Fewer Credit Card Offers in Your Mailbox?

According to an Associated

Press article today, some of the major credit card companies

are scaling back on the number of credit card offers mailed

out each year. The number of credit card offers via mail dipped

by over 20 percent in the first quarter of 2006, according to

market research firm Synovate. According to the report, just

3 out of every 1,000 direct mail credit card offers are accepted.

card companies that also offer traditional banking relationships,

such as Bank of Amerrica and Chase, are pouring more resources

into getting credit cards into the hands of existing banking

customers via bank branches and ATMs. Issuers without these

resources, such as American Express and Capital One, are more

likely to continue using direct mail heavily, although perhaps

in a more targeted way. According to Synovate, with the decrease

in direct mail offers thus far in 2006, the ratio of accepted