If you get a lot of junk mail from your credit card company, you are not the only one. Every year, people all over the country get dozens of offers for credit cards, and most of them are misleading or don't apply to them. Here are some tips on how to deal with these credit card offers that come in the mail.
Why do you need so many?
You get so many offers because of your credit score, even if you don't have a lot of credit cards. Whether you have good or bad credit depends on the kinds of offers you get, but credit card companies will send you offers no matter what your score is. Some people will get almost ten of these offers every month, and many of them will be the same.
Switch and bait
Even though some credit card offers might look good, they are usually not what they seem to be. Most of these deals use a strategy called "bait and switch." This is when you get a great deal in the mail, like "you are pre-approved for a credit card with a limit of up to GBP25,000," but when you fill out the paperwork and send it back, you only get GBP1,000 at a very high interest rate. This is not against the law because they only said "up to." Even if they had said "no," it would not have been against the law. This method may not be against the law, but it is definitely wrong. This is one reason you should not take advantage of such offers.
Turning down
You can try to stop getting these mail offers, though it's not the easiest thing to do. You can apply to companies that will help you get off these mailing lists, but you will still get some offers. You can always call the credit companies and ask them to stop sending you mail, but most of the time they won't listen.
Keeping your name secret
Even if you don't want to look at any of the mail offers you get, it is still important to get rid of them in the right way. If you just throw the offers away, someone could take them and use them to apply for the cards you don't want. Before you know it, you could get a bill in the mail for thousands of pounds for a card you didn't even apply for. Make sure to shred or tear up all credit card offers you get in the mail to keep your identity from being stolen.
Don't write them all off.
Even though most of these deals won't be worth your time, you shouldn't just throw them all away. Credit card mail offers are a great way to get some really good deals. This is especially true if they are from a company with which you have a credit card, since they might offer you better terms. If you pay attention to credit card mail offers and can tell the good ones from the bad ones, they will help you instead of being a constant bother.
