Credit Card Trends: Far Less Solicitations, More Annual Fees

This is a guest post by Bill Hardekopf, CEO of LowCards.com.

There is good news and bad news for consumers when it comes to the latest credit card trends.

U.S. households are now receiving significantly fewer credit card offers by mail, but more of the offers they receive are for cards carrying an annual fee, according to Mail Monitor, the direct mail tracking service from Synovate.

During the first quarter of 2009, U.S. households received 372.4 million offers, representing a dramatic 67% drop from the 1,131.6 million offers received during the first quarter of 2008.

Twenty-seven percent of offers carried an annual fee during the first quarter of 2009, up from 18% from one year ago.

“The new credit card regulations will substantially reduce the revenue for issuers. Increasing the number of cards with annual fees is certainly one way to make up for this shortfall,” says Bill Hardekopf, CEO of LowCards.com and author of The Credit Card Guidebook. “Consumers must pay attention to the offers they receive to see if the card has an annual fee. In addition, consumers need to look at the notices you receive in the mail or in your bill to see if your issuer has added, or even increased, an annual fee.”

According to Mail Monitor, the mean bankcard annual fee is $74.

“Issuers will find other ways to increase their revenue,” says Hardekopf. “We also expect interest rates to increase between now and February when this new law goes into effect.”

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LowCards.com simplifies the confusion of shopping for credit cards. It is a free, independent website that helps consumers easily compare credit cards in a variety of categories such as lowest rates, rewards, rebates, balance transfers and lowest introductory rates. It also gives an unbiased ranking and review for each card. The LowCards.com Complete Credit Card Index is the most objective and comprehensive resource on the Internet which allows consumers to compare rates for all 1260 credit cards offered in this country. Created by Hampton & Associates, the company has been analyzing the credit card industry and supplying objective websites on various consumer expenses for eight years.