2010 has given way to credit card companies coming out once again in full force, mass mailing credit card offers to 
potential borrowers. Synovate is a company that tracks credit card solicitations. According to their research, credit card companies are hitting the pavement marketing their offers harder than ever before. Synovate estimates that in the last quarter of 2009, 398 million card offers were sent out to consumers. This was a 46% increase from just the third quarter of 2009. These unsolicited offers did dramatically decrease from the 668 million offers that were sent out in 2008.
The Synovate research gave no theories to the increase in credit card advertisements. This may be due to the Credit Card Act that has been looming over the heads of the large companies for many months now. Not knowing what to expect with these new regulations may offer one explanation as to why offers declined from 2008 to 2009. By late 2009 the credit card industry had a bit of a clearer perspective of what to expect from the credit card act. These last few months offered a last chance effort to market hard in hopes of collect on revenue they feared loosing with the implementation of the acts new more stringent regulations.
According to further data collected from Synovate, many of the mass mailings in late 2009 for credit card offers were targeted at people with less than ideal credit scores. It is too early to tell the aftermath of those who may have fallen prey to the first batch of 2010 offers. It’s no secret that credit often comes with a high price tag, especially if you have a less than ideal credit score. Higher interest, annual fees and less than ideal terms are being seen more frequently in the latest batch of credit card offers mailed. The average credit card rate is at 16.28% according to Index credit card data.
Credit card rates have been somewhat stable in the past few months. Despite the stagnancy in rates the overall levels of cards are still higher than they have been from a historical viewpoint. For consumers looking for the best credit card, the offers that they receive in the mail will be readily available but at costly price. Given the statistics, it appears that companies are back in the game. Sure-it’s convenient to receive a credit card offer in the mail that advertises that you have been pre-approved. No-credit checks are ideal for those that have bad credit. Many people fall into the trap of the credit card offers without reading the fine print. Focusing on the marketed offer without looking at the fine print is what gets people knee deep in debt.
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