Do folks in wealthy areas get 6 credit offers a day or more?

[Rosemary2205]

I live in an economically challenged area. A whole lot of section 8 recipients have been moved here from the City of Atlanta. We have some sections of this county with poverty rates as high as 70%. My little neighborhood could be regarded as lower middle class. Not too many college degrees around here but between 2 jobs in the house we all manage to keep our small homes maintained.

The thing is, I get at least 6 credit offers every day. Everything from CitiCorp to "Joe Blows loan shark company" Some of them make one's hair curl. At least once a week "Beneficial" sends me a check for $6,000 or more. The mouse type on the back of the check says depositing that check is an agreement to pay Beneficial 27.8% interest and yearly fees of about $700 a year. Today I got one from Citi offering to loan me up to $4000 to cover my past due bills so I could pay them off "at my own pace" - 19.9% for 7 years fixed.

The preditory lending I see come through my mailbox really angers me. I hope to God my neighbors are not falling for it. -- I also wonder if they even bother to send this garbage into neighborhoods with a higher percentage of college graduates.


Edit to fix a typo

[ccpup]

1. yes

I live in what many consider a wealthy part of NYC -- and am fortunately very strong financially -- and get flooded by credit card offers every day. I don't think it's just targeted to people who are in less affluent areas. Credit Card Companies are equal opportunity offenders. :eyes:

[Warpy]

2. I live in the same sort of area you do

I inherited wisely, but I'm staying put. I know and like my neighbors, something that doesn't seem to happen in wealthier areas.

I get an average of three pieces of predatory financing mail a week and I think that's about average for this area. I get an average of four credit card comeons (I got rid of those things in 1991) a week. My shredder is kept busy with that rubbish.

When my dad died and I spent a couple of months in his house in a fancy part of a barrier island town, I saw the credit card comeons. I never saw any of the predatory lending mail.

Funny, I honestly think predatory lenders might have better success in the fancier areas. People there are likeliest to be mortgaged to the hilt and living on the edge of desperation. My neighbors in this unfashionable but convenient area know how to live within their means.

[Vilis Veritas]

3. You can opt out of most offers....

Not sure if it will do much for some of the Joe Blows...but it gets the big guys.

I did it and after a couple months it has slowed to a trickle. And I no longer get the checks. The checks usually are offered after the company has paid to run a credit check on you and obtain your score.

Sucks and the system is rigged for the banks not the consumer...gee, I wonder why?

Edited to add link: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/credit/prescreen.shtm

Peace. Will. Prevail.

[momster]

5. Use www.optoutprescreen.com

which goes to the credit reporting agencies. If you use this, they'll stop giving your info to the credit card companies, stopping solicitations at their source. It works beautifully for five years...then you've got to do it again. We were getting a dozen or so a week five years ago, pre-approved, huge credit limits, you name it. Identity-theft bait. Now I notice that the solicitations are showing up again so I went back to opt-out again. Takes a couple of months before they'll stop. Good for your mental health, your credit health and the environment too!

[Vilis Veritas]

8. You are right. I should have included the link to the site...however,

The FTC page provides much more information than is given at the optout site and it also provides the main link and some other good links for information as well as discussing the rights of consumers.

Thanks.

Peace. Will. Prevail.

[Vilis Veritas]

10. It can be permanent if you sign the form they send you and mail it back.

Peace.

[Glenda]

18. thanks for the link

I did it.

I was so happy after signing up for the Do Not Call Registry. The phone stopped ringing.

If I can put an end to junk mail, I will truly be happy

:hi:

[Crazy Dave]

4. The feds busted the office across the hall from me....

...at a place I worked in 2002. It was one of those "We guarantee you a VISA or Mastercard no matter how bad your credit" offices. They worked 24 hours a day and there were about thirty operators on each shift. The gimmick was, you get a credit card with a $300 limit, you pay a one time $250 processing fee and the $50 annual fee up front. Therefore you received a credit card already max'ed out. When you met the folks who worked there in the hallways they never hid the fact and even boasted that they made an $80 commission for each victim they claimed.
When the feds finally busted them and shut the business down, at least in this state according to the local paper it wasn't because of their predatory lending practices, it was because the credit cards they issued were from foreign banks. Piss on the victims who lost money or damaged their credit even worse by defaulting on the cards, the feds only cared about who the company was banking with. According to the paper the company that was open in this area for three months after moving here from South Carolina (after getting shut down there) managed to swindle around 35 million dollars in that short period of time. After getting busted here the company just relocated to another state and set up the whole show again until the feds will catch up with them again.

