It's official: The credit card companies are getting desperate!

Am I the only one this is happening to? Sure, I've been getting 4 or 5 credit card offers a week for a number of years - and more recently even more than that (my shredder has been working overtime). But lately it's been getting really ridiculous.

Several weeks ago I received one of those yellowish brown padded shipping envelopes; the kind that some small piece of merchandise might be shipped in. But guess what was inside. was it an AOL disk? No. Was it some cheap plastic prize I earned by buying enough laundry detergent? No. Was it a free sample of some new consumer product? No.

It was a credit card offer. The same exact sheath of papers that usually comes in a regular business size envelope ("IMPORTANT INFORMATION. PLEASE DO NOT DISCARD!"), except they had stuffed them into a plain padded mailer. Presumably to trick me into opening it.

Apparently they're on to me. They've realized that I've caught on to their game. They now know that I've figured out that I can safely discard any envelope marked "Please do not discard". So now they tried a new trick to get me to open it.

Well, that didn't work. I opened it. Saw what it was. Swore a blue streak. And fed the shredder.

So they decided to try something new. Apparently they haven't figured out that getting me to actually read their offer won't help. Today I received a piece of heavy paper, the size of a small poster, folded up and taped at the corner. I opened it up (tearing it while trying to figure it out) and was greeted with

















0% Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah...
They now think I require large print (either that or they wanted to give me something to big for the shredder).

So I guess with everyone paying off their cards and refusing new ones, they really are getting desperate. Has anyone else had similar experiences?

You've just reached some arbitrary credit score that triggers the issuance of new offers.

The credit card companies are NOT desperate...they're doing pretty well, in fact.

...been that way for YEARS.

A flurry of new offers (more than usual) usually indicates that you've hit some mystical number that the CC companies use as a trigger to issue new offers, though. They're certainly not doing it out of desperation.

their own literature in their postage paid return envelope.

Juvenile I know, but I get some type of weird satisfaction out of it.

Mind if I steal your idea?

the postal employees in a job.

...or pizza coupons...or bizarre news clippings...

...you get the idea.


My rules are that I always use ONLY the envelope...no personal information goes back to them and I only send non-chemical, non-messy stuff that has no chance of destroying an automatic letter opener.

There's still a lot of leeway to have fun :)

You gave me some great ideas,though.

who really has the most subversive mind I've ever encountered, routinely tapes any return-postage-guaranteed mail he gets to bricks and drops them in mailboxes.

He's been doing this for forty years, bless his heart.

When my daughter was in high school,25 years ago, she and her friends would send letters to eachother,without postage, reversing the address and return address part.

When the post office returned to sender the one who actually was supposed to receive the letter got it.

I must admit I thought it was pretty clever.

These gals are doing very well today,by the way.

rubs hands gleefully - I have a pile of offers to shred, think I may have to take my frustrations out on them.

Oh and the thing that annoys me most - why oh why do I KEEP getting capital one card offers. WHEN I ALREADY HAVE A CAPITAL ONE CARD

AAARRRGGGGGGG

I had this elderly neighbor,back in the mid 70s...used to save all postage paid envelopes from all junk mail...he had his dining room table stacked with this stuff...when his grandchildren would visit he'd keep them occupied stuffing envelopes with whatever junk mail they wanted...:rofl:

little drawings to Chase and Citi.

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

:evilgrin:

Paid off over 10k last year that I had stupidly run up while in college, and will never have another credit card again.

two maybe three a week...keeps me busy, burning trash...I dont'shredd i burn, i live out in the country, so i burn all my trash, those offers go up quick, when you add a little gas, and flame...:)

Working crap jobs for a year after my last layoff. I've been getting a lot too.

My routine when I come home from work is park the car in the garage, get the mail, walk back to the garage, stand in front of the trash can and throw most of my mail away then walk inside to play with my ferrets. It doesn't even get a chance to come in my house.

TlalocW

here in AZ, and is on the rise everywhere!

