Credit Card Offers

[ansettrule]

Hello all, I have always wondered how credit card companies get your details and then send you offers without even requesting them.
I have recieved offers for pre-approved limits for over $7500 and I don't even bank with the financial institution.
How do Amex and Citibank get you details as well??,it puzzles me.
Any clues?????

 

[ANDREWCX]

Any financial institution has access to your credit report and can offer you credit based on that - although I think mostly they are just asking you to apply now or at least the offer is conditional on you meeting all the requirements (since Australian credit reports don't include your current income etc).

 

[oz_mark]

Hello all, I have always wondered how credit card companies get your details and then send you offers without even requesting them.
I have recieved offers for pre-approved limits for over $7500 and I don't even bank with the financial institution.
How do Amex and Citibank get you details as well??,it puzzles me.
Any clues?????

There is a market in peoples names and addresses. Basically, they buy your details from a broker.

 

[JohnK]

There is a market in peoples names and addresses. Basically, they buy your details from a broker.

There is a company that keeps a database that it sells to anyone wanting to buy it. ANZ gave me the name of the website and how I can get my name off the list but I lost the reference to the website.

Basically ANZ rejected me for a credit card application and then I got two more offers from ANZ in the mail in the next month. When I called ANZ they aplogised and said that my name is on the list and they send offer to everyone in the list. So even though I got rejected they keep sending me applications. Make sense.

 

[NM]

Any financial institution has access to your credit report and can offer you credit based on that - although I think mostly they are just asking you to apply now or at least the offer is conditional on you meeting all the requirements (since Australian credit reports don't include your current income etc).

I was of the understanding that companies can only access your credit reference information (such as that held by Baycorp) with your permission. When you apply for a credit facility you agree to allow the finance provider to seek your personal credit details from their sources. I doubt they can do this without your permission.

So an offer for a "pre-approved" limit on a new credit card is not pre-approved at all. When you apply they will do the credit check and will have all sorts of backout clauses in the fine print.

And there are all sorts of ways they get your mailing address. Any time you give anyone your address you are likely to be added to someone's mailing list. Competitions are generally the easiest way for companies to build up a very saleable mailing list.

 

[Kiwi Flyer]

QF is one of the many companies that sells names and addresses. Notice how many offers you get for the QF branded card when you qualify platinum?

 

[Mal]

Where your information was gathered from affects the "credit limit" and card type offered.

EG, an address I used for a certain business exhibition suddenly started getting offers for certain types of credit cards.

A similar address used for a magazine promotion received a lower type of offer for the same company (Gold vs normal cards).

So, the CC companies have an approximation of the value of the address lists' contents. A bunch of doctors (gleamed from a trade expo for example) on average have a higher level of income than certain other industries. Hence the CC company can give a better offer to that select group of people.

As for Credit Scoring before offering you a card, they cannot do that (except from their own information). A CC company cannot access your Credit Reference information without your informed consent.

And yes, all offers are subject to certain conditions - there are no "guaranteed credit limit" type offers. The best you'll get is an express/streamlined application that doesn't ask as many questions (eg you might just be asked for your income instead of income/expenses/dog's name etc)

 

[oz_mark]

So an offer for a "pre-approved" limit on a new credit card is not pre-approved at all. When you apply they will do the credit check and will have all sorts of backout clauses in the fine print.

Indeed, most pre-approved offers I have seen have a caveat about being subject to a credit assessment. I certainly know people that have had pre-approved offers rejected.

 

[bambbbam2]

Last year I did receive an offer from Citibank for a Gold Visa.. definitely was pre-approved, all I did was sign a slip to say something along the lines of 'Yes, I can afford this'.

There was no credit-check - I am certain. I am careful about the number of enquiries on my record as I know that the quantity can often be more important than the quality of applications.

 

[NM]

Last year I did receive an offer from Citibank for a Gold Visa.. definitely was pre-approved, all I did was sign a slip to say something along the lines of 'Yes, I can afford this'.

There was no credit-check - I am certain. I am careful about the number of enquiries on my record as I know that the quantity can often be more important than the quality of applications.

Were you an existing Citibank customer at the time? If so, then they may have felt they knew you well enough to not need the credit check.

 

[ansettrule]

I live in Adelaide and we have a bank called Bank SA a division of St George bank.
I recieved a credit card application from Bank SA saying that I was pre approved for a credit card with $7500.00 credit limit.
I have never banked with Bank SA and when they sent the application there was no income or expenses check as you didn't need to provide any income or other financial position fiqures.
This is my whole point--how do they know how much I earn and owe on other cards and loans(house).
This is wrong and they shouldn't be allowed to do this as I didn't even want to bank with them.
They must be held accountable for these actions.
:evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil:
BAD BANKS
Amex and Citibank are way better.

 

[bambbbam2]

Were you an existing Citibank customer at the time? If so, then they may have felt they knew you well enough to not need the credit check.

