Does "Pre-approval" mean anything?

[Anonymous]

i am no expert, but i would imagine that there is some correlation between your scores and/or reports and which companies send you pre-approved offers....does anyone know what info lenders with whom you have no tl's get from soft pulls?

as my scores get better, i am getting pre-approved offers from prime lenders....havent applied for any of them.  when my scores were crap, i only got offers from subprime lenders.

[Anonymous]

Pre-approvals and $4 will buy you a latte.

I've been rejected by every pre-approval I've applied for.  Some of them are generated by your credit score range (for example, Capital One might periodically send out pre-approvals to everyone with a 550-600 fico). 

Others, I learned to my chagrin, will send you pre-approvals based on what magazines you subscribe to.  I subscribe to the Economist.  They have my last name misspelled (**bleep**e instead of White).  I receive a few offers from AMEX with this same misspelling.

Pre-approvals cost me about 7 inquiries with NO credit card approvals. 

[Anonymous]

you are paying too much for them thar' lattes....