Credit card companies targeting the wealthy for new cards

09.12.09
By Lewis Green

With many in the middle class seeing their credit scores take a hit during the ongoing recession, it appears that credit card companies are trying to make up losses by getting wealthy Americans to use their cards and rack up credit card debt.

According to research from Mintel Comperemedia, credit card companies increased their mailings for premium credit cards by 28 percent during the second quarter of 2009. This increase in premium cards - aimed at those with a higher income - comes during a time when the number of credit card offers on the whole fell 8 percent.

Andrew Davidson, senior vice president of Mintel Comperemedia, says credit card companies are targeting the more affluent crowd because they tend to have better credit scores and are therefore a lower risk.

"Credit card companies are competing to attract people with high credit scores and big spending habits," he said. "Because premium credit cards often have high associated fees and low risk, issuers see them as an excellent way to restore profitability in today's economy."

In addition to more offers for these cards, the company says credit card issuers are coming up with new kinds of cards to entice this wealthier clientele. But Davidson says this trend will not continue and expects that the influx of card offers to the wealthy will soon "trickle down" to all consumers.

Figures last month from Synovate's Mail Monitor showed that while credit card companies had reduced the number of offers they sent in the mail since last year, that drop in offers has slowed.

The report found that between the second quarter of 2008 and 2009's second quarter, credit card offers fell 67 percent. But between the first quarter of this year and the second, that decline was only 6 percent.

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More wealthy Americans are being offered premium credit cards