I think this may be imformative, but probably just amusing -- and maybe only amusing to me! A couple of years ago, I barely qualified for a secured card. Preapprovals were not anything I ever saw. Over the last couple of years, here's how it's gone, in chronological order:
- Comenity store card preapprovals (SCT) -- online of course,
- First Premier Bank mailers,
- Legacy Visa, other crap Visa and Mastercards (in the mail),
- Merrick Card mailer,
- PayDay loans galore -- I'm still getting at least one or two of these a month,
- Indian Tribal loans -- boldly advertised as NOT Payday loans, though the interest rates are comical -- these come weekly now,
- BP Gas Card,
- Citgo Gas Card, and finally
- NO ANNUAL FEE (they couldn't emphasize this enough) FNBO Visa (at about 24% interest, no thanks).
I am also getting online prequals for all the Cap One cards now, including the QS Visa and Venture, but I'm gardening or I might bite on one of those. The travel rewards on Venture seem good.
Someday, I expect to see American Express (though I have one of their cards already), Chase, and others, but nothing that I'd actuallly want at this point.
I just think it's funny that every payday lender and loan shark is begging for my business now.