[trof]

6. yep

I live in an affluent waterfront neighborhood.
We moved here 14 years ago, before the place 'caught on', but now homes go for $500,000 up to a million or more.

I average 6 e-mails a day telling me my loan has been approved.
What loan?
I didn't apply for any loan.

And I get 2 or 3 offers of credit cards every week by mail.

Oh, and the phone recorded phone calls offering to 'consolidate' my debts.
Happily, except for a smallish mortgage, I don't have any debts.

I think it's just a shotgun marketing approach.

[Gormy Cuss]

7. Yes. The difference is there are also 6 offers from financial planners and investment managers too.

I live in a zipcode with lots of upper middle class and wealthy residents and I used to get a stack of ridiculous offers every day (yeah, I'm looking to buy a vacation place at a Tahoe golf resort, and a luxury car, and I'd send my mythical kids to exclusive private schools costing 20-25K a year rather than the excellent local public schools..:eyes:)

I cut the junk mail volume by signing up for the DMA's mail preference list.
http://www.dmaconsumers.org/consumerassistance.html

[distantearlywarning]

Yes.

I've lived in wealthy to poor areas and in-between in the last 10 years, and I get so much credit card junk mail at every address that it makes me crazy. Most of my mail every day is credit card related junk mail, including my existing card company sending me butt-loads of checks to "help me pay my bills". Of course, if I took them up on their offer, I'd end up paying 30% interest or something godawful because it would be counted as a cash advance.

I think the credit card companies target everyone, rich, poor or whatever.

[BlueCollar]

9. offers have slowed to a trickle for me since

I started taking all the material and sending it back.

I tear up all the material including the envelope in which it came and stuff it all into the prepaid return envelope and drop it in the mailbox on my way to work. I try to ensure that at least one piece still has a legible name and address on it.

I'm hoping that someone occasionally removes my name from a list, but in the meantime the card company has to pay the post office and hire someone to open the envelopes.

[annabanana]

11. I don't get the "get out of debt free" kind of crap..

I get the "you are already approved" crap..

Shredders mandatory here.

[Donnachaidh]

12. my 14 year old just got an invite from Discover

!!!???!!!

He's already gotten several from Chase and others, offering him college loans. He has NOT started high school yet!

And yesterday, here comes the first credit card offer. A *student* credit card. I still haven't tracked down the source that gave his information to these sharks.

And we get at least 6 per week, from everyone possible. Yes Virginia, there IS predatory lending in the USA. :grr:

[tammywammy]

13. I don't even remember when I last got a credit card offer

:shrug:

I don't have any anyways, maybe they think I'm a lost cause.

[Joanne98]

14. A woman who's staying with me got her identity stolen by a woman

who she hired to drive her to work. (she can't drive because of eyesite) She has a really good job.(speech therapist) makes good money. (90k) It's been a nightmare. None of the corporations will shut down the accounts! (The thief is a better customer) Her bank won't close the account even though we filed a criminal complaint. We had to drag the sherriff in the bank IN PERSON to force them to do something. they said they'd close the account but they haven't. She is still getting charged 29 dollars per bounced check. JC Penney said they would change the account no and send her a new card but they haven't and they even raised the credit limit 400 dollars. The thief is on a shopping spree. She's even bought a car for 6000 dollars. The victim had a cell phone account with Verizon. The thief added herself and her daughter to the account and raised the minutes by 3000. Verizon fraud depentment REFUSED to shut the phones down (they said they would send the their a letter) We had to drag the sherriff IN PERSON over to the thiefs house to grab the phones. Now Verison wants 1200 dollars. Now the theif is getting loans in her name. Paycheck advance loans from B&L Marketing and student loans for she daughter. She got a credit card, she's shopping online. Even though she knows she's going to prison, SHE'S STILL SPENDING MONEY! The victims dad is a lawyer. Good thing. She's going to declare bankruptcy. The business bastards are so arrognant they will probably want her to pay the bills anyway. ONLY the government run post office did anything to help us. We called once and had her mail stopped (the thief was stealing it). They held it with no problem. If the corporations were only run like the goverment!

[fortyfeetunder]

15. Time to talk with the state's attorney general

There should be no way anyone should be taken advantage like that....

[Joanne98]

16. A criminal complaint has already been filed. thanx

[ruiner4u]

17. yeah they do...

usury knows no bounds...

I live in a 'wealthy' area that my family jokes is just a bunch of nickel millionaires. They have nice big houses that are mortgaged to the hilt, and furnish them with CC's that maxed to the point of opening new CC's to they can play musical chairs with the balance.