Creditnet News Story
Companies target affluent for credit card offers
Friday, December 4, 2009
By William Davis
Lenders attempting to limit their risks.
Recent analysis from Reuters indicates that lenders are targeting more affluent consumers when it comes to making credit card offers.
The report, which relied on data from Mintel Compremedia, noted that tighter lending standards have caused many card issuers to concentrate on consumers with a higher credit score as they try to protect themselves from risky customers.
"We have seen almost the entire mailbox skew toward prime and superprime consumers," Andrew Davidson, senior vice president for Mintel, told Reuters.
According to the Reuters report, credit card issuers have gotten rid of around 20 million accounts in the last 12 months. Also, the past few months have seen many issuers change account terms, including raising interest rates and instituting additional fees.
Some of the actions of the card companies are in anticipation of new stipulations from the government that are slated to take effect in February 2010. The new rules would limit card companies' ability to change rates while also requiring them to review any increases in interest on accounts.
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