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Card issuers sent 5.4 billion credit card direct-mail offers in 2008, down 27% from an estimated 7.4 billion the previous year and the lowest number tallied since 2000, according to data from Chicago-based Mintel Comperemedia, which tracks direct marketing. Direct-mail volume totaled 8.3 billion in 2006. Mintel attributes the decline to the poor economy. "Credit card issuers are struggling under the combined pressure of increasing charge-offs and lower levels of funding available for lending," Stephen Clifford, Mintel vice president of financial services, tells CardLine. "They are staying away from risky consumers that they had gone after more aggressively in recent years." Issuers also focused more direct mail on higher-earning, lower-risk customers, he adds. Mintel reports that households earning more than $100,000 a year received only 1% fewer credit card offers in 2008 than in 2007. Comparatively, households making $50,000 or less had a 42% drop in credit card offers. Despite the current economic crisis, "card issuers do need to maintain a certain level of new cardmember marketing," says Clifford. Mailings will stabilize in 2009 as issuers find a point where they can continue to mail offers to attractive customers but manage risk and losses more effectively, he predicts.
