Could a sign of economic recovery be in your mailbox?
Synovate, which tracks credit card solicitations, reported last week that card offers mailed to consumers fell about 6 percent from the first to second quarter of this year, a far milder decline than the double-digit percentage drops in recent quarters.
Most solicitations occurred late in the second quarter, another sign that issuers might be less reluctant to extend credit, said Anuj Shahani, director of competitive tracking services with Synovate’s financial services group. “That’s the flattening out or bottoming out,” Shahani said.
A year ago in the second quarter, card issuers stuffed 1.06 billion offers in consumer mailboxes, according to Synovate. Since then, issuers reduced their mailings by double-digit percentages from quarter to quarter, including a 44 percent drop between late last year and the first quarter of this year. In the second quarter ended June 30, mailings totaled 349.1 million, a 6.2 percent drop from the first quarter, Synovate said.
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Some major issuers ramped up offers. Bank of America sent out 55.2 million mailings in the second quarter, up 77 percent from the first quarter, according to Synovate. Citibank increased mailings by 65 percent, to 56.1 million.
If you do receive card solicitations, they won’t be for a fixed-rate card. “They are a dying breed,” said Curtis Arnold, founder of CardRatings.com, which tracks cards. He said much of that has to do with credit card reform legislation that was signed into law in May.
Card issuers for years have had great leeway to change a fixed rate with little notice. Credit card reforms allow issuers to claim a card has a fixed rate only if it can’t be changed for a period that’s clearly spelled out.