More than six-billion credit card offers were mailed to U.S. consumers in 2005, according to analysis released by Mail Monitor.
"Over the past few years we keep saying 'this is record mail volume' but it continues to grow at a high rate," said Brent Stratford, vice president of competitive tracking services at parent company Synovate, in a released statement.
According to Mail Monitor, the volume of credit card solicitations mailed was 16% higher in 2005 than 2004. American Express was the primary factor in this increase. In 2005, the company increased its direct mail credit card solicitation volume by 56% over 2004. This was more than two times the increase of any of the other top five credit card mailers. "This is significant because American Express consistently has the lowest response rate of any major mailer, and had a substantially lower response rate than the 0.3% the industry average in 2005," the company said.
Mail Monitor reported that 58% of credit card offers in 2005 included some type of rebate or rewards program.
With large companies like American Express offering many different products, and regional banks like Columbus Bank and Trust extending more offers, consumers have greater selection and can choose the product that best suits them.
For info: core.synovate.com.