But my neighbors aren't smart enough to do something like that, and any outside crooks coming into my neighborhood would have inferiority complexes since there are better neighborhoods to target.

But I'll start doing that.

TlalocW

The label pulled off real nicely too, now I have a padded envelope to use again.

I shred more mail then I actually read. Takes me longer to shred then to balance checkbook and pay all the bills. It is a pain.

I can't imagine why they want me so badly. I haven't paid a dime in finance charges or fees in years.

There is a toll-free number that you can call to have your name put on a no solicitation list for credit card, loan, and insurance offers. I called more than 6 weeks ago but I am still getting crap from Capital One.
:mad:

I will. I guess I'm still stuck back in the days when people worried about use of paper, the cost of print and postage. How can they do it?

I worry about how many trees have been destroyed by their attempts to trap me.

you can call that will supposedly remove your name from the mailing lists for credit card, loan, and insurance solicitations. It's supposed to take a while to kick in, and I am still waiting.....:-(

Stuff the rest of it back into their postage paid envelope and mail it back to 'em. Or better yet put a brick in a box and tape the prepaid envelope to the box then send that to them.

They're doing everything they can to lure people - not people like us, who pay off their credit card balance every month (before it's due, actually) - into getting themselves in over their heads with credit card debt, since it's now exempt for personal bankruptcy filings.

This just means they want to go after your salaries, houses, property, whatever kinds of liens and judgments they can get on errant debtors.

They're rapacious.

I've heard that they're getting hit from people trying to pay off their accounts and refusing new ones since the new bankruptcy law passed (and from all of the people who filed for bankruptcy before it went into effect).
They may be having more trouble getting new suckers so they're trying more and more creative tactics. I hate to think what's next. Maybe this:

though they don't know it yet.

ALL of my friends are either a) destroying all of their credit cards and paying off the debt or b) reducing any of their credit card expenditures to the absolute minimum, using their cards only for emergencies.

My own household has destroyed all our cards and hopes to have all of our unsecured credit paid off by the end of next year, never again to plague us. MBNA can kiss my a$$.

I know that most intelligent, responsible people are doing this same thing. The credit card companies got GREEDY (imagine that) and neglected to remember that they get a great deal of their steady income from intelligent, responsible people like me. Now they've cut us off altogether. And although it may take a little time for them to realize how much they are truly screwed by alienating us, I get a sense that they are just starting to figure it out.

They must pay something to get their (overstuffed) envelope back through the USPS.
Sometimes, if I'm in the mood, I scribble a short note on their 'application' form like,
"18% APR? Get serious? I won't accept anything over 4.5%"
or
"Are you folks out of your minds?"

Sad part is, I haven't scared them away yet. I still get a couple a week.

...but now it's so bad that we got turned down by a predatory lender for a car loan last summer.

Still, we constantly get credit card offers. We don't bite & we won't bite. We wouldn't miss anything if we never have another credit card as long as we live!

:rofl: One wonders when the "free toasters" will start coming from UPS with two credit cards in the pop-up!

I agree it's way OTT...they are desperate for more business and if they are now going to large print...it's because they figure the only ones left who have any money are those who have sense..because they grew up in a time when "plastic" wasn't King, Queen and "THE US ECONOMY." Ugh...it's really awful the tricks they pull..

Everyone else is taking it sooo seriously. :evilgrin:

...know who they're sending that stuff to.

but instead of a shredder, I keep a bucket full of water and bleach, and in they go, to soak until they fall apart and are all bleached out...

by shipping it that way?

I'm pretty sure that they're just trying to make sure that you actually open it and see their sales pitch. The same bank still sends me the regular envelopes too.

if not pre-printed with too much personal information - I put down my name as "Saddam bin Ladin" or "Osama Hussein" and my address as my former employer's Saudi Arabian street address for their Saudi marketing office.

At times we get 2 a day. My shredder just loves them. We refuse to use ANY credit cards. Let them go out and get a real job.

