s******s
发帖数: 121 | 1 看到了BA卡，citi等等。可能解释了为啥今年好卡这么多。。
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Rich-Have-We-Got-the-Credit-walls
854.html?x=0
Rich? Have We Got the Credit Card for You
Robin Sidel, On Monday June 27, 2011, 11:02 pm EDT
U.S. banks are bombarding consumers with some of the most lucrative credit-c
ard offers in years. But many of the goodies are being dangled at affluent p
eople who have plenty of plastic already.
From cash to frequent-flier miles, issuers such as Citigroup Inc., J.P. Morg
an Chase & Co. and Capital One Financial Corp. are scrambling to take custom
ers away from one another, and to get their own checking-account and mortgag
e customers to take on new credit cards.
U.S. credit-card companies mailed 1.4 billion offers for new credit cards in
the first quarter of 2011, a 69% jump from 826 million a year earlier, acco
rding to Mintel Comperemedia. Roughly 60% of the pitches sent out in the fir
st four months of the year included some sort of incentive, with nearly two-
thirds going to American households with annual earnings of more than $75,00
0.
Credit-card mailings haven't rebounded to their prerecession level of 1.8 bi
llion in 2007's fourth quarter. But the surge in the first quarter, the late
st period for which figures are available, shows banks trying hard to rev up
one of the most profitable types of lending. And Mintel says 59% of the off
ers made for new credit cards in the first four months of the year included
an incentive, compared with 30% during the same period of 2007.
"As people think about risk, credit cards are an area where they feel comfor
table building up their portfolios," said Jud Linville, who oversees Citigro
up's huge credit-card business, with $110 billion in outstanding loans.
Many issuers feel emboldened to issue more credit cards because delinquencie
s and defaults have been down significantly in recent months. Limiting the j
uiciest offers to consumers who kept up with their bills during the financia
l crisis is an effort to shield issuers from taking on too much risk.
The newest crop of offers is aimed mostly at consumers with credit scores of
more than 720 on the 850-point scale, or the top third. Americans with lowe
r credit scores also are having an easier time getting credit cards, but the
y might not come with much more than the equivalent of the free toasters off
ered by banks decades ago.
In the Federal Reserve's latest survey of loan officers at U.S. banks, about
20% said they eased standards for approving credit-card applications, up fr
om 13% in January. "If you are a customer with good or excellent credit, you
are in the catbird seat," said Bill Hardekopf, chief executive of LowCards.
com, a credit-card rating site.
"The demand for these customers is incredibly high right now," said Megan Br
amlette, a credit-card consultant at New York's Auriemma Consulting Group. S
he ought to know: Citigroup, the third-largest U.S. credit-card issuer, rece
ntly offered her a card with no annual fee for the first year and 50,000 fre
quent-flier miles on AMR Corp.'s American Airlines. "I figure I can get 80,0
00 miles a year on the card, which, combined with the bonus miles, is enough
to get a business-class ticket anywhere in the world," Ms. Bramlette said.
Citi is phasing out her old card, and she was set to start shopping for a ne
w one when a pitch for the co-branded card with American Airlines landed in
her mailbox. The offer was unrelated to her work in the industry.
J.P. Morgan's Chase unit, already increasingly focused on affluent Americans
, recently offered 100,000 frequent-flier miles to customers who qualified f
or a credit card co-branded with British Airways PLC. Card companies don't t
ypically disclose acceptance data, but Chase was so pleased with the respons
e to an earlier British Airways promotion that the New York bank decided to
offer it again.
"There is an industrywide trend by issuers who are trying to draw attention
to their products, and part of the way they are doing that is through attrac
tive initial terms," says Richard Quigley, president of J.P. Morgan's credit
-card unit. As of March 31, J.P. Morgan's credit-card business had $115 bill
ion in outstanding loans, down 13% from $132 billion a year earlier.
Chase's pitch for its Continental OnePass Plus card includes an immediate of
fer of 25,000 frequent-flier miles, with the potential for another 10,000 mi
les after the cardholder charges $25,000 a year. Continental is part of Unit
ed Continental Holdings Inc.
Capital One earlier this month sweetened the pitch on its high-end Venture c
ard, which already was paying double miles on all purchases. New customers n
ow get 25,000 frequent-flier miles when they sign up for the card, up from 1
0,000 miles.
Interest rates can be 10 percentage points lower for highly desirable consum
ers than on cards aimed at customers with more-typical credit risks. For exa
mple, the Continental OnePass card carries an annual interest rate of 14.24%
, while Capital One charges 24.9% on its Standard Platinum card for customer
s with average credit.
Some early signs of the credit-card marketing blitz are encouraging for issu
ers. Last week, Discover Financial Services said overall spending by its car
d holders rose 9% in the fiscal second quarter ended May 31, compared with a
year earlier. The Riverwoods, Ill., company attributed the gains to high-sp
ending, creditworthy customers.
Credit-card loans still are lucrative for issuers, despite last year's law i
mposing new restrictions such as no interest-rate increases on existing bala
nces unless a customer is at least 60 days behind on a payment. |
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