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posted by cmn32480 on Friday October 23 2015, @08:07PM   Printer-friendly
from the send-it-to-the-shredder dept.

Recently, MIT economists Hong Ru and Antoinette Schoar analyzed over a million credit card mailings collected by Mintel, a company that pays people to read their junk mail. The economists scanned the terms of these offers and noted the income and education levels of recipients. Now Jeff Guo writes in the Washington Post that if you want to know what credit card companies think of you, look at the junk mail you receive from credit card companies. Are you "pre-screened" for lots of mileage-reward cards? Banks think you're rich and educated. Do you mostly see offers for low-APR teaser rates? Banks think you're poor and uneducated — and, perhaps, vulnerable to financial traps.

Cards with travel rewards epitomize the kind of product aimed at the rich and educated. It's a fairly exclusive niche — only about 8 percent of credit card offers fall into this category. People in this demographic are the most likely to jet around, and therefore most likely to appreciate a card that will earn them frequent-flier miles. In contrast, the card offers sent to poorer, less-educated people were often loaded with risky features: low introductory APRs, high late fees, and penalty interest rates that kick in if you break the rules. Ru and Schoar believe that the system is tuned precisely to take advantage of those who make financial mistakes. "Backward loaded credit card features with high late fees can only be optimal [for companies] if customers do not understand their actual cost of credit," they write, using a term to describe arrangements that offer low upfront fees but higher penalty fees.


Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by dyingtolive on Friday October 23 2015, @08:13PM

    by dyingtolive (952) on Friday October 23 2015, @08:13PM (#253738)

    I mean, everything is a metric, expect it to be used as such.

    More interestingly, I wonder what it implies if you don't get anything like that in your email?

    --
    Don't blame me, I voted for moose wang!
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   +1  
       Insightful=1, Total=1
    Extra 'Insightful' Modifier   0  
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   3  
  • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:16PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:16PM (#253739)

    Do you suck dicks for fun or profit?

    • (Score: 2) by dyingtolive on Friday October 23 2015, @08:20PM

      by dyingtolive (952) on Friday October 23 2015, @08:20PM (#253747)

      Neither, yet. Doesn't sound like much fun for me, but it might depend on how much you're offering. The world repeatedly tries to convince me that everything is negotiable.

      --
      Don't blame me, I voted for moose wang!
      • (Score: 0, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:20PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:20PM (#253748)

        Do you suck dicks for fun or profit?

      • (Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:21PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:21PM (#253749)

        Do you suck dicks for fun or profit?

      • (Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:21PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:21PM (#253751)

        Do you suck dicks for fun or profit?

      • (Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:21PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:21PM (#253752)

        Do you suck dicks for fun or profit?

      • (Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:21PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:21PM (#253753)

        Do you suck dicks for fun or profit?

      • (Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:22PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:22PM (#253756)

        Do you suck dicks for fun or profit?

      • (Score: 4, Funny) by edIII on Friday October 23 2015, @08:37PM

        by edIII (791) on Friday October 23 2015, @08:37PM (#253783)

        Well, apparently from the evidence at hand, somebody *really* wants to negotiate with you :)

        Careful of what you say....

        --
        Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
        • (Score: 2) by dyingtolive on Friday October 23 2015, @09:03PM

          by dyingtolive (952) on Friday October 23 2015, @09:03PM (#253800)

          Hey, a side gig is a side gig, and it's probably less self-deprecating than my day job.

          --
          Don't blame me, I voted for moose wang!
          • (Score: 2) by Snow on Friday October 23 2015, @09:39PM

            by Snow (1601) on Friday October 23 2015, @09:39PM (#253818) Journal

            Does your day job involve moose wang? It might not be all that different...

            • (Score: 3, Funny) by dyingtolive on Friday October 23 2015, @09:43PM

              by dyingtolive (952) on Friday October 23 2015, @09:43PM (#253819)

              Hey, a job is just a job, but sometimes you just have a calling.

              --
              Don't blame me, I voted for moose wang!
  • (Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:19PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:19PM (#253740)

    Do you suck dicks for fun or profit?