They did NOT count on the consumer outrage and loss of customers- many of whom, including myself, have been (mostly) unwilling customers since reaching adulthood.

I will never have a CC after I get this one paid off. Never. Ever. Again. I'll do a debit card, because that's cash I already have, but I've "learned my lesson" manymanymany times over by now- and they've lost me for good once it's paid down all the way.

Maybe I'oll charge a dollar on another card, and go swapping them off to 0% offers every few months, just to create paperwork and cost them more than what I owe, and maybe I'll do more subversive things, like tape their mailings to a cinderblock and return it to them, but the'll never have me as a legitimate customer ever again.

I very much want this industry to die, and I'm more than willing to hasten its demise.

Merry Christmas!

Never in my life have I ever got a credit card. Debit is the worst I go, I'm NOT going in on that fucking extortion scheme. Just because it is legal doesn't mean it is right. If I can't pay for groceries because I don't have the cash in hand or the money in the bank then I'm living above my means, or not getting payed enough, but I'm NOT about to go into debt just to eat.

I never had one of their cards...she did...until we found out what real bloodsuckers they were and she stopped using the card (this was at least 3 years ago). Last week she got a call offering her an increase in her credit line and special offers if she used the card. She said kindly she didn't use MBNA cards because of their preditory lending practices and how they will gladly offer me a benefit while they screw someone else out of 20% APR fees. The call didn't last much longer...I guess they know what's NOT in our wallets.

And of course no annual fee---anyone who pays those needs their head examined.

my home via Fedex! . . . the Fedex guy actually rang the bell and handed me this official looking envelope from the bank that holds my mortgage . . . inside was a letter explaining their latest refinancing options and encouraging me to apply NOW! . . .

I've never in my life paid interest on a credit card, and I use only one.

And they pay me $300 a year for using there card! They give "rewards" for using card for groceries, gas, general purchases.

It's great, I use the one card to pay for essentially EVERYTHING and they don't get ONE CENT! They pay ME!

:-)

DO NOT BEND!! DO NOT BEND!! DO NOT BEND!!


As if there was something precious and very breakable inside ------ instead of just another cc offer (usually Chase Manhattan).

make shredders.

I never thought of that. I'll bet that's exactly what's going on. And now they want us all to buy bigger more powerful shredders! :tinfoilhat:

And I only drive 11 miles to work. If I went down to the end of the street where I work I would run into the 3rd McDonalds in the region.

As long as there is a demand the credit card industry (along with the junk food industry) will continue to push & peddle their products.

It's irritating that we have to shred this stuff everyday but we're a consumer market. For every 1000 of those offers they send out they can probably get 1 or 2 new customers which will probably end up paying the cost of sending out those 1000 offers and then some.

We just need to say "NO" when we get these emails or pass by these junkfood outlets. Maybe you don't want another credit card and I know I surely don't need more junkfood for our ass. But no one is holding us to gunpoint forcing us to accept these products offered to us.

It is better for you and better for the environment. Follow this link to find out how http://www.newdream.org/junkmail/index.php It takes a littlet time and effort, but it really works. I get almost no junk mail, and no credit card offers anymore. They are desperate, but they really don't have much interest in wasting money or pissing off people who have taken the time to make it very clear that they are not interested.

but in spanish. It pisses the wife off because she doesn't speak or read spanish but they assume because of her spanish surname she does.

One of the credit card companies I deal with sent me an envelope with low interest checks so I could transfer balances if I wanted to. Not unusual, but the message was: "We noticed you recently made a large payment on your credit card account and we want to be sure we're not losing your business." Or something very close to that. Do I smell a giant backfire from the credit card legislation?

Honestly, I'd have to have a tree chipper to shred all of mine. My hands can't take the ripping the envelopes in half (little arthritis). It's a pain.

company a few times a month. Last night my boyfriend said "there is $7,000. on the table waiting for you". I said "Let us ruin your life. Let us rape you".