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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.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Friday October 23 2015, @08:44PM
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
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
so... if you love moose wang... is that for fun or profit?
(Score: 3, Funny) by dyingtolive on Friday October 23 2015, @09:50PM
If I'm in a southern state, the locals regard it as art. :)
Don't blame me, I voted for moose wang!