See more articles from The Washington Post

ATT entered the hotly competitive credit card market yesterday with its "Universal Card," a combination calling card and credit card that will give customers a host of free services including buyer protection, rental car insurance and warranty extensions on products purchased with the card.

The New York-based long-distance company said that customers who get the card this year and continue to use it at least once annually will not be charged annual fees-ever.

"We guarantee no annual fee for life, as long as customers use the card at least once a year," said Paul Kahn, president of American Telephone & Telegraph Co.'s Universal Card Services Corp. "No credit card company has ever made ...