Companies Are Happy to Let You Take the Credit
It’s nice to know you are wanted.
And credit card issuers definitely want you if you live in most parts of Orange County.
Marketing specialists estimate that the 80% of Orange County households with incomes of more than $15,000 a year receive an average of four credit card solicitations in the mail each month, or about three times the national average.
To test that theory, four members of The Times’ editorial staff in Orange County saved credit card applications they received during a 1 month period.
The total was 16--an average of four per address--although one staff member who had recently purchased a home got a few more than the others.
Those four households also received 11 applications for pre-approved, unsecured personal loans as well as credit card solicitations from five retail stores.
The total credit offered exceeded $100,000. Several of the cards had no stated credit limit, so it was hard to judge exactly how much more could have been borrowed had there been a concerted effort to milk the maximum amount of money.
As it was, no one applied for any of the cards or credit lines: existing debts, plus the county’s sky-high housing expenses, kept all of them insolvent enough without adding to the load.
But if they had tried:
- They could have bought new cars (ranging from about 15 Hyundais to 1 stripped-down Ferrari).
- They could have used the various cash advances to raise funds for the down payment on a house or a small business.
- They could have spruced up their wardrobes until their designer labels had designer labels of their own.
- They could have financed a group trip to Europe or tossed one heck of a party in Tahiti.
- And then they could have joined the estimated 6,000 people in Orange County who will seek professional help this year to break the credit habit and climb out from under the pile of debt that has buried them.
TOP 10 BANKS IN CREDIT CARD OPERATIONS
Credit card and related loans outstanding nationwide on Dec. 31, 1987. In thousands of dollars.
1. Citibank $17,446,161 2. Chase Manhattan Bank 5,907,687 3. Bank of America 4,122,000 4. Greenwood Trust Co. 3,135,774 5. Wells Fargo Bank 2,670,350 6. Manufacturers Hanover Trust Co. 2,611,000 7. FCC National Bank 2,311,520 8. Bank of New York 2,041,747 9. Maryland Bank 1,829,360 10. First National Bank of Chicago 1,724,056
Source: American Banker
