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: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:13PM
Fuck the Plutocracy!
(Score: 3, Insightful) by dyingtolive on Friday October 23 2015, @08:13PM
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!
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:16PM
Do you suck dicks for fun or profit?
(Score: 2) by dyingtolive on Friday October 23 2015, @08:20PM
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
Do you suck dicks for fun or profit?
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:21PM
Do you suck dicks for fun or profit?
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:21PM
Do you suck dicks for fun or profit?
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:21PM
Do you suck dicks for fun or profit?
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:21PM
Do you suck dicks for fun or profit?
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:22PM
Do you suck dicks for fun or profit?
(Score: 4, Funny) by edIII on Friday October 23 2015, @08:37PM
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
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
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
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
Do you suck dicks for fun or profit?
(Score: 3, Touché) by dyingtolive on Friday October 23 2015, @08:22PM
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
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
Do you suck dicks for fun or profit?
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:29PM
Do you suck dicks for fun or profit?
(Score: 2) by SubiculumHammer on Friday October 23 2015, @08:29PM
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
Do you suck dicks for fun or profit?
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:33PM
Do you suck dicks for fun or profit?
(Score: 2) by dyingtolive on Friday October 23 2015, @08:33PM
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
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!
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday October 23 2015, @08:48PM
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
Do you suck dicks for fun or profit?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday October 23 2015, @08:41PM
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
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
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
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.
[nostyle RIP 06 May 2025]
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:26PM
Do you suck dicks for fun or profit?
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:27PM
Do you suck dicks for fun or profit?
(Score: 2) by Hyperturtle on Friday October 23 2015, @09:06PM
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
Do you suck dicks for fun or profit?
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:19PM
Do you suck dicks for fun or profit?
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:19PM
Do you suck dicks for fun or profit?
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:20PM
Do you suck dicks for fun or profit?
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:20PM
Do you suck dicks for fun or profit?
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:20PM
Do you suck dicks for fun or profit?
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:21PM
Do you suck dicks for fun or profit?
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:22PM
Do you suck dicks for fun or profit?
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:22PM
Do you suck dicks for fun or profit?
(Score: 2) by frojack on Friday October 23 2015, @08:23PM
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
Do you suck dicks for fun or profit?
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:27PM
Do you suck dicks for fun or profit?
(Score: 2) by dyingtolive on Friday October 23 2015, @08:31PM
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
Do you suck dicks for fun or profit?
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:33PM
Do you suck dicks for fun or profit?
(Score: 2) by frojack on Friday October 23 2015, @08:40PM
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
> 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
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
> 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
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
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
Do you suck dicks for fun or profit?
(Score: 2) by Hyperturtle on Friday October 23 2015, @08:27PM
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
Do you suck dicks for fun or profit?
(Score: 2) by Hyperturtle on Friday October 23 2015, @09:05PM
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
Do you suck dicks for fun or profit?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:52PM
E-mail?
I have only seen credit card offers via paper mail.
(Score: 2) by kurenai.tsubasa on Friday October 23 2015, @10:32PM
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
Talk about yourself, my mail is imperial!
(Score: 5, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:31PM
Instructions are at http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0148-prescreened-credit-and-insurance-offers [ftc.gov]
.
(Score: 2) by dyingtolive on Friday October 23 2015, @08:39PM
Wish I didn't mod so much spam. This could be good for more to see.
Don't blame me, I voted for moose wang!
(Score: 3, Insightful) by SrLnclt on Friday October 23 2015, @09:11PM
Beat me to it. I don't think I have received any "pre-approved" credit card offers in the last six or eight years after doing this. It saves me time, I get less junk mail, have less stuff to shred, and best of all it was free. I highly recommend it - it's just a shame I had to opt out instead of opt in.
I view these offers and the blank balance transfer checks your credit card company may send out as security issues. If someone steals my mail it is far too tempting to try and use this stuff. I know the banks have things in place where someone would need to do more than steal my mail to use these things. I just want to make it easy on anyone - particularly when I have zero chance of ever wanting to open a credit card or use those transfer checks because I got something in the mail.
P.S. If you don't want to spend 5 minutes doing this yourself for free, Lifelock would be glad to do it for you if you sign up for their high quality service. /Ducks
(Score: 2) by frojack on Friday October 23 2015, @09:24PM
I don't think that website did anything for you.
What put the stop to pre-approved credit card offers was a change in the law that made the credit card companies responsible for charges made on a pre-approved card when there was no prior business relationship.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by Joe Desertrat on Saturday October 24 2015, @05:48PM
Years ago they used to send pre-approved credit cards, not just offers, but a court decision put a stop to that.
(Score: 1) by mr_bad_influence on Friday October 23 2015, @09:50PM
I opted out too using a different method. Every time I would receive an offer, I would mark the application in big red letters 'do not want, take name off list' and send it all back in the prepaid envelope. It cost them not only postage but labor to deal with it. Seems to work, I haven't gotten another offer in years.
(Score: 2) by hemocyanin on Saturday October 24 2015, @12:51AM
If you really want to be devious, take the marketing junk from one offer, and put it in the prepaid envelope of another offer. Rinse and repeat.
(Score: 2) by TheRaven on Saturday October 24 2015, @01:32PM
sudo mod me up
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:45PM
Mostly offers to invest in gold, debt remediation services, and promos for the Rush Limbaugh Show.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @08:50PM
Promos for the Rush Limbaugh Show? Was he offering you cheap oxycontin and vi4gra?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @11:54PM
Yeah like any drugs you get from rush are going to be cheap.
