Card Solicitations Are Generally Down From Last Year

During the first quarter, U.S. households received an estimated 1.13 billion credit card offers in the mail, down 18% from 1.37 billion during the first quarter of 2007, according to the latest Synovate Mail Monitor report, released Wednesday. The eight U.S. card issuers Synovate tracks decreased mailings in the first quarter by an average of 54% compared with the same period last year. Washington Mutual Inc. decreased mailings by 39%, and Citigroup decreased mailings by 36%, the report says. "All issuers have been cutting back on sending mail to lower-income and subprime households," Andrew Davidson, Synovate's financial services group vice president of competitive tracking services, tells CardLine. "That peaked in 2005." However, Synovate's findings indicate some glimmers of issuer optimism, Davidson says. In the first quarter, American Express Co. increased mailings by 36%, and JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its mailings by 7% compared with the first quarter of 2007. And compared with the fourth quarter last year, WaMu's mailings were up 149%, Citi's were up 24% and Discover Financial Services' were up 15%. "That's an encouraging sign for the card industry because it suggests they have a more-confident outlook going forward," Davidson says. He adds that the Federal Reserve's cuts to the prime interest rate late last year and early this year finally seem to be trickling down to cardholders in the form of lower introductory and fixed annual percentage rates. During the first quarter, the average rate was 12.2%, down from 12.9% in the first quarter of 2007, according to Synovate.