Why Do I Get Solicitations For Cards I Already Have?

[Lauraist]

It seems every pre-approved or pre-selected application I get in the mail always comes at least twice, usually a week or two apart. Also, I often get one after I already responded to the first one, whether I was accepted or approved, and even if I already have their card! (Note: I mean long enough after the decision that it's not likely to have been sent out beforehand.) Why does this happen? Do other people have this issue? It seems like a waste to me. Maybe if the CC issuers didn't do this, they could give us all a 0.01% APR break and still make the same profits, LOL!

[FinStar]

Not an issue for me. I shred & recycle them 🤷‍♂️

Often times some lenders can allow 2 of the same product, regardless whether you already have one. Moreover, a variety of these solicitations are not sent directly from the lender, but rather a third party entity that is provided with preliminary data to generate some of these marketing offers. Unfortunately, no cross-check is usually performed on plenty of them which is why you receive them multiple times.

[SoCalGardener]

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@Lauraist wrote:

It seems every pre-approved or pre-selected application I get in the mail always comes at least twice, usually a week or two apart. Also, I often get one after I already responded to the first one, whether I was accepted or approved, and even if I already have their card! (Note: I mean long enough after the decision that it's not likely to have been sent out beforehand.) Why does this happen? Do other people have this issue? It seems like a waste to me. Maybe if the CC issuers didn't do this, they could give us all a 0.01% APR break and still make the same profits, LOL!

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I find it annoying, but I treat them the same way @FinStar does: shred 'em and forget 'em!

I actually understand *why* they do it, i.e., you can have more than one of the same card--just look at some members' signatures, and you'll see duplicates or triplicates (or more) of the same card in their collection. But I don't like having multiple of the same card, so these mailings/offers/notices annoy me. In the scheme of things, though, it's really not a big deal.

[Anonymous]

I went for the mail today and I have four pre approved mailers. Figures, I went into the garden last month. I opened them and threw them in the garbage. I am determined to stay in the garden for the next 23 months. Two of them as said up thread I have those cards so they are sending me them again anyway LOL

Thanks

Mark

[Steveo777]

I had just gotten a Mercury card, immediately post BK7, with a $3K SL. Two weeks later I got a mailer telling me I was preapproved for $3500. I called and was put on hold for about 20 minutes before I hung up. I was gonna ask them if I could have a second card, then I hung up and figured I'd better not rock the boat. I shredded the app. lol

[dragontears]

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@FinStar wrote:

Not an issue for me. I shred & recycle them 🤷‍♂️

Often times some lenders can allow 2 of the same product, regardless whether you already have one. Moreover, a variety of these solicitations are not sent directly from the lender, but rather a third party entity that is provided with preliminary data to generate some of these marketing offers. Unfortunately, no cross-check is usually performed on plenty of them which is why you receive them multiple times.

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This. Plus these 3rd parties take many weeks from receiving their mailing lists to when you receive the mail and they are not privy to a lender's list of recently approved customers so that is why you still receive invitations for cards you were approved for 2 weeks ago. 

[805orbust]

My short answer for stuff like this is "One hand doesn't know what the other is doing."  The marketing department has no clue, they just market. I keep it moving unless it says "Pre-Approved" in which case I'll glance at it before shredding 🙂