    • (Score: 3, Touché) by dyingtolive on Friday October 23 2015, @08:22PM

      by dyingtolive (952) on Friday October 23 2015, @08:22PM (#253757)

      Huh. Either I have my first fan, or more likely someone just finally got their spam bot working on the site.

      If it's the later, kudos to you! Took you long enough.

      --
      Don't blame me, I voted for moose wang!
      • (Score: 2) by frojack on Friday October 23 2015, @08:26PM

        by frojack (1554) on Friday October 23 2015, @08:26PM (#253761) Journal

        This is why no one should read at ZERO.

        --
        No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
        • (Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:28PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:28PM (#253770)

          Do you suck dicks for fun or profit?

        • (Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:29PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:29PM (#253771)

          Do you suck dicks for fun or profit?

        • (Score: 2) by SubiculumHammer on Friday October 23 2015, @08:29PM

          by SubiculumHammer (5191) on Friday October 23 2015, @08:29PM (#253772)

          Well, I often do, but I haven't had to deal with this much here.
          Obviously, the prime suspect is the author of this submission :) too perfect. Damn you Hugh Pickens ! ;)

          • (Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:32PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:32PM (#253777)

            Do you suck dicks for fun or profit?

          • (Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:33PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:33PM (#253778)

            Do you suck dicks for fun or profit?

        • (Score: 2) by dyingtolive on Friday October 23 2015, @08:33PM

          by dyingtolive (952) on Friday October 23 2015, @08:33PM (#253781)

          I mean, for those easily offended, yeah, I agree. On the other hand, someone's gotta mark all this crap as spam. I don't know if it'll make a difference, but it might help notice the abuse.

          Ironically, _I_ have to wait to post this, while the madness continues. So it goes.

          --
          Don't blame me, I voted for moose wang!
          • (Score: 2) by frojack on Friday October 23 2015, @08:44PM

            by frojack (1554) on Friday October 23 2015, @08:44PM (#253790) Journal

            On the other hand, someone's gotta mark all this crap as spam. I don't know if it'll make a difference, but it might help notice the abuse.

            Our long suffering editors should have tools to ban the IP (and the entire /24) for this type of thing.

            --
            No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
            • (Score: 3, Informative) by dyingtolive on Friday October 23 2015, @08:47PM

              by dyingtolive (952) on Friday October 23 2015, @08:47PM (#253794)

              Yeah, I just hit them up on IRC. They're on it.

              Also, we have people running the site that were already aware of abuse and on it within the hour that it happened, and they aren't even owned by corporate overlords. You guys win. You got my subscription. Good job.

              --
              Don't blame me, I voted for moose wang!
              • (Score: 2) by Hyperturtle on Friday October 23 2015, @09:31PM

                by Hyperturtle (2824) on Friday October 23 2015, @09:31PM (#253817)

                so... if you love moose wang... is that for fun or profit?

                • (Score: 3, Funny) by dyingtolive on Friday October 23 2015, @09:50PM

                  by dyingtolive (952) on Friday October 23 2015, @09:50PM (#253822)

                  If I'm in a southern state, the locals regard it as art. :)

                  --
                  Don't blame me, I voted for moose wang!
          • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday October 23 2015, @08:48PM

            by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Friday October 23 2015, @08:48PM (#253795) Homepage Journal

            Once the ipid and subnetid hit -150 karma, at ten a pop, he was banned from further posting. Plus paulej72 put an entirely different kind of ban on as well.

            --
            My rights don't end where your fear begins.
            • (Score: 0, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @11:18PM

              by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @11:18PM (#253843)

              Do you suck dicks for fun or profit?

        • (Score: 3, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday October 23 2015, @08:41PM

          by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Friday October 23 2015, @08:41PM (#253787) Homepage Journal

          Zero? I read at -1 where only the brave and the bold go.

          --
          My rights don't end where your fear begins.
          • (Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:42PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:42PM (#253789)

            Can we limit it to just comments lower than zero, that way I can wallow in scum?

          • (Score: 2) by frojack on Friday October 23 2015, @08:47PM

            by frojack (1554) on Friday October 23 2015, @08:47PM (#253793) Journal

            Zero? I read at -1 where only the brave and the bold go.

            I'm not that brave.
            I only go there when moderating, and only then when its clear from the replies that someone got modded to oblivion by the thought police.

            --
            No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
        • (Score: 2) by janrinok on Saturday October 24 2015, @09:37AM

          by janrinok (52) Subscriber Badge on Saturday October 24 2015, @09:37AM (#253959) Journal

          Some of us have to read at zero to effectively do our jobs here on the site, and there are also many good comments that start out with a zero score. If nobody ever read them, they would never get modded up and become viewable by anybody else if we all follow your logic.

          We do remarkably well at avoiding SPAM and trolls - so much so that, when one appears, it usually garners more attention than it deserves, IMHO.

      • (Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:26PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:26PM (#253763)

        Do you suck dicks for fun or profit?

      • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:27PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:27PM (#253767)

        Do you suck dicks for fun or profit?

      • (Score: 2) by Hyperturtle on Friday October 23 2015, @09:06PM

        by Hyperturtle (2824) on Friday October 23 2015, @09:06PM (#253802)

        Man I hate to break it to you... but I think he's cheating on us.

  • (Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:19PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:19PM (#253741)

    Do you suck dicks for fun or profit?

  • (Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:19PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:19PM (#253742)

    Do you suck dicks for fun or profit?

  • (Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:19PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:19PM (#253743)

    Do you suck dicks for fun or profit?

  • (Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:20PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:20PM (#253744)

    Do you suck dicks for fun or profit?

  • (Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:20PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:20PM (#253745)

    Do you suck dicks for fun or profit?

  • (Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:20PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:20PM (#253746)

    Do you suck dicks for fun or profit?

  • (Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:21PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:21PM (#253750)

    Do you suck dicks for fun or profit?

  • (Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:22PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:22PM (#253754)

    Do you suck dicks for fun or profit?

  • (Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:22PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:22PM (#253755)

    Do you suck dicks for fun or profit?

  • (Score: 2) by frojack on Friday October 23 2015, @08:23PM

    by frojack (1554) on Friday October 23 2015, @08:23PM (#253758) Journal

    They keep trying to sell me corporate jet rentals and yachts. Seriously, I can't afford either.
    Oh, and sting motors, and women of distinction subscriptions, baldness remedies and SUVs.

    Its a mixed bag, suggesting zero intelligence goes into the decision.

    Of course I don't even know what is actually coming my way, because
    I've got spamassassin filters for entire top level domains, especially the newer ones that seem to be nothing but spam-hosting like .review .club .download .top .xyz, and even a filter for .eu (with lower points than the others).

    --
    No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
    • (Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:27PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:27PM (#253764)

      Do you suck dicks for fun or profit?

    • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:27PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:27PM (#253766)

      Do you suck dicks for fun or profit?

    • (Score: 2) by dyingtolive on Friday October 23 2015, @08:31PM

      by dyingtolive (952) on Friday October 23 2015, @08:31PM (#253773)

      I have an @gmail.com that almost everything not personal routes through. It autoforwards anything not caught by their spam trap to my personal email account, which is useful for stuff like kickstarter notices and registering games and the like. Anything that gets forwarded winds up in a different mail folder. People I've met in meatspace, their immediate contacts and a select few others get my real email address, though I've seen some spam otherwise (I think I slipped up and put it on slashdot). I also use spamassassin. FWIW, .xyz is one I see pop up particularly often in the gmail spam trap.

      I enjoy maybe 10 emails a day, tops. I'm sure it's not the best system, but it's a sustainable system.

      --
      Don't blame me, I voted for moose wang!
      • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:32PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:32PM (#253776)

        Do you suck dicks for fun or profit?

      • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:33PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:33PM (#253779)

        Do you suck dicks for fun or profit?

      • (Score: 2) by frojack on Friday October 23 2015, @08:40PM

        by frojack (1554) on Friday October 23 2015, @08:40PM (#253786) Journal

        Gmails spam filters are almost perfect.

        So much so that I never look in my gmail spam box for false positives.

        My own mail server for my day job runs spamassassin, and I've put in some rather merciless rules along with whitelists. But I still can't get it as effective as Gmail.

        --
        No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 24 2015, @01:33AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 24 2015, @01:33AM (#253866)

          > Gmails spam filters are almost perfect.

          I thought so too, for a few years. Then Gmail started putting email from a customer in the spam folder...and he is from a Fortune top 50 company (with corporate email). Now I check the spam folder quickly a few times a day, just in case.

          • (Score: 2) by frojack on Saturday October 24 2015, @02:53AM

            by frojack (1554) on Saturday October 24 2015, @02:53AM (#253884) Journal

            And if you just mark it NOT SPAM, it will never happen again.

            But yeah, occasionally corporate email looks soooooooo spamy that you have to put put the sender in your contacts to prevent it going to spam.

            --
            No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 24 2015, @03:46AM

              by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 24 2015, @03:46AM (#253899)

              > And if you just mark it NOT SPAM, it will never happen again.

              I did that, a couple of years back, and things were ok for awhile. Just recently this came up in a yellow box, "Gmail couldn't verify that this message was sent by [x].com" ...for email from the same person. Has happened several times now. Something about that Fortune 50 domain??

              It's a brand that is known worldwide, maybe it is also a domain that is commonly spoofed?

              • (Score: 2) by frojack on Saturday October 24 2015, @04:39AM

                by frojack (1554) on Saturday October 24 2015, @04:39AM (#253915) Journal

                Maybe you've been phished?

                If google gives that warning, it usually has some reason for doing so.

                --
                No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
                • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 25 2015, @03:20AM

                  by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 25 2015, @03:20AM (#254217)

                  Don't think I've been phished. One message with that warning was related to our current project for the corporate customer. The other was from the same guy, setting up a conference time--which I was expecting.

                  Thanks for replying to me -- even though I'm posting as AC.

  • (Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:26PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:26PM (#253762)

    Do you suck dicks for fun or profit?

  • (Score: 2) by Hyperturtle on Friday October 23 2015, @08:27PM

    by Hyperturtle (2824) on Friday October 23 2015, @08:27PM (#253765)

    What do they think of consumers that used credit to buy a cross cut shredder to destroy offers like these?

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:27PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:27PM (#253768)

      Do you suck dicks for fun or profit?

      • (Score: 2) by Hyperturtle on Friday October 23 2015, @09:05PM

        by Hyperturtle (2824) on Friday October 23 2015, @09:05PM (#253801)

        Neither, but I do admire your use of proper grammatical structure and punctuation. For a troll, you wrote better than many other trolls, and so as such I condone whatever educational processes you've engaged in, and hope you continue with them going forward.

  • (Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:33PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:33PM (#253780)

    Do you suck dicks for fun or profit?

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:52PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:52PM (#253798)

    E-mail?

    I have only seen credit card offers via paper mail.

  • (Score: 2) by kurenai.tsubasa on Friday October 23 2015, @10:32PM

    by kurenai.tsubasa (5227) on Friday October 23 2015, @10:32PM (#253837) Journal

    My guess is that they've determined you're not profitable enough to justify the overhead of giving you an account.

    I used to get all kinds of credit card spam, especially in snail mail. I don't anymore. There was less of it after I got a year and a half ahead on payments towards the loan I took out to learn truck driving. It mostly stopped shortly after I took out a debt consolidation loan with my credit union. Was debt-free until the economy tanked in 2008. Oddly, even though I did nearly max out my credit card with living expenses (a three bedroom apartment is not a good idea if only one of the four people who lives there has a job!), I never started getting spam again.

    They're probably like: perfect credit score, tends to make larger payments than the minimum, goes for periods of years with no balance at all, has only ever had one credit card, jumped ship from Fifth Third to a credit union before most people had figured out how they were scamming people, tends to use cash advances so we can't data mine the purchases, not profitable even at 20% APR. Next!

    As far as metrics, I would bet that these lenders don't care one bit about credit score or that credit score has anything to do with those analytics and metrics besides just being another data point.

    What a world we live in. Your credit score determines whether you get a job offer or not, and lenders of unsecured credit don't care about it! Only in Soviet USA.

  • (Score: 2) by bugamn on Saturday October 24 2015, @07:13PM

    by bugamn (1017) on Saturday October 24 2015, @07:13PM (#254061)

    Talk about yourself, my mail is imperial!