BritishGuy36

So how do these credit card companies get your address?

I've been here just over 6 months now.....so do they monitor new folks' credit scores until they appear to be above a certain level, then offer them a card? Of course it's just an application form....it doesn't mean to say they'd issue me a card should I apply for one.

The company is Chase - Dave Ramsey says that they are among the worst in the industry, but I guess they are all nice to you until they don't pay the bill.

I don't really need another card, I have one with US Amex and a UK Barclaycard Goldfish, plus a debit card on my checking account....just wondering whether you normally get spammed with CC applications after you've been here a while.

lansbury

Add youself to the no junk mail list, if takes some time but they do stop.

You're right in that once your credit score reaches a certain level they send out offers. They get lists of people from many sources and run credit checks to find the scores. If you look at your credit record there will probaly be a check on it by Chase.

dbj1000

It's nothing to do with your credit score. Many people (possibly including you) who apply for these unsolicited offers will be refused due to their low credit score.

There are many ways for them to get your address. We received our first offers within a month of moving into our new home here.

joto

We just put all that junk mail, because that's what it is, through the shredder.

Giantaxe

If you don't want 'em, just opt out of this "pre-approved" nonsense:

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/cons...ts/alt063.shtm

I was getting about one a week on average before I did this. Of course, the credit environment is rather different now than a few years ago.

Having been away for a couple of months, it's been interesting coming back and seeing what my mail over that period consists of. What's shocked me is the volume of mail from... charities, including some who mailed me several times over that period. And I don't think the direct marketers list stops you getting this (or stuff from politicians, ha!).

surly

Once you to give to a charity, every charity in the country will send solicitations. Now I'm getting watches and various other gifts from these charities.

Pharrya

The day I arrived in the US on my K1, all those years ago, the first piece of mail I got was a request from a charity. It began 'My fellow American....'

still, it did include some of those address labels, which was useful. Now those address labels clog up the shredder...

Stockton

These companies target people with poor credit histories. The theory is, they'll be more likely to run up a balance, which they'll be unable to pay off on a monthly basis and will sooner or later make a late payment, which gives the CC companies the excuse to jack up the interest rates. I know people who've ended up paying many, many times the amount they originally borrowed. And some who will probably never be done paying.

A co-worker was forced to declare bankruptcy a few years ago after her marriage break up. She told me that for the next year or two she received an average of 5 credit card solicitations a day.

Stockton

They purchased it. Any time you give your address to a company, it will almost certainly be sold.

Ever entered a raffle to win a Harley Davidson while at the mall? Your address has been sold. Subscribed to a magazine? Donated money to charity? Bought something online? Same thing.

Most astonishing to me, even your bank has probably sold your personal details.

meauxna

USPS Change of Address: your address has been sold.
(that one burns me the most for some reason)

Bob

Unless it's one of those pre-approved offers, in which case they can't deny giving you a card, but that doesn't mean they'll give you a good card, usually a low limit, $100-500 and a shit rate.

Shred them.

chartreuse

I've had a couple already. I think that doing the AMEX thing might have been a factor, as it effectively gave me a backdated credit history.

I haven't taken any of them up, on account of not having a job but definitely having vague memories of reading that it's illegal to lie on credit applications.

Manc

indeed, it's the machine gun philosophy.

spray enough bullets eventually you'll hit something.

Poppy girl

Great link thanks.
Anything to stop Citibank and Chase doing soft pulls, in the month of May I got 9 Citibank pre-approved crap in the mail

Just Jenney

Trust me, it doesn't take much to get on those mailing lists:

Mark came to the US to meet me for the first time and visited for a month back in Sept/Oct 2002. While here, he ordered a book online from Barnes & Noble and had to shipped by my home, but addressed to his name. A month later, when he was already back in the UK, the first of several pre-approved CC offers arrived for him in my mailbox -- for an MBNA Barnes & Noble credit card with a pre-approved limit of up to $100,000.

Mark had absolutely no US credit rating and had never even been to the US before that visit. He was not a USC or even an LPR, which were eligibility requirements. All that triggered the application being sent was him ordering a book and having it sent to my address.

~ Jenney