(Score: 2) by Hyperturtle on Saturday October 24 2015, @03:11PM
wow share your surfing habits so I can add them to my block list!
but it sounds like you actually may host the art bell show, too, which seems to just repeat the contents of your inbox on a regular basis.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 24 2015, @04:05PM
Ethanol-Fueled, is that you?
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @09:25PM
Welp, happens everywhere eventually. Looks like someone cares so much about being a dick they automated it. Time for captcha? Or maybe just those math problem tests if you don't want captcha providers to hoover up usage data.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @10:04PM
People should write their own captcha/anti-spam measures, or whatever they do use should not require communicating with a third party. I'm tired of seeing websites that have nothing to do with Google attempting to require me to unblock Google garbage (which I won't) before their site functions correctly because they used Google's captcha trash. Such websites indicate incompetence on the part of those who made them and are defective by their very nature; no one should use them, or at least not use the features that require surrendering your privacy.
So yes, something that doesn't require third parties would be best, if there's going to be anything at all.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @10:22PM
Dilbert used extra paper from work to heat his house. Junk mail could also work.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 24 2015, @02:23AM
Decades back (when they still mailed out paper catalogs), I heard a guy (on NPR??) telling how he put himself on every mailing list he could find.
He got an extra-large P.O. box to handle it all and he would stop by ~daily.
He bought one of those thingies that rolls paper into "logs" and burned the stuff in his fireplace.
Essentially zero-cost Winter heating.
-- gewg_
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Saturday October 24 2015, @03:32AM
I've tried that myself. Found it a waste of time and effort. The heat value of rolled paper is poor, and you have to babysit it, or treat the "logs" with wax to keep the damn things burning (they tend to go out).
Conversely, a bale of corrugated cardboard burns so hot it'll melt your stove.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 2) by AnonymousCowardNoMore on Saturday October 24 2015, @07:07AM
Well, it wouldn't be a good idea with the amount of plastic they coat their spam with these days. The fumes look kinda toxic.
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Saturday October 24 2015, @01:34PM
That too... junkmail often makes nasty smoke.
Only benefit to it is if you're the guy selling the paper-rolling gadget.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Saturday October 24 2015, @11:09AM
I shred it and use it as bedding for my kids' guinea pigs. From there it goes into the compost pile where red worms turn it into soil for next season's garden. Works really well.
I've also thought it would be fun to put together a process to turn it into rayon, feed that into a machine, and turn it into cloth.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Saturday October 24 2015, @01:41PM
So long as the guinea pigs don't eat much of it (considering some ink is toxic) that sounds like a more-productive use for it.
I haven't seen anything made of rayon in ages, other than disposable scrub cloths and tire belts. Rather a lot of steps and chemicals that need serious containment, but seems to me it might make a good endpoint for both newspaper and industrial chemicals, if they don't need to be particularly pure:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rayon#Production_method [wikipedia.org]
Not exactly a backyard process, tho.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Saturday October 24 2015, @05:30PM
I learned a different, much simpler method that dissolves the paper with Schweizer's reagent and extrudes the viscose into an acidic solution. It would be a job to automate that, too, though. The idea of the advertisers putting clothes on my back does appeal to me.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Saturday October 24 2015, @08:14PM
Definitely an entertaining thought :) Does it retain color from the ink, or do you have to dye the result?
If you ever do this, be sure to write it up here!
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 1) by rizole on Saturday October 24 2015, @12:33AM
Reject it all....
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Saturday October 24 2015, @05:01AM
This will only work if a lot of people join me.
If you are denied credit due to a poor credit report, you are entitled to a copy of that report however you must request it in writing. I expect you have to include a photocopy of the letter that denied you credit.
So my plan - which admittedly I have yet to carry out - is to apply for a new credit card every single day of my life. My credit at present is a smoking, radioactive crater in the ground so I have little hope of getting approved. But then I am owed a free copy of my credit report.
The idea is to cost the credit companies money, the money that they spend running my credit check.
I don't object to credit in general but I do object to usury; the victims of usury are commonly the poor.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 24 2015, @08:38AM
Obviously it will cost you about as much as it will cost them if you do that.
I have heard in Canada you only get 2 free credit reports per year. Not sure if the credit rejection rule changes that. I am sure that when I was prevented from opening a credit union account due to no credit, I could have requested a copy of the report. However, the credit agency would still get paid in that case. It would be the credit Union paying for the print-out.
(Score: 1) by termigator on Saturday October 24 2015, @03:17PM
You will not get a credit score, but if you submit a fraud alert on your account, you will get a copy of your report at no cost. I have used the experian site to put a fraud alert (lasts for 90 days) and it provided me a copy of my report.
As for my FICO score, credit card companies are now providing that for free if you are a card holder. Discover has provided it for awhile, and I think AMEX does so as well now.
(Score: 2) by cmn32480 on Sunday October 25 2015, @03:40PM
Amex, Chase (I think only for certain cards), and Quicken gives it to you every 3 months if you use their financial software that is similar to gnuCash. The scores are easy to get even if you don't have good credit and don't want to pay for it. Quicken's check is included in the one time cost of the software.
"It's a dog eat dog world, and I'm wearing Milkbone underwear" - Norm Peterson