Give Me Some Credit! (Updated)



I noticed long ago that I get a lot of credit card offers. Beyond the standard junk mail and insurance offers (probably a topic for another post), credit card offers come weekly. But what really started to catch my eye was that it was the same offer, over and over again: Barclay Card, Capitol One and Discover. I would make a joke of it, "Look! An offer for Barclay Card!" So, I decided to start collecting them, to see how often they really do come. I started this project in early March, and the stack of offers is so high, I'm declaring an end to it. Here are my findings:



Barclay Card: 16 offers
Discover Card: 13 offers
Capitol One: 19 offers
Grand total: 38 credit card offers from three companies in 6 months

This is (with the exception of just a couple from Capitol One) all for one person in our household! These mailers are heavy, high quality printing, and in the case of Discover, glossy. They are not cheap to produce, and cannot be cheap to mail. How much money do credit card companies spend, saturating the market with these mailers?





ORIGINAL POST, 6/20/14:


The Other Half and I have each had our troubles with credit in our lives, thankfully at separate times, and also thankfully in the distant past. But I'm amazed at how much the credit card companies want our business. After years of offers, about six weeks ago, I decided to start collecting the offers, just to see how often they really come. To date: 5 Capital One Card, 5 Barclay Card, 3 Discover Card. In all, 13 offers from three companies in six weeks. Even more odd, only one was for me! I guess I've been out of debt so long, they don't think I'm interested any more?

But keep this in mind, next time you wonder why your interest rates are so high: how much money are they spending on these repeated, excessive, expensive, glossy mailers?

Give Me Some Credit!

Click to embiggen

The Other Half and I have each had our troubles with credit in our lives, thankfully at separate times, and also thankfully in the distant past. But I'm amazed at how much the credit card companies want our business. After years of offers, about six weeks ago, I decided to start collecting the offers, just to see how often they really come. To date: 5 Capital One Card, 5 Barclay Card, 3 Discover Card. In all, 13 offers from three companies in six weeks. Even more odd, only one was for me! I guess I've been out of debt so long, they don't think I'm interested any more?

But keep this in mind, next time you wonder why your interest rates are so high: how much money are they spending on these repeated, excessive, expensive, glossy mailers?

Florida Republican Party Staffer Charged $1.3 Million to RNC Credit Card

Uh oh. Republicans are so naughty, aren't they?

[Excerpt]

Junior Florida Republican Party staffer had $1.3 million charged to party credit card

She was a 25-year-old junior staffer when the Florida Republican Party gave her an American Express card.

Over the next 2½ years, nearly $1.3 million in charges wound up on Melanie Phister's AmEx — $40,000 at a London hotel, and nearly $20,000 in plane tickets for indicted former House Speaker Ray Sansom, his wife and kids, for starters. Statements show thousands spent on jewelry, sporting goods and in one case $15,000 for what's listed as a month-long stay at a posh Miami Beach hotel, but which the party says was a forfeited deposit. . .

Read more at: St. Petersberg Times

Consumer Financial Protection Spokesperson: Heidi Montag?

You've got to hand it to Funny or Die. They've been masterful at using the frivolous and fluffy for important messages. . .

Heidi Montag Says No to Plastic from Heidi Montag

79.9% Interest Credit Card? Sign Me Up!

Image from source, National Ledger

Holy crap. 79.9% interest? Are you frackin' kidding me? I remember not so long ago when Democrats in Congress were trying to pass a 30% interest cap on credit cards, and Republicans--as they are wont to do--voted, "no!" But could even the "f**k the poor" GOP have forseen 79.9% interest? I guess my 12.9% Discover card isn't so bad after all.

[Excerpt]

Credit card's newest trick: 79.9 percent interest

It's no mistake. This credit card's interest rate is 79.9 percent.

The bloated APR is how First Premier Bank, a subprime credit card issuer, is skirting new regulations intended to curb abusive practices in the industry. It's a strategy other subprime card issuers could start adopting to get around the new rules. . .

Read more at: National Ledger

Stephen Colbert Explains Credit Card Situation

No comment necessary. Just watch.

Credit Cards and the Fine Print

Before this hugely horrible financial crisis (do we have a name for it yet?), The Other Half and I used to average five or six "pre-approved" credit card applications in the mail per week. It was an obscene amount of paper and postage, and makes you wonder how it could possibly have been cost effective.

Lately, the flood of these mailers has slowed to a trickle, but we still get a couple a week. Usually, we do what we always do, tear them into bits, and throw them away (or run them through the shredder). But I decided to read some of the materials in one of them, from First Premier Bank.

The offer was for a MasterCard, with a 9.9% APR ("one of the lowest rates available"). They don't promise a credit limit any higher than $250, which doesn't exactly wow me. And some of the fees are quite confusing, or at least sound unreasonable. For instance, if your credit limit is raised, they charge you $25. Paying through the Internet costs $7 per transaction. $11 if you pay through an autodraft service they provide. And a "monthly servicing fee" of $84 billed at $7 per month. What?

To make matters worse, unless I'm reading this thing wrong (see the graphic for confirmation), if you sign up for this whopping $250 card, you will instantly owe $179, and have a credit limit of $71! Again, I could be wrong, but this doesn't sound like a compelling offer to me. Into the shredder with you!

UPDATE: In a stunning coincidence, I just received an email from--you guessed it--First Premiere Bank, offerening me a MasterCard! Sorry, but even if I didn't think there was something fishy about all these fees, I'd never sign up for a credit card from an unsolicited email. Begone with you!

UPDATE THE SECOND: I've never really paid attention before to the innumerable solicitations I get in my email box, or who they're from. But since I wrote this post (not more than 45 minutes ago), I have gotten--counting the one in the first update--nine credit card solicitations, including two more from First Premiere! I guess I see why they're not sending so many by snail mail anymore.

Credit Card Crisis the Next "Housing Bubble?"

I had nearly $30,000 in credit card debt at one time (see here). Part of that debt came as a result of being so strapped that I paid my rent two or three times with those handy-dandy "courtesy checks" the credit card companies send you. Who knows how much of that $30K was a result of those (comparatively) little payments? You get in over your head so quickly, and getting out takes a very long time. It took me over 9 years.

I really feel for these people. They are in for an incredible amount of stress and anxiety, and years and years of indebtedness.