Credit Card Offers: Is That Letter Really a Pre-Approval For a Credit Card?
Getting to the Bottom of Credit Card Offers and Pre-Approval Letters
Credit card offers frequently come in the mail. For example, you get a letter stating that you’ve been pre-approved for a credit card. The credit card offer touts an appealing interest rate and no annual membership fee. But are you really pre-approved for this credit card? Will you really get the credit card if you send in the pre-approval form? The answer may surprise you.
Pre-Approval Credit Card Offers: Brilliant Marketing or Downright Dishonest?
First and foremost, you need to understand that these pre-approval credit card offers that go out for credit cards are really just an effective marketing technique. If the pre-approval letter comes along with a form that you need to fill out and requires you to provide your social security number and other personal data and if the form discloses that your credit report is going to be pulled, than you’re not really pre-approved for a credit card at all, are you?
Many times people will return the pre-approval form and be denied the very credit card they were told they were pre-approved for. This often results in confusion and hurt feelings. If this has happened to you, don’t take it personally -- these credit card offers are not really pre-approvals after all.
Comments
Make sure you shred these "pre-approved" offers if you don't fill them out. I.D. thieves love to steal them and open credit in their own names.
Posted by: Anonymous | July 5, 2006 11:13 AM
Also the "pre-approved" offers have fine print that say that the card companies may offer you a card at a higher rate and not transfer the entire amount offered or requested for balance transfers.
Posted by: ec | July 5, 2006 11:55 AM
I hate those things. I shred them every week it seems. I worry about someone filling it out with different address information and using it to steal my identity.
Posted by: RichC | July 5, 2006 5:17 PM
HERE'S SOME CLARIFYING INFORMATION:
"Pre-approved" means that you have been pre-selected for a particular credit OFFER based upon certain criteria set up by the credit card company. In otherwords, you are "pre-approved" for the application (not everyone is...)
Actual "approval" for credit -- and details like the APR you receive -- are based upon additional information that you give the credit card company, your agreement to their terms, and your credit report.
Posted by: Donna | July 13, 2006 7:14 PM