No.. had never used them at all. Went to the Citibank Christmas party once, but that was it.

See the prev post to see that I wasn't imagining it. One thing though, I do have a property so may have been a targeted mail out.

 

[cpl]

Hello all, I have always wondered how credit card companies get your details and then send you offers without even requesting them.
I have recieved offers for pre-approved limits for over $7500 and I don't even bank with the financial institution.
How do Amex and Citibank get you details as well??,it puzzles me.
Any clues?????

Or the other way round: Amex offered me a no annual fee Gold credit card the other day and I'd be interested to know why Amex apparently DOES NOT know that I already have a no annual fee Amex Gold credit card :mrgreen:

 

[oz_mark]

Or the other way round: Amex offered me a no annual fee Gold credit card the other day and I'd be interested to know why Amex apparently DOES NOT know that I already have a no annual fee Amex Gold credit card :mrgreen:

From what I understand they try to match up the addresses so this doesn;t happen. Sometimes if there are slight difference in the addresses they will do this. If the addresses are exactly the same, then somewhere they have not matched things up properly.

 

[mick]

I was of the understanding that companies can only access your credit reference information (such as that held by Baycorp) with your permission. When you apply for a credit facility you agree to allow the finance provider to seek your personal credit details from their sources. I doubt they can do this without your permission.

I thought that was the case as well NM, but this was in the FAQ on the ADMA website:

Consumers have the right to ask for a copy of their own Credit Reference file from companies such as Baycorp Advantage http://www.baycorpadvantage.com.au and can request a report of their credit status by phoning (02) 9464 6000. Consumers who dispute the information on their file can advise the CRAA by sending a letter or fax to the CRAA Public Access Division. If you would prefer that your credit record not be used for marketing purposes, all you need do is write to the Credit Reference Association of Australia, and your name will no longer be used for pre-screening or any other marketing purpose.

It seems strange to me that your credit record is accessible for marketing purposes by default!

 

[Mal]

I thought that was the case as well NM, but this was in the FAQ on the ADMA website:


It seems strange to me that your credit record is accessible for marketing purposes by default!

Weird. Some of it may be hype. I believed the "major credit reporting bureaus" were not allow to check credit details unless recorded on the reports.

I subscribe to a service which alerts me anytime *anyone* checks my credit rating. I would be mightily cheesed (instead of another word that might be censored ) off if a bank was able to circumvent that check/reporting mechanism.

 

[burmans]

That is definitely wierd as the Baycorp Site itself (and they are largest credit reporting agency) say at following site that "No credit provider is allowed to access a consumer credit file without the permission of the applicable individual."

http://www.mycreditfile.com.au/credit_worthiness_guidelines/credit_worthiness_guidelines_default.aspx

But there are some strange things mentioned in the ADMA site, e.g.

In order to "pre-qualify" you and the other names on the lists, the bank first merges and purges the lists. Then it submits the lists of thousands of names to one of the major credit bureaus, where the lists are compared by computer to each individual's credit data. The computer assigns the amount of credit available to each name, using established bank guidelines. You then receive in the mail a credit card offer with a specific amount of credit -- guaranteed -- which you can accept or not, as you choose. The bank doesn't know your name unless you choose to respond.

So it appears to me that there is some interesting skirting of the law going on here, i.e. maybe the bank sends the list to a 3rd party ADMA member and it is them that access your file and determine who to send letters to.

 

[Nobby]

I live in Adelaide and we have a bank called Bank SA a division of St George bank.
I recieved a credit card application from Bank SA saying that I was pre approved for a credit card with $7500.00 credit limit.
I have never banked with Bank SA and when they sent the application there was no income or expenses check as you didn't need to provide any income or other financial position fiqures.
This is my whole point--how do they know how much I earn and owe on other cards and loans(house).
This is wrong and they shouldn't be allowed to do this as I didn't even want to bank with them.
They must be held accountable for these actions.
:evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil:
BAD BANKS
Amex and Citibank are way better.

What exactly have they done wrong, that you want to hold them accountable for? If you don't want to bank with them, throw the offer in the trash. They've done you no harm.

They likely have other information about you that suggests you're a low risk (got your details from a list of CPA or Law Society members, or some other such list).

And the offer was likely for a credit limit "up to" $7,500. A bank would never guarantee you'll get an exact amount (aside from when they guarantee a minimum of $5k for a Gold card, etc)

 

[boon boon]

Just so everyone knows how it works

Companies dont have access to you credit report unless you have applied for the card

Baycrp however sells the lists as a general rule by dividing them into groups based on your details the bank then creates a mailer and sends it to third party and baycorp provide this same third party with a mailing list and the third party a mailhouse then sends it out so the bank doesent have your details at any point baycorp divides people up in groupings and sells on it that way without revealling your details

None of the offers are preapproved they just give you the impression they will offer you that uch but you still have to meet the terms and conditions