JANUARY 2004

Credit Card Solicitations Drop

Reed Albergott reported recently in the New York Times that credit card solicitations by mail had dropped significantly through the third quarter of 2003. One reason for the slow growth, or even slight decline, is that the amount of credit card debt is so high that card issuers are not trying to enlarge their market as energetically as in previous years. Mail Monitor (a unit of Synovate, a market research firm) reports that credit card mailings fell to 1.702 billion in the second quarter of 2003, down 224 million pieces from the same quarter in 2002. Another market research firm, Comperemedia, reports that third quarter 2003 volume was virtually unchanged. For the calendar year 2002 U.S. household received 4.89 billion direct-mail credit-card offers, down from 5.01 billion in the previous year. (Didn’t you notice?)

It is possible that the final statistics for 2003 may show a rebound in mailings. One large issuer, Capital One, indicated that it had decreased its overall marketing budget during the first and second quarters of 2003 in order to boost its mailings during the fourth quarter holiday season. In contrast, Bank One told the Wall Street Journal that it was redirecting its marketing budget, allocating more toward the Internet and television ads, as well as pushing its affinity card products with partners such as Disney, Borders bookstores and Amazon.com. Some observers think that the implementation of the federal "Do Not Call" list, as well as more recent limits on spam emails, will eventually boost direct mail marketing.