Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine - What, More Plastic? - increase in number of credit card offers expected - Brief ArticleLook for an increase in the number of credit card offers being stuffed in your mailbox this summer. Issuers will be targeting customers who may need a credit extension to get them through a financial rough patch.
Even though response rates are at an all-time low-only six out of every 1,000 people reply-credit card companies still find two-thirds of their new cardholders via mail solicitations. A typical household receives more than three credit card offers each month.
You'll be getting more pitches for gold cards and smart cards with embedded chips, says Andrew Davidson of BAIGlobal, a market-research firm. One-fourth of all credit card offers come with interest rates of 19% or higher, so it pays to be choosy.
COPYRIGHT 2001 The Kiplinger Washington Editors, Inc.
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