, to nearly three quarters of a million. However, on October 31, 2001, NextCard was placed under "new regulatory .....more