Why so many credit card offers?

From Amit’s Thoughts

I get a lot of credit card offers. That doesn’t surprise me. However, it’s the frequency and format that I don’t understand.

Yesterday I got one from Capital One, for their “Go Miles Ultra” card. Today I got one from Capital One, for their “Go Miles” card. Last week it was for “Go Miles” and for “Go Miles Visa Platinum”. The four offers look completely different. They are using different size paper, have a different format, different interest rates, and the cards look different. Do they really have multiple marketing departments working independently? It sure seems that way. I get an average of three offers a week from Capital One. Or maybe they are trying out lots of different things to see which one gets the best response rate.

I occasionally get offers from companies whose cards I already have. That seems silly. Are they wanting me to get a new card and transfer the balance from the old one? The new card offers certainly look to have better terms than the card I have.

I also get offers from companies whose cards I have cancelled. Discover Card really annoyed me and I am not going to sign up with them again. In complete contrast, American Express was very nice to me when I cancelled; I may someday get an American Express card again.

One amusing thing I see these days is that the credit card companies send me a piece of plastic or cardboard that looks like a credit card. I’m collecting these and will soon post pictures of them to flickr.