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Australian card issuers regularly try to trick consumers into taking on more credit card debt, warns a report from the Australia Consumer Action Law Centre. The finding is based on a review of 21 card-offer letters issuers sent to consumers, Paul Harrison, senior lecturer on consumer behaviour and marketing at Australia's Deakin University, tells CardLine Global. Harrison says letters that include "preapproved" increases in card-spending limits and such phrases as "you deserve the privileges of gold" can trick consumers into believing they cannot reject increased spending limits. "Consumers who have been told that they have preapproval will then assume that this is the status quo," he says, suggesting many consumers will find it difficult to resist what they perceive as the status quo. "Bank marketers know this, and they exploit this and recognize that all people are flawed decision-makers," he